Philosophy and the art of unease

Being intimate with discomfort is a core philosophical value.

Socrates and Diotima in conversation. Franz Caucig (1755–1828)

One of the founding voices in Greek philosophy, Diotima of Mantineia, described love as the offspring of Poverty and Plenty, “neither mortal nor immortal, but alive and flourishing at one moment, dead at another moment, and again alive”.

Diotima equates this journey with that of the philosopher. The philosopher lives…