Meghan Sullivan

So I'm a philosopher at the University of Notre Dame, where I teach a very popular course on the good life.

In my career, I have corrupted thousands of youth with philosophy, and tonight I'm here to try to corrupt you with what I think is one of the most important but least appreciated ideas in the philosophy of the good life today.

Most major philosophers in nearly every major world religion puts the virtue of love at the center of the good life.

But what exactly does it mean to practice this virtue?

To get my students thinking about this, I give them a thought experiment.

Suppose I had a pill, and if you took it, it would cause you to experience love for absolutely anyone you met.

Would you take it?

I've asked this to thousands of students, and the answer I overwhelmingly get from my very earnest, very Catholic freshmen is no.

They wouldn't take the love everyone pill.

And in hearing their answers, I start to get some insight into how they're thinking about this virtue.

One of the most profound answers I ever heard was from a 19-year-old guy I taught a couple of years ago.

Let's call him Chris to protect his identity.

When Chris raised his hand to tell me why he wouldn't take the Love Everyone pill, I half expected him to say something like, Professor, losers don't deserve my love.

But instead, he said something that was actually pretty deep.

He said, professor, I sleep with my cell phone across my bedroom at night.

And sometimes it goes off in the middle of the night and I wake up and I think, oh my God, something's happened to my mom.

And I feel sick to my stomach until I can get to the phone and answer it and know that she's okay.

Feeling that way about everyone, that would be unbearable for me.

Cruz has his finger, attention, in how we think about love.

Love is essential to the good life, but it's also risky, dangerous, it can even be downright unbearable.