Quality and the Craft of The Good Life
Abstract
“Quality and the Craft of The Good Life” is a personal essay exploring the relationship
between work and the pursuit of a fulfilling life. Originally intended to follow the
narrative arc of the construction of a table, this work takes a wayward and circuitous
route around the life and meditations of a craftsman. The construction of the table
takes a back seat to a reflection on the broader significance of craftsmanship as
a medium for understanding and articulating Quality, which is a central theme.
I have not set out to reach conclusions, or to provide the reader with a definitive,
or even a remote understanding of The Good Life. Rather, in reflecting on the years
I’ve spent working with my hands, I’ve sought to meditate on the development of my
own understanding of what a Good Life might look like, namely for me. If a broad conclusion
can be drawn, it is that the elusive goal of a good life is only achieved by elevating
the experience of the banal, and by celebrating the commonplace. The narrower, personal
conclusion extends from the broader one. It involves the patterns of my character;
the restless decisiveness that has delivered me from one ideal to the next, often
in disregard of the successes of each.
Type
Master's thesisDepartment
Graduate Liberal StudiesPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11483Citation
Cronheim, Matthew (2016). Quality and the Craft of The Good Life. Master's thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11483.Collections
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