We tell many stories of the life of the mind as a liberation (Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X) or as consolation (Etty Hillesum, Primo Levi, Irina Ratushinskaya). What do these stories show about the human good of the life of the mind? What is the value of an inner life? Is it enough on its own? How does one build from it? 

Zena Hitz 

Zena Hitz is a Tutor at St. John’s College and the author of Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life. Her book explores the meaning and the value of learning for its own sake, through images and stories of bookworms, philosophers, scientists, and other learners, both fictional and historical. She writes and speaks on the human need to learn for its own sake and what it means for educational institutions to take that need seriously.  

She studied at St. John’s College, Cambridge University, the University of Chicago and Princeton before teaching philosophy at McGill University, Auburn University, and UMBC. She spent three years living and working in the Madonna House Apostolate and has taught in prison programs and to other non-traditional students. When she is not teaching or speaking she spends time thinking about topics like the moral decline and fall of individuals and communities, as depicted in stories from Genesis to The Godfather.

Conferências Eutopos

Neste terceiro trimestre do ano, apresentamos duas conferências para aprender e libertar, criar e reproduzir. Debruçadas sobre a sociologia e a moda, as conferências interligam-se no questionamento dos processos sociais de reflexão e análise de narrativas, mantendo uma linha contínua na temática do Eutopos. Continuando pelo caminho dos bons lugares, entre utopias e distopias, o bem revela-se o caminho mais promissor, celebrando a procura de lugares, pessoas e modos de vida que sejam bons e transformadores.

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