Can We Learn from Suffering? (the Forum)

The “most depressing lesson” of suffering, Slavoj Žižek writes, is that “there is nothing to be learned from it”. Is Žižek’s bleak view convincing, or is there evidence to suggest that suffering can educate or even improve us? If so, do some types of physical or mental suffering have more value than others? What is it that we learn? Does suggesting that suffering has meaning or value validate or demean the experience of suffering? In this event, three philosophers will address these questions.

Speakers
Havi Carel, Professor of Philosophy, University of Bristol
Anastasia Scrutton, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Religion, University of Leeds
Tom Stern, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University College London

Chair
Danielle Sands, Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London, and Forum for European Philosophy Fellow

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