Lund Philosophical Society is pleased to announce our 2nd speaker of 2025: Susanne Burri (Universität Konstanz) who will be giving a talk titled "On the Prudential Value of Final (and Other) Goodbyes". The talk is open to everyone.

Wednesday the 12th of February at 18:15 in LUX: B237, we will have the pleasure of welcoming Susanne Burri (Universität Konstanz) who will give a philosophical talk titled "On the Prudential Value of Final (and Other) Goodbyes". The talk is open to everyone.

As always, the talk will be followed by an informal reception in the Department of Philosophy's staff room for members of Lund Philosophical Society (one can become a member for a year for 40SEK).

Hope to see you there!

Abstract: On the Prudential Value of Final (and Other) Goodbyes

Many of us are inclined to think that we say goodbye primarily for the sake of other people. This holds true, in particular, for our final goodbyes, which we say when we assume that we have only a short amount of time left to live. We say these goodbyes—so the common thought goes—because this helps those we leave behind to cope with their impending loss. In my talk, I will argue that in addition to, and independently of these beneficial effects on others, saying goodbye can be prudentially valuable for the departing person. More precisely, I contend that the context of goodbyes is well-suited to cultivating appreciative understanding. If we cultivate appreciative understanding, we deliberately take in what is shaping or has shaped our lives for the better, partly by observing and being open to learn from our emotions. I claim that cultivating appreciative understanding is constitutive of a human life well lived, and is thus prudentially valuable even if it has no further beneficial effects.