In this episode, we talk about Chapters 2 and 3 of Rachel Cusk’s Outline alongside a chapter from Williams’s book Truth and Truthfulness. The chapter considers the differences between sincerity and authenticity as contending ideals of truthfulness about the self. These two ideals, on Williams’s argument, entail different ways of thinking about the self. We contrast Williams’s notion of authenticity with that invoked by various characters in Outline.

Speaker names:

• Dr. Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor in the English Department at UCL.
• Alice Harberd, PhD Student in the Philosophy Department at UCL.

In this episode, we consider the first chapter of Cusk’s Outline alongside a paper by Daniela Dover entitled ‘The Conversational Self’. The paper examines the role of conversations in getting to know people, what an understanding of this entails for how we think about the self, and how open we should be to the influence of others. We analyse the conversations reported in Cusk’s novel in the light of Dover’s ideal.

Speaker names:

• Dr. Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor in the English Department at UCL.
• Alice Harberd, PhD Student in the Philosophy Department at UCL.

Reference to the self is ubiquitous in contemporary culture. But what is the self? Is it discovered or created? What kinds of self does literature depict? And what do philosophers have to say about it? In this trailer episode we introduce the podcast’s key questions and the literary authors on whose works we will be focusing throughout the series.

Speaker names:

• Dr. Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor in the English Department at UCL.
• Alice Harberd, PhD Student in the Philosophy Department at UCL.

Transcript: https://sites.google.com/view/uclphilandlitgroup/podcast