"On Anxiety" and One Event This Week

Can we live with anxiety instead of trying to master it?

Hello readers!

Enjoy the Sunday Read today! It’s from Crossing the Floods, which you can still buy as a digital copy for only £6.99 ($9.40 usd)! On Monday, don’t miss the LAUNCH EVENT for our new issue: “Towards a Ccritical Theory of Finance.”

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Sunday Read

“On Anxiety”: A conversation with Samir Chopra

In this conversation, Samir Chopra reflects on the many faces of anxiety and the possibilities of living with it rather than seeking to master it. Drawing on Buddhist philosophy, psychoanalysis, existentialism, and Marxist thought, Chopra explores how anxiety reveals the fragility of the self and the contingency of the world, while also serving as a gateway to self-understanding. He suggests that to recognise anxiety as an inevitable part of existence is not to accept resignation, but to seek ways of transforming our social and material conditions so that they do not deepen this unease. He invites us to think of anxiety not as a sign of failure or pathology, but as an indispensable part of being alive, a mood that, if understood, might guide us towards greater awareness, care, and agency.

You can see a video of Samir Chopra in conversation with Maryam Aghdami from 2024, and read the article here, and feel free to comment on the article in the comments below!

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Monday Event: June 15th ~ 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm BST

Launch Event for Our New Issue: “Towards a Critical Theory of Finance”

Melinda Cooper, Radhika Desai, and Stefan Eich in conversation with Paul North

Register here, free or by donation. Have a look at Melinda Cooper's Counterrevolution, Stefan Eich's The Currency of Politics, and Radhika Desai's Geopolitical Economy, and hope to see you Monday!

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Event Recordings:

You can always check out our YouTube channel to watch any webinars you miss.

This week we posted, “Decolonizing Knowledge” from our Philosophies of the South series with Radha D’Souza in conversation with Rinaldo Walcott. What does it mean to decolonise knowledge today?

Please like, subscribe, and/or comment on YouTube to help bring our channel to more people!

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Closing:

The Philosopher is unfunded and directly relies on your support to keep doing the work we do. The best way you can do this is becoming a supporter via Patreon, if you’re not already. This helps us to keep our events series free and to pay our contributors. Find out more and become a member. The second best way to help is to follow us on any one of our social media pages, and please like and share our posts!

Enjoy today’s essay!

Marie Snyder, Substack Manager