Falling From Boredom Into Value

By Anna Prisco Elena Ferrante’s series of Neapolitan Novels not only presents us with a beautiful coming-of-age bildungsroman, but a really compelling (and Socratic) account of how we come to value. Importantly, the way she envisions us coming to value is not the ideal apprehension of courage or piety that we see in a more […]

The Freedom to Be Bored

By Andrew Stahl Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, widely considered the beginning of modern philosophy, begins with self-isolation. Descartes withdraws from the ordinary world for six days in order to be free from distractions, so that he can “demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations if I wanted to establish anything at […]

On Boring Holes: Lessons in Emptiness

By Brandon Murphy The term “boredom” was first used in reference to a boring tool used to drill holes. Apparently this is dreadful business. Perhaps it is the ceaseless repetition of a seemingly arbitrary act, or maybe the feeling that in this repetition, time seems to come to a standstill, or a loop, or something […]