A new episode on NetVUE’s podcast series Callings brings to listeners an interview with Meghan Sullivan, the Wilsey Family Collegiate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and the director of the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study. She is also the founder of Notre Dame’s God and the Good Life program, for which she taught the nationally recognized course of the same name.
Meghan’s newest book, co-authored with Paul Blaschko, is titled The Good Life Method: Reasoning through the Big Questions of Happiness, Faith, and Meaning. This book and her teaching share foundational questions: “Am I leading a good life?” and “What can I do to make sure that my contributions to the world are meaningful?”
In this conversation, Meghan talks about the philosopher in all of us and how we are “doing philosophy” all of the time. She describes how philosophy bridges the active and reflective life, and notes how strongly students yearn to explore life’s significant questions, such as the meaning of work, love, and suffering. She expresses her hope that universities will acknowledge “the extraordinary depths of the souls of the undergraduates” that enroll and reminds all of us how our work can contribute to helping students “care for the soul.”
Click here to listen to the episode featuring Meghan Sullivan, titled “Pursuing Wisdom and the Good Life.”
Stephanie L. Johnson is the editor of Vocation Matters.