Human Rights and Empathy - Philosophy and Fiction?
May 13, 2015
Hosted by Lou Agosta
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Guest Information
Episode Description
Join Lou for a discussion with Michael Boylan, philosopher and thought leader, on justifying human rights and the uses of fiction in doing so. Michael is innovating in the uses of story telling, narrative, and fiction to open up depths of human experience that sometimes are missed by philosophical argumentation and categorization. This method puts us in touch with aspects of being a human being that are hidden in plain view. The conversation takes off from Michael’s 2014 book Natural Human Rights (Cambridge Press), which includes four original short stories that engage with human rights. Michael’s novel Rainbow Curve (2015) is also in the mix and rich in distinctions about sports, race, and politics in America. Join us for an engaging and stimulating conversation!
A Rumor of Empathy
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Empowerment Channel
A Rumor of Empathy is committed to providing a gracious and generous listening, empathy, in conversation with its guests and listeners. Join the host in chasing down and confirming or debunking an unsubstantiated report of empathy in the community and engaging in an on the air conversation in transforming human struggle and suffering into meaningful relationships, satisfying results and contribution to the community. When one is really listened to empathically and heard in one’s struggle and effort, then something shifts. Possibilities open up that were hidden in plain view. Action that makes a difference occurs so that empathy becomes less of a rumor and an expanded reality in your life and in the community. When all the philosophical arguments and psychological back-and-forth are over and done, in empathy, one is quite simply in the presence of another human being. Join Lou for an empowering conversation in which empathy is made present.
Lou Agosta
Lou Agosta’s commitment is to provide a gracious and generous listening empathy, in conversation with his guests on the show and the empathy consulting and psychotherapy work he performs with individual and corporate clients. Graduating as an unemployed philosopher from the University of Chicago with a Ph.D. on Empathy and Interpretation, Lou trained in data management technology and consulted in technology with Blue Cross of Illinois, Greenbrier and Russel, Giga Information Group, and IBM before realizing that the world does not need more data, the world needs expanded empathy. After undergoing over ten years of psychoanalyses, dynamic psychotherapy, and related training to recover from childhood and adolescent traumas, Lou teaches empathy in the history and systems of psychology at Argosy University. He is the author of three books on empathy from Palgrave Macmillan including A Rumor of Empathy: Resistance, Narrative, and Recovery, forthcoming from Routledge. Lou says that when all the philosophical arguments and psychological labels are over and done, in empathy, a person is quite simply in the presence of another human being. Join Lou and be present for an empowering conversation in which empathy is made present and makes a difference.
Episode Directory
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
- 5/27/2015: Empathy, Self-Esteem, and Neuropsychological Challenges Listen Now
- 5/20/2015: A Rumor of Empathy How Things Were Done in Odessa Listen Now
- 5/13/2015: Human Rights and Empathy - Philosophy and Fiction? Listen Now
- 5/6/2015: How to Know if You Are in an Abusive Relationship: The War Against Domestic Violence Listen Now
