Philip Rieff delineates a modern world failing in its charge to provide meaning, fulfillment, community and culture. A profound cultural and social void exists at the heart of modern life, and our standard solutions provide meager succor. For a world that stands on the precipice of catastrophe, Philip Rieff outlines a comprehensive framework for conceiving of our cultural crisis, an overview invaluable for anyone wishing to correctly comprehend our historical era.
Reading: Rieff, The Emergence of Psychological Man (11 pages), excerpts from Triumph of the Therapeutic (35 pages), and Imber, A Personal Remembrance (8 pages). PDF provided upon RSVP.
This presentation is by Jonathan B. Imber. There will be an hour lecture and then an hour discussion.
Jonathan B. Imber is Jean Glasscock Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College and Editor-in-Chief of Society since 1998. He is editor of The Feeling Intellect: Selected Writings of Philip Rieff.
Please read the PDF provided. Here's a nice lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d05iy06eCcI (Optional: you don't have to listen to it all.)
This presentation is part of an ongoing reading, study and discussion group covering the modern condition. We will read and discuss selected chapters and items from the great social critics of our time.
Upcoming sessions will include works from Descartes, Heidegger, Hobbes, Kafka, Kant, Kierkegaard, Machiavelli, Marcuse, Nietzsche, Ortega y Gasset, Pico della Mirandola, Sartre, and Weber, among others.
