What if we were made to believe in ambition because ambition is something good? There is a mantra that tells us “be ambitious”, but, who dares to dissent from it? What if ambition would have been politicized and ideologized? The reason for writing this book is not to clarify what ambition actually means, but to unpack the ethical implications behind its different meanings. This book is divided in three parts corresponding to three different ethos or ways of living : being ambitious, not being ambitious and, finally, being ambitious and not ambitious at the same time.

INTRODUCTION

PART 1. DISSECTING AMBITION
Etymology of Ambition
Definition of Ambition
Ambition in the Ambience
Professionalism and Publicity
Desire to be the Chosen One
Self-Promotion
The Opportunistic Mind and Networking
Capitalism and Ambition
The Ambitious Artist
Levels of recognition
Parameters of Success

PART 2. NEGLECTING AMBITION
The Reason Why We Do Something
Exercising our capacities
Initiative
Side Effects
The cardinal virtues
Dilettantism
The Non-ambitious Artist
Artworks are more Important than Artists
The will to Affirm a Different World
Co-apprenticeship: Training the Political Body

PART 3. MISCHIEVING AMBITION
To Betray Your Own Ambition
Mischief: the Art of Swerving
Irony: Performing the Paradox
Practices of Infiltration
Anartism
Experimenting in the Art of Living