Practical information:
Organizers: Tove Pettersen and Helgard Mahrdt
Coordinator: Anna Young
Format: The lectures will be in either English or Norwegian, and will be 30 minutes long, followed by 30 minutes of discussion.
Registration: Individual event pages will be created for each lecture, and registered participants will receive the Zoom links via email.
When we hear the word love, some of us may think of love stories, others may associate it with the Christian notion of neighborly love (caritas, St. Augustine). For some the concept of romantic love comes to mind, while others may think of maternal love or the love for God (amor dei); others may link the notion to reason and philosophy because philosophy literally means, “love for wisdom” (Plato). Some understand love as pure passion that belongs to the intimate sphere, for others love can also mean to engage in the world (amor mundi).
The phenomenon of love, it seems, is anything but easy to grasp. What, then, is love? Is love a divine power or a worldless passion? Do love and thinking belong together? What is the connection between love and compassion? What are we doing when we love? Can we identify a kind of love fit for civic life (philia) or must love remain private? Does love have the same meaning for different genders? Has love become homeless? Can love be commanded by will (volu ut sis) or is love always a “coup de foudre”?
Currently, we are all living in “dark times” (Brecht), thrown back into our private lives. To counteract this situation, we understand the lecture series as a contribution to keep a space of discussion alive.
In a series of digital lectures, which will be taking place on Mondays at 2 pm CET, we will present different perspectives on the notion of love (follow the links for registration):
- 01.03: Tove Pettersen (STK): "The Ambiguity of Love: Simone de Beauvoir’s Perspective"
- 22.03: Helgard Mahrdt (STK): "Hannah Arendt on Love, Friendship, and Politics"
- 12.04: Kaja Jenssen Rathe (STK): "Between Erotic Perception and Lived Openness: Merleau-Ponty’s Perspective"
- 19.04: Monica Roland: "Love as Seeing: Iris Murdoch and David Velleman on the Nature of Love and Loving"
- 26.04: Kjersti Fjørtoft (UiT): "Martha Nussbaum: Is Justice a Matter of Love?"
- 31.05:
Inga Bostad (IPED, UiO): "Kierkegaard and the Concept of the Significantly Indescribable”CANCELLED
Update 28th of May 2021:
Dear participants and contributors to STK’s digital lecture series PERSPECTIVES ON LOVE:
We are looking back on five lectures on love by Tove Pettersen, Helgard Mahrdt, Kaja Jenssen Rathe, Monica Roland and Kjersti Fjørtoft. Each of them opened up a unique way of conceptualizing and reflecting on love. We were looking forward to the final lecture on Kierkegaard by Inga Bostad, but this event is unfortunately cancelled.
We would like to close the lecture series by thanking the lecturers for sharing their reflections with us, and we also want to give our thanks to the audience for their participation and the many important questions and comments. You have all contributed to create lively seminars, great dialogues and discussions on the very important phenomenon of love.