University of Oklahoma

Oklahoma Memorial Union, Heritage Room

A lecture by Prof. Zena Hitz (St. John's College, Annapolis).

7:00 PM

Free and open to the public.

Event Description

We are not mere instruments of social utility.  We are meant for more than making money or winning political power.  Work is crucial but not sufficient for human happiness.  Leisure—savoring what is because it is—is what makes us human, and the only thing that could ensure a happy life.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Zena Hitz is a Tutor at St. John's College where she teaches across the liberal arts.  She is interested in defending intellectual activity for its own sake, as against its use for economic or political goals.  Her forthcoming book, Intellectual Life, is rooted in essays that have appeared in First Things, Modern Age, and The Washington Post.  Her scholarly work has focused on the political thought of Plato and Aristotle, especially the question of how law cultivates or fails to cultivate human excellence.  She received an MPhil in Classics from Cambridge and studied Social Thought and Philosophy at the University of Chicago before finishing her PhD in Philosophy at Princeton.