Feature photo by DeAsia Powell
Story by DeAsia Powell
The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies hosted Mariana Alessandri Friday at its annual lecture series lyceum, “The Upside of Anxiety: Kierkegaard on Feeling Better About Feeling Bad.”
Since 1992, the Philosophy Department held a lecture series devoted to lectures on Applied Philosophy. Lyceum pays tribute to Aristotle’s school of philosophy, founded in 334 B.C. The department intends to bring philosophical insight to all students interested in the concepts. They achieve this by stimulating private reflection and the human practice of thinking broadly on an array of applied philosophical topics.
“We’re thrilled with the variety of speakers and topics we’ve been able to sponsor,” said Mary Magada-Ward, the philosophy department chair. “Students come out just to hear the topics. Topics covered in this lecture have ranged from topics of love and relationship to environmental ethics.”
This year, the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies hosted Alessandri, an author and associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Motivated by educating others on feeling better about their bad feelings, Alessandri came to MTSU to share her perspective on “anxiety,” a mental illness 1-of-3 college students battle.
In the lecture, she discussed redeeming humans from always feeling broken due to dark moods of anxiety, anger, depression and sadness. She mentioned shame and feeling bad for having anxiety or depression.
Alessandri aimed to encourage others to look at society in the dark, from a dimmer light, to actually see it for what it is. She felt that when people look at anxiety from a light–everyone is supposed to be happy all the time–perspective, it makes the world look terrible.
She suggested the concept of existentialism. Alessandri said the human condition is holding hands through rough moments and human suffering, not shaming oneself and others for having moods and feeling emotions.
Phil Oliver, Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, like other department officials, feels the lecture helped students understand sadness.
“This helped students think they’re not broken because they have anxiety, that it’s human, and if you can see that you’re not broken, you can learn from being anxious and being human,” said Oliver.
In addition to her perspective, Alessandri drew from her book, “Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves Through the Dark Moods,” and used the findings of philosopher Seren Kierkegaard to defend her perspective. In her book, she cited philosophers in every chapter and countered it with existentialist philosophers to help her see the mood in the dark.
Alessandri said she was inspired to write this book after struggling to stay positive and wanting to live, to help others live. After an abundance of demands her peers had for hearing her speak about this unusual topic, she decided to lecture on it at MTSU to college students.
Her interest in philosophy grew from finding others in the field who were willing to think the way she did without ridiculing her.
“It felt welcome to be able to think deeply,” said Alessandri.
She said she liked talking to others about dark moods because it felt emotionally honest, and gave advice to everyone who battles anxiety and other dark moods.
“We’re not broken, just human,” said Alessandri.
Teachers and students engaged in deep questioning of the philosopher’s perspectives and concepts. The audience generally enjoyed the lyceum and discussion.
“In the most profound sense, the absurdist in me is happy to learn about a speaker in philosophy who embraces the thought of Kierkegaard,” said Sneh Gandhi, a junior philosophy and English major.
The lyceum audience included philosophy students, professors, the College of Liberal Arts Dean Leah Lyons and Magada-Ward, eager to hear Alessandri’s perspective. Lyons was especially delighted with the event turnout.
“The Philosophy Lyceum offered our campus the opportunity to see a common issue in our society–anxiety–through a clearer lens, a lens that invites us to think more deeply about the human condition,” said Lyons. “This is at the heart of a Humanities education–thinking critically about our world and our place in it, so I am pleased that our Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies invited Dr. Alessandri to our campus. I am equally pleased that this Philosophy Lyceum was so well-attended.”
DeAsia Powell is a contributing writer for MTSU Sidelines.
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