On Loneliness and Obligation
Huw Davies,
Blog of the APA,
Dec 16, 2024
The argument that the way to combat loneliness is through obligations and duties is, to my mind, old and uninteresting. It could be that loneliness is responsible for fascism, as suggested here with reference to Hannah Arendt, and it could be that people have been getting more lonely recently, though I don't think counting 'minutes a day in social engagement' is a measure of that. But I don't think we address the problem by eliminating the state as the key agent for care for the poor, the sick, the elderly. I mean, after all, we got the state involved because the poor, sick and elderly weren't getting care. No, I don't think the way around loneliness is to have people telling you what to do (and that, really, is 'duty' at its essence, right?). I think that loneliness is addressed by looking at connection, at presence, at the idea that what we do (and even what we think) matters. Anyhow: interesting article.
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