Philosopher David Rondel discusses his book A Danger Which We Do Not Know

Join professor of philosophy David Rondel and author Claire Stanford at the Edendale Library on Saturday, January 11th at 1:00 p.m. for a discussion of Rondel’s new book, .

A Danger Which We Do Not Know tells a story about how philosophy and anxiety are tangled up with each other. Rondel explores how anxiety is one of the main human contexts in which the inclination to philosophize arises. The experience of anxiety sometimes prompts us to reflect and inquire, drawing us toward perennial philosophical questions about the nature of reality and knowledge, freedom and morality, the meaning of life and the prospect of death. Anxiety can give these questions fresh urgency, making them vivid and momentous in ways they otherwise might not be. Rondel also considers how turning to philosophy can sometimes offer relief for the anxious sufferer. In the face of the overwhelming force of anxiety, philosophy offers powerful tools. 

David Rondel is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Nevada, Reno. His main areas of research and teaching specialization include social and political philosophy, philosophy of law, American Pragmatism, and the philosophy of emotion. He has published widely in these areas. He is the author of Pragmatist Egalitarianism (Oxford University Press, 2018) and, most recently, the editor of The Moral Psychology of Anxiety (Lexington Books, 2024), and A Danger Which We Do Not Know: A Philosophical Journey into Anxiety (Oxford University Press, 2024). He lives in Reno, Nevada, with his wife and two children.

Claire Stanford is the author of the novel Happy for You, which was named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and awarded the 2023 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Her writing has appeared in Black Warrior Review, The Rumpus, Lit Hub, Electric Lit, The Millions, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. She lives in Los Angeles, where she is an assistant professor of creative writing at Loyola Marymount University.

Email [email protected] for more information.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Edendale Branch Library, 2011 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, United States