"Consolation" belongs to the vocabulary with a rather tarnished reputation: cheap consolation, false consolation, consolation prize, not being in one's right mind.... "Acting instead of consoling" is the motto, "therapy instead of resignation" the variant. There is something old-fashioned about consolation. Nevertheless, there is a longing for it; people have always been looking for "sources of comfort". In the midst of the climate and world political upheavals of our time, in the midst of the Ukraine war, a play recently celebrated at the Salzburg Festival is called "Crazy for Comfort". People are looking for consolation because helping alone no longer helps, because skills are at an end. Because something irreversible has happened, injuries cannot be patched up, because life, the world is out of joint. Apparently, "consolation" is a gift, a present; the "giving of consolation" suggests this. In any case, "consolation" is a riddle. Jean-Pierre Wils tries to solve it in this lecture.

Dr. Jean-Pierre Wils, born in 1957, studied philosophy and theology in Leuven/Belgium and Tü-bingen. He has been a full professor of Christian ethics since 1996, full professor of social, political and cultural philosophy since 2010, and full professor of philosophical ethics and cultural philosophy at the University of Nijmegen Netherlands since 2015. Wils has published numerous papers and was, for many years, co-editor of the journal "Ethik und Unterricht" and editor of the essay series "Disput". Since 2021 he has acted as editor of "Scheidewege. Writings for Scepticism and Criticism".

Jean-Pierre Wils not only wrote the publication of the TROST exhibition, he also profitably accompanied the curatorial process of the exhibition. (Jean-Pierre Wils. Why we need comfort. On the traces of a human need, March 2023, S. Hirzel Verlag)