Socrates thought philosophy’s role was to prepare us for death. But what about the death of our loved ones? Philosophers have had surprisingly little to say about the experience and meaning of grief. In this interview, Kathleen Higgins rights that wrong and argues that grief has a deep connection to art, especially music, in the way it disrupts but also reorients our relationship to the world and others.

Kathleen, your work has focused on a philosophical analysis of grief and aesthetics. This is not a field you would find addressed in most modern day philosophy textbooks. What drew you to this area and why did you think it was an appropriate place for philosophical analysis?