Seminar: "Lost in the Cosmos: On Sadness, Laughter, and the Self" with Dr. Ryan Womack

Name: Seminar: "Lost in the Cosmos: On Sadness, Laughter, and the Self" with Dr. Ryan Womack
Start: 2019-04-09T19:00:11-05:00
End: 2019-04-09T20:30:11-05:00
Location: Stumberg Hall

Tue, Apr 09

Stumberg Hall

Why, in the midst of plenty, are we so often sad? How, in the midst of sadness, can we laugh? Please join Dr. Womack for this 4-week seminar exploring the complexities of the self, guided by Walker Percy's satirical self-help book, Lost in the Cosmos (1985).

Registration is Closed

See other events

Seminar: "Lost in the Cosmos: On Sadness, Laughter, and the Self" with Dr. Ryan Womack

Time & Location

Apr 09, 2019, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Stumberg Hall, 3206 Fairfax Walk, Austin, TX 78705, USA

About The Event

Why, in the midst of plenty, are we so often sad? How, in the midst of sadness, can we laugh? While we explore the expansive cosmos, "We are unknown, we knowers, to ourselves," as Friedrich Nietzsche wrote. Built into the mysteries of the self are the possibilities of laughter, gratitude, and what Walker Percy called "the search". Please join Dr. Womack for this 4-week seminar exploring the complexities of the self, guided by Walker Percy's satirical self-help book, Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book (1985). Snacks and refreshments will be provided, so please let us know you're coming.

***Participants are encouraged to buy Percy's text.

Week one: Diagnosing the Modern Malaise

Week two: The Meaning of Sadness

Week three: The Soul of Laughter

Week four: The Self and other Selves

Share This Event

SPRING 2025 EVENTS

Multiple Dates
Wed, Mar 26
Graduate Students Book Club
Austin Institute
RSVP
Mar 26, 2025, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Austin Institute , 3206 Fairfax Walk, Austin, TX 78705, USA
Join Professor John Greil, a law faculty member at UT, for an exclusive discussion of Josef Pieper's book "Leisure: The Basis of Culture." This event is specifically for graduate students and will take place during Lent.
Share
Multiple Dates
Wed, Mar 26
What's Good About (and What Is) Marriage?
Austin
RSVP
Mar 26, 2025, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Austin, 3206 Fairfax Walk, Austin, TX 78705, USA
Join us to explore whether the family—a lasting union of a man and a woman open to life—is essential for a thriving community.
Share
Fri, Mar 28
Lunch Talk with Dr. Anna Moreland "Thomas Aquinas on the Scope and Limits of Forgiveness"
UT, Robert Rowling Hall 5.402
RSVP
Mar 28, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
UT, Robert Rowling Hall 5.402, 300 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Austin, TX 78705, USA
Dr. Moreland will examine Anna Karenina through the eyes of Thomas Aquinas on the theological virtue of charity.
Share
Multiple Dates
Wed, Apr 02
“Being Human: Graduate and Undergraduates reading seminar”
Austin Institute
RSVP
Apr 02, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Austin Institute, 3298-3200 Fairfax Walk, Austin, TX 78705, USA
In this reading group, taking our cue from the volume, we will explore what it means to be human. We will look at some of the great statements on the basic objects of human desire, whether it makes sense to desire perfection, and whether it makes sense to want to be immortal.
Share
Thu, Apr 03
"Is It Rational to Believe? Why Unbelief Is Irrational"
Austin Institute
RSVP
Apr 03, 2025, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Austin Institute, 3206 Fairfax Walk, Austin, TX 78705, USA
Is it rational to believe in revealed religion? Many skeptics argue that the diversity of religious claims undermines any confidence in knowing which one is true. Others suggest that since everyone thinks they are right, no one can be.
Share
Multiple Dates
Wed, Apr 09
What's Good About (an What Is) Marriage?
Austin
RSVP
Apr 09, 2025, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Austin, 3206 Fairfax Walk, Austin, TX 78705, USA
Join us to explore whether the family—a lasting union of a man and a woman open to life—is essential for a thriving community.
Share
Thu, Apr 10
Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and the Truth of the Human Person
UT, Robert Rowling Hall 3.406
RSVP
Apr 10, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
UT, Robert Rowling Hall 3.406, 300 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Austin, TX 78705, USA
Perhaps the most fundamental themes in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov are the struggle to disclose the truth of human nature and the way in which social life must be rooted in the truth of what it is to be a person.
Share
Multiple Dates
Thu, Apr 10
"The Good Life" Fiction Reading Group
Stumberg Hall
RSVP
Apr 10, 2025, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Stumberg Hall, 3206 Fairfax Walk, Austin, TX 78705, USA
Usually described as "Italy’s greatest novel," The Betrothed chronicles the unforgettable romance of Renzo and Lucia, who endure tyranny, war, famine, and plague to be together. You do not want to miss it!
Share
Fri, Apr 11
Getting Away With It? The Natural Consequences Of Moral Wrong
Garrison Hall, 0.102
RSVP
Apr 11, 2025, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Garrison Hall, 0.102, E Mall, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Don’t miss this panel discussion featuring professors Dr. J Budziszewski and Dr. Scott J. Roniger, who will explore whether it is truly possible to avoid the natural consequences of wrongdoing.
Share

SCHEDULE

SPEAKERS