Victoria Szpunberg recommends a test to detect posturing

BarcelonaAfter the success achieved with The third escape at the National Theater, the playwright Victoria Szpunberg Summer vacation has begun and she's trying to get rid of her cell phone for a bit. But first, she recommends the latest essay by philosopher Pau Luque, written jointly with fellow philosopher Natalia Carrillo. Moral hypochondria, published by Anagrama. "It's a very slim booklet that can be read in one sitting, and I think it's a fabulous essay, written in a very dynamic way, very light in the best sense of the word, and at the same time it hits the mark. It's very current and very interesting," says Szpunberg.

What most captivated him is how the authors relate "the concept of moral hypochondria with the concept of pathological narcissism, and also with physiological hypochondria." "Moral hypochondria is like an excess of guilt felt by a type of person who normally lives in privilege and who believes they are so important and so central that they think social problems are related to their own prominence and experience them with disproportionate guilt," explains Szpunberg.

But this feeling of guilt that Luque and Carrillo talk about is not actually useful for solving the problems that cause it. "It's like a kind of vicious circle of self-generated, narcissistic guilt," the author emphasizes. On the other hand, she also highlightsMoral hypochondria Although it's a short book, it's "full of very interesting references," including British philosopher Mark Fisher's "Vampire Castle." "Fisher also talks about this kind of parasitic social positioning based on tweeting or making proclamations, which somehow makes moral positioning cease to be social and become posturing."