Today's excerpt comes from a recently published paper, titled Eros and Anxiety, by Professor Vida Yao. The paper explores ideals of rationality, authenticity, and how they interact with transformative experiences – specifically, the experience of falling in love. Yao is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at UCLA, and is interested in Ethics and Moral Psychology, specifically the philosophy of emotions and the self.

Read it yourself at ⁠⁠⁠alifeofthought.com/d15⁠⁠⁠ -- Or join the conversation at ⁠⁠⁠community.alifeofthought.com⁠⁠⁠.

Yao, Vida. “Eros and Anxiety.” Synthese 202, no. 6 (December 6, 2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-023-04391-0.

Today’s excerpt comes from §92-94 of Wittgenstein’s ‘On Certainty.’ In it, Wittgenstein explores the difference between normal, every-day, beliefs – like “the bus is going to get here at 2:30pm” – and beliefs that serve, in one way or another, as backdrops for us, and seem quite obvious: ‘The world has existed for a long time.

Read it yourself at ⁠⁠alifeofthought.com/d15⁠⁠ -- Or join the conversation at ⁠⁠community.alifeofthought.com⁠⁠.

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Major Works: Selected Philosophical Writings. 1. ed. HarperPerennial ModernThought. New York: HarperPerennial, 2009, sec. 92-94

Today's excerpt comes from a lecture written by Henry David Thoreau, titled walking. The lecture itself is a sort of walk, meandering and sauntering around.

Read it yourself at ⁠⁠alifeofthought.com/d15⁠⁠ -- Or join the conversation at ⁠⁠community.alifeofthought.com⁠⁠.

Citation: Thoreau, Henry David. “Walking.” In Thackeray Newman Ruskin Huxley Thoreau and Others, Deluxe Edition., 393–425. Harvard Classics. P. F. Collier & Son Corporation, 1938.

Today's Daily 15 is an excursion into one of Freud's first introductory lectures on psychoanalysis. In the lecture, Freud asks whether slips of the tongue, misplacements, or seemingly random forgettings, in fact, have a sense or a meaning or an interpretation.

Read it yourself at ⁠alifeofthought.com/d15⁠ -- Or join the conversation at ⁠community.alifeofthought.com⁠.

Citation: Freud, Sigmund, and James Strachey. “II Parapraxes.” In Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. New York: Norton, 1977.

Today's excerpt comes from the introduction of Jean-Paul Sartre's seminal work, Being and Nothingness. In this episode, we delve into Sartre's exploration of reflective consciousness and its intricate relationship with self-awareness. He challenges the notion of knowing what we are doing, emphasizing that consciousness is not merely a passive state but an active engagement with our experiences. Sartre's assertion that "to know is to know that one knows" serves as a pivotal point in understanding his philosophy.

We unpack Sartre's ideas through the lens of everyday activities, such as counting, and examine how our awareness of these actions shapes our consciousness. This leads to a fascinating discussion about the implications of non-thetic consciousness and how it underlies our ability to label and understand our actions. Join us as we navigate the complexities of Sartre's thought and consider its relevance to our daily lives.

Read it yourself at ⁠⁠alifeofthought.com/d15⁠⁠ -- Or join the conversation at ⁠⁠community.alifeofthought.com⁠⁠.

Citation: Excerpt from Sartre, Jean-Paul. Being and Nothingness: An Essay in Phenomenological Ontology. Translated by Sarah Richmond. First Washington Square Press/Atria paperback edition. New York London Toronto Sydney New Delhi: Washington Square Press/Atria, 2021, pp. 11 - 12.

Today’s episode delves into the intricate relationship between habit, memory, and love as explored by Marcel Proust in his monumental work, In Search of Lost Time. Lucas guides us through a profound excerpt where Proust posits that what truly reminds us of someone is often what we have forgotten, challenging our conventional understanding of memory. As Lucas highlights key phrases and concepts, he encourages us to reflect on how our perceptions of love and loss evolve over time, and how the act of forgetting can paradoxically preserve the essence of our past relationships.

Join the conversation at ⁠⁠community.alifeofthought.com⁠⁠ and share your thoughts on Proust's insights. For those wishing to annotate the second paragraph discussed, visit ⁠⁠alifeofthought.com/d15⁠⁠ for more resources.

Excerpt from: Proust, Marcel. Swann’s Way. Translated by C. K. Scott-Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin. Modern Library pbk. ed. The Modern Library Classics, v. 1. New York: Modern Library, 2003, pp. 300-301.