Gratitude, Mourning, Hope, and Other Forms of Thought: Jonathan Lear 2024 Ryerson Lecture

The podcast features an introduction by a speaker who welcomes the audience to the 2024 Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecture, celebrating academic culture and honoring scholars. Jonathan Lear, the distinguished speaker, then presents a lecture addressing the vulnerability of meaning in human lives from three angles: vulnerability from the outside, vulnerability from the inside, and vulnerability to aporia of absolute value. He uses examples from his work with the Crow Nation and psychoanalysis to illustrate these points, discussing concepts like radical hope, gratitude, and the nature of goodness. The lecture concludes with thoughts on the role of a university in pursuing truth and understanding. Following the lecture, a Q&A session addresses questions about the generation of gratitude, the relationship between meaning and personal truth, and obstacles to feeling gratitude.