Love, Risk, and an Uncertain Future: Fannie Bialek’s Love in Time: An Ethical Inquiry

In Love in Time: An Ethical Inquiry (University of Chicago Press, 2025), Fannie Bialek argues that love, for a finite being, is an experience of uncertainty. Central to the experience of love is the desire for more time with the beloved and for a future shaped by them, and thus a ceding of desire for control over that future. While many of the most influential conversations in Western philosophical and religious thought have tried to secure love against such uncertainty, Bialek argues that love is an experience of risk, oriented toward an uncertain future. The panel offers critical responses to Bialek’s book, engaging her conception of love and uncertainty, and her contributions to philosophy of religion and ethics, with a response from the author.