Metaphors in Our Lives: “I Love You for Yourself”
Alexander Nehamas is Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature and the Carpenter Professor in the Humanities at Princeton University, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He was born in Athens, Greece. His books include Nietzsche: Life as Literature, The Art of Living: Socratic Reflections from Plato to Foucault, Virtues of Authenticity: Essays on Plato and Socrates, Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in a World of Art, and On Friendship. He has also translated Plato’s Symposium and Phaedrus into English. At Princeton, he has chaired the Council of the Humanities, the Program in Hellenic Studies, and he was the Founding Director of the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts.
Abstract: Friendship is one of life’s greatest gifts, but surprisingly difficult to define. Nehamas argues that friendship is an aesthetic, but not always moral, good. Like metaphors and works of art, friendships are inexhaustible and the people who matter to us always remain a step beyond the furthest point our knowledge of them has reached — though only if, and as long as, they still matter to us. Love for our friends shapes who we are and who we might become.
This Provost’s Lecture, co-sponsored by the Center for Integration of Business Education & Humanities, College of Business, Center for Hellenic Studies, and Philosophy Department, will be held on Friday, April 20, from 3 pm to 4:30 pm at the Charles B. Wang Center Theater.
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