Whether joyful or tragic, visible or invisible, turning points punctuate our lives, transform us, and make us question ourselves.

For philosopher Claire Marin, our lives are defined as much by the beaten path as when we leave it, in the promises we make and break alike. Birth, mourning, divorce, new love, wanderlust: our strayings and hesitations unsettle our self-image and rattle our certainies. But they also remind us life is fundamentally unpredictable, and strengthen our capacity to deal with uncertainty, work with disasters, surmount them, and start over again. Claire Marin iis a philosophy professor for post-baccalaureate students preparing for the Grandes écoles and an associated member of the ENS-Ulm.