Jane O’Grady

Sartre proclaimed how free we are – able to choose what to do, be and feel. But this freedom is not a liberation but a life-sentence – with hard labour. If we are to follow Sartre’s exacting strictures on avoiding bad faith, then we will always be scrupulously monitoring ourselves for authenticity, and it will be virtually impossible to be sincere – about our emotions, our sexuality, our love.

Jane O’Grady will look at Sartre’s views on the way we manipulate our emotions, on the arduous agony of love relationships, and how gay men fall into inauthenticity however they describe themselves.

Jane O’Grady co-edited Blackwell’s Dictionary of Philosophical Quotations with A. J. Ayer, and writes philosophers’ obituaries for the Guardian, and reviews and articles for various papers and journals. She was a Visiting Lecturer at City University for twelve years, and is one of the seven founders of the London School of Philosophy.

Doors 10.30. Entry £3, £2 concs./free to Ethical Society members.

Tea, coffee & biscuits will be available.