For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & Culture

Amor Mundi Part 2: Hating the World, Unquenchable Thirst / Miroslav Volf's 2025 Gifford Lectures

Aug 6, 2025
Miroslav Volf, a prominent theologian and public intellectual, delves into Schopenhauer’s stark pessimism and explores our intertwined relationship with desire. He critiques the notion that existence is fraught with suffering, acknowledging how modern consumerism fuels insatiable cravings reflecting Schopenhauer’s vision. Volf introduces three types of love—appetitive, erotic, and agapic—arguing that agapic love, focused on self-giving, is essential to embrace the world despite its challenges. This thought-provoking dialogue redefines how we can affirm life amidst suffering.
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ANECDOTE

Toulon Penal Colony Image

  • Volf recounts Schopenhauer's youthful visit to the Toulon penal colony as a shaping image for his philosophy.
  • He uses the penal colony to illustrate Schopenhauer's view of the world as a place of universal misery.
INSIGHT

Three Modes Of Love

  • Volf distinguishes three loves: epithumic (appetitive), erotic (appreciative), and agapic (self-giving).
  • The moral character of our relation to the world depends on which love is ordered first.
INSIGHT

Hedonic Calculations Fall Short

  • Volf argues that measuring pleasure versus pain quantitatively fails because experiences need evaluative frames.
  • Hedonic totals cannot determine life's value without a prior vision of the chief good.
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