We like to think of ourselves as the authors of our desires, free to want what we want. But we rarely question the source of our desires.
In this session we look into whether our desires are truly ours, or merely the face of something deeper at work.
Arthur Schopenhauer claimed that we are not rational agents charting our own course, but puppets animated by an impersonal, blind Will—a metaphysical force indifferent to happiness, morality, or meaning. Even our most private longings, he argued, are not ours, but the Will speaking through us.
Fast forward to Slavoj Žižek, who turns up the volume with Lacanian flair: not only are we not in control of our desires—we don’t even desire directly. Desire, he insists, is always shaped by the Other: by language, ideology, and the symbolic structures we live inside. From the brands we covet to the selves we curate, we may be enacting scripts we never consciously chose.
Together, we’ll ask:
- Do we possess our desires, or do they possess us?
- How do ideology and the unconscious collaborate in shaping what we think we want?
- Is there a way to reclaim agency, or at least awareness within this tangle of forces?
Whether you're well-versed in philosophy or just curious, you're welcome. No preparation needed, just bring your mind… and maybe question what it means to call it yours.
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