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Boredom, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Life Date Recorded: Nov 12th, 2003 |
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Topic Background |
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| Mark Kingwell contends that it feels good to move fast because it allows us to achieve more, and technology helps that natural tendency along; we have an in-built imperative to speed, it’s part of the biology of being human. He also posits that our most basic choice, the one that grounds all the others, is this: Do we attend closely to the business of our choices, or do we flee from them, in arrogance, or fear, or boredom–or some combination of all three?
This talk is the second half of a programme that also features Carl Honore, speaking on a related topic. |
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Speaker Biography |
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| Mark Kingwell is a cultural theorist and professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is the author of ten books of philosophy and cultural theory, including the one he reads from in this talk – Catch and Release:Trout Fishing and the Meaning of Life.
He is a contributing editor to Harper’s Magazine and the Globe and Mail books section, and was formerly a columnist for the National Post, and a contributing editor of Saturday Night Magazine. Mark Kingwell’s writing has been translated into eight languages, and he has lectured to popular and academic audiences around the world. He is currently at work on a book examining cities and consciousness. |
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