Is it time to solve the problem of anger?
Get your free ticket for our event on the Philosophy and Psychology of Anger
Look around you. Anger is in the news once again, often directed toward politicians, who themselves appear, in turn, to stoke our fear and anger. Social media platforms are ablaze with angry exchanges between total strangers about events neither participant in the argument seems to understand. What, on earth, can you do about it?
We’ve got together some leading experts on the philosophy and psychology of anger, including philosophers, psychological researchers, cognitive therapists, and classicists, looking at anger from many different perspectives, who want to share their knowledge with you. This event, in two weeks’ time, is completely free of charge. (Although, as always, we welcome your donations, which help us to keep doing these events!)
Experts on classical philosophy will explain the advice of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Plutarch, Aristotle, and early Christian thinkers, as well as what we can learn about anger from ancient Greek myths and legends.
Leading cognitive-behavioral therapists, will describe strategies and techniques from Aaron T. Beck’s cognitive therapy, Albert Ellis’ rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), schema therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), as well as describing methods used to teach Stoic anger-management to the inmates of British prisons.
Our psychological researchers, will be discussing state-of-the-art findings about the nature of anger, and ways of coping with the emotion, including Prof. Raymond DiGiuseppe, one of the world’s leading authorities on cognitive-behavioral therapy for anger, discussing scientific research on Stoicism.
"How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it." — Marcus Aurelius
This will be followed by an inter-disciplinary panel discussion, with researchers, clinicians, and philosophers, weighing in on questions about anger from contrasting perspectives.
Some age-old questions…
What is anger? Do we just feel angry or is it also a way of thinking?
Is all anger unhealthy, or are there good and bad forms of anger?
Does anger help motivate us to fight injustice? Or does it cloud our judgment and risk making us into tyrants ourselves?
How should we respond to our anger? By suppressing it, internalizing it, expressing it physically, or verbally, or in some other way?
How is anger related to fear, sadness, and other emotions? Do we only become angry when our feelings have already been hurt?
How did anger evolve through natural selection? Is it still adaptive in modern society or is it now an obsolete relic from the past?
Can modern psychologists and therapists learn anything of value about anger from ancient philosophers, such as the Stoics?
Join us if you’re interested in exploring these and other questions!
Stay tuned because, over the next week or so, we’ll be sharing more details with you here, including the full program of speakers.