Hale School’s annual Philosopher in Residence program this year invited Dr Skye Cleary from Columbia University to the School for a week to share ideas with Philosophy students and the wider community. Dr Cleary specialises in existentialism, particularly authenticity, anxiety, love and friendship, and is a published author on these topics.
Dr Cleary immersed herself in the life of Hale School for five days before concluding with a sold-out evening public lecture on the topic, “What’s love got to do with it?”. During the public lecture, Dr Cleary explored the philosophical and practical challenges of, and opportunities for, creating authentically meaningful relationships.
“The best kind of love is authentic love,” she said. “To love authentically, according to Simone de Beauvoir, involves respecting one another’s freedom, being tender and caring, and supporting each other’s independent projects. But the problem is that few people have been able to love authentically because of external obstacles such as social norms and internal obstacles such as possessiveness.”
During her week at Hale School, Dr Cleary taught classes across several year levels. She addressed themes of death, love and friendship with Philosophy and Ethics students in Years 10 to 12, and initiated philosophical inquiries on current affairs topics during lunchtime philosophy clubs.
Hale School has been running its Philosopher in Residence program since 2011, inviting professional philosophers from around the world to share their research and host philosophical discussions.
Many Hale students elect to study Philosophy and each year several go on to pursue their interest further at university level.
