“The labor of gratitude is the middle term in the passage of a gift. It is wholly
different ... agent of change” (Lewis Hyde, The Gift). Date: Monday, November
19th.
Phi Sigma Tau Philosophy Honor Society Invites you to:
Philosophy Bites Philosophy Bites meets at lunchtime once a month to discuss philosophical questions guided by a gobbet, or bite, of philosophical text. Our topic this week is:
Gratitude
The Philosophical Bites: “The labor of gratitude is the middle term in the passage of a gift. It is wholly different from the “obligation” we feel when we accept something we don’t really want. (An obligation may be discharged by an act of will.) A gift that has the power to change us awakens a part of the soul. But we cannot receive the gift until we can meet it as an equal. We therefore submit ourselves to the labor of becoming like the gift. Giving a return gift is the final act in the labor of gratitude, and it is also, therefore, the true acceptance of the original gift…Gratitude requires an unpaid debt, and we will be motivated to proceed only so long as the debt is felt. If we stop feeling indebted we quit, and rightly so. To sell a transformative gift therefore falsifies the relationship; it implies that the return gift has been made when in fact it can’t be made until the transformation is finished. A prepaid fee suspends the weight of the gift and de-potentiates it as an agent of change” (Lewis Hyde, The Gift)
