#7 - Prof. Richard Kearney: Where do Stories Come From?

Prof. Dr. Richard Kearney is very well published and regarded Professor in Philosophy, a public Intellectual and writer. He is the Charles Seelig Professor in Philosophy at Boston College, has taught at University College Dublin and is a member of the Royal Irish Academy.In this conversation, Prof. Kearney walks me through his understanding of Narrative, and how and why stories have come to be so important to the human experience. Drawing strongly on both his Gaelic roots, and a thorough understanding of story-telling traditions across cultures, Prof. Kearney guides me through two lines of argument: 1. Why the un-narrated life is not worth living; and 2. A vouch for the return to touch, and the connection-dense experience of life. Speaking of dense, this conversation is very much so in information-per-minute. A lot of important ideas about the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, both as individuals and groups, are explored. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, and seeing that I struggled to keep up in some places, it’s safe to say I was definitely stretched into new waters. A very exciting prospect.