Gordon Marino

Professor of Philosophy, St Olaf College

Gordon Marino is emeritus professor of philosophy and director of the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. His most recent book is The Existentialist’s Survival Guide: How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age (2018). He lives in Northfield, Minnesota.

Written by Gordon Marino

A prescription pill bottle spilling tablets onto an open book with highlighted text.

ADDICTION

Professor’s little helper

Once I was prescribed Ritalin, I couldn’t do without it. How had I functioned before I got my pharmaceutical wings?

by Gordon Marino

Photo of a man in a suit standing on Edmund Pettus Bridge against a clear blue sky.

ETHICS

Why Kierkegaard believed it’s lazy to admire our moral heroes

It’s not enough to shake our heads in admiration of martyrs for the good – we must also follow their ethical example

by Gordon Marino

Photo of a green tent pitched on stone steps beside large columns and a bust at night, urban surroundings are visible.

COMPASSION AND EMPATHY

Pity is an emotion easy to scorn but central to our humanity

Have pity for pity: when misused, it can express condescension or selfish relief, but it can also be a consoling virtue

by Gordon Marino