Boredom and Value

Boredom and Value Public Deposited

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Creator

Townsend, Lauren
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy

Abstract

In this paper I argue that the susceptibility to boredom and the experience of boredom can be involved in a good life in important ways. First I address why this inquiry is worth pursuing and then define what it is to be bored and what it is for an object or experience to be boring. I then discuss three ways boredom is involved with positively valued projects or experiences, first outlining some features I take to be an essential part of living a good life that often include boredom. Then I argue that the ability to grow and change is facilitated by the susceptibility to boredom. Finally, I discuss how the experience of pain can be a constituent part of certain kinds of valuable experiences and suggest there are analogous ways that the experience of boredom is also constitutive element of some valuable experiences.

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