Here are some resources that might be interesting for you to examine if you would like to think more deeply about some of the topics we have covered in Unit 1 of the course.
Anger
- The Wikipedia article on tone policing and Audre Lourde’s famous 1981 discourse on “The Uses of Anger.”
- Agnes Callard’s short online essay “The Emotion Police.”
Fear
- This American Life, ep. 682, “Ten Sessions,” on cognitive processing therapy for trauma.
Love
- Harry Frankfurt’s essay on “On Love and its Reasons,” where he argues that we do not love for reasons but, rather, love gives us reasons.
- The popular TED Talks on romantic love by Alain de Botton and Esther Perel.
- The musical interpretation of Aristophanes’ discourse on love in Plato’s Symposium from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Compassion and empathy
- Two episodes of the Hidden Brain podcast, “The Science of Compassion” and “You 2.0: The Empathy Gym”
Laughter
- Hannah Gadsby’s stand-up special on Netflix, “Nannette.”
Grief
- The series of short essays on grief and trauma by philosopher Robert Stolorow on the Psychology Today website, e.g., this short piece on “The Emotional Topography of Grief.”
Spirituality
- The short documentary on “The Overview Effect” by Planetary Collective.
- Susan Wolf’s well-known essay on “The Question, ‘What is the Meaning of Life?’”