The physicist Lawrence Krauss recently argued that education should teach all children the central tenet of science – ‘nothing is sacred’. Not God, not human rights, not democracy, not the environment. Nothing. Emile Durkheim, one of the founding fathers of … Continue reading
Paul Dieppe is professor of health and well-being at Exeter Medical School. Having spent a distinguished career researching rheumatism and specifically knee pain, he shifted his focus onto the placebo effect and, most recently, humans’ natural ability to heal themselves, … Continue reading
At the end of Philosophy for Life, I asked what the Socratic-Stoic tradition of philosophy misses out, and suggested there is an alternate approach to life and to emotional healing, which I called the Dionysiac tradition: The virtues of the … Continue reading
SAD at Thirty Produced by Natalie Steed for QMUL There’s a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons – That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes – Heavenly Hurt, it gives us – We can find no scar, But internal … Continue reading
This weekend I saw a film called The Falling, shown at the London Film Festival. It’s directed by Carol Morley, and is centred on an epidemic of fainting at an English girls’ school in the 60s. It’ll be in cinemas … Continue reading
I was reading Evelyn Underhill’s wonderful chapter on ecstasy and rapture, from her book Mysticism, and it made me want to listen to Blondie’s ‘Rapture’ (Underhill always has this effect on me). So I watched the video on YouTube, and … Continue reading
I’m researching ecstatic experiences at the moment, which involves looking at ecstasy in the arts. This morning I’ve been reading some Edward Hirsch, the poet and literary critic, who has a very ecstatic conception of art. That’s quite rare these … Continue reading
Dr Jennifer Otter Bickerdike (University of East London) delivered the first of the Centre for the History of the Emotions lunchtime seminars earlier this year. Here, she tells us how she came to her PhD topic, which explored memory and … Continue reading
We are delighted to announce details of our lunchtime seminars this term. Both seminars start at 1.00pm; speakers will present on their research for 25-30 minutes with time afterwards for informal discussion. Lunch is provided. The seminars are free to … Continue reading
Jeanette Winterson was walking through Amsterdam ‘one snowy Christmas, when the weather had turned the canals into oblongs of ice’. She says: ‘I was wandering happily, alone, playing the flaneur, when I passed a little gallery and in the moment … Continue reading