Chapter 7 - Trajectories of Pleasures in Thinking

Summary

This chapter adopts a longitudinal perspective on the evolution of activities of thinking in different domains, following people’s engagements; it thus gives a glimpse into the evolution of pleasures of thinking in the course of life. First, it examines specific trajectories of engagements and shows how the pleasure of thinking may have played a key role in people’s choice to maintain and pursue an interest, chosen or accidentally met, for instance in gardening or in billiards. Second, it retraces the trajectories of thinking and their pleasure in long-term, lifecourse commitments, for instance in the lives of Kurt Lewin and Henri Tajfel. Finally, based on recent interviews and observational data, the chapter explores the development of the pleasure of thinking in older people.