In this final installment of our “What is Philosophy?” series, we’ll look at some of the most fundamental issues in philosophy: knowledge, reasoning, and what makes for an effective argument. Learn more and register for this Zoom workshop here!
Philosophers sometimes treat knowledge as something we have when we’re seated comfortably in a proverbial or literal armchair. Yet at the very least, this seems to leave out a significant aspect of our humanity: the fact that we are embodied creatures, who actively and dynamically interact with the things that we think about and know. In this workshop led by philosophers Hila Tzipora Chase & David Nowakowski, we’ll look directly at ways of experiencing, of encountering, and of knowing that involve the full, embodied human being.
In this workshop we'll explore death and various attitudes and perspectives on the meanings of life through the lens of historical philosophy with Julia Jorati. Learn more and register for this Zoom workshop here!
In this workshop we'll look at a form of environmental conservation and ecological restoration known as "rewilding" with philosopher Christopher Preston. Learn more and register for this Zoom workshop here!
In this workshop we'll explore the philosophical & historical roots of Stoic philosophy, some of its central theses, its modern revival, and how it manifests as philosophy as a way of life. Along the way may look at a few texts & do some exercises...but mostly we'll learn together through conversation with guest philosopher Rob Colter. Learn more and register for this Zoom workshop here!
In this outdoor workshop we'll be exploring the idea of justice as fairness -- a position advanced by the late philosopher John Rawls. The workshop will be introductory and will discuss justice through the lens of equity and fairness -- two critical features of Rawls' theory of justice -- and the dynamics of Rawls' arguments and their implications. Competing perspectives and modern day comparisons on justice will also be explored, as will discussion about the intellectual climate within which Rawls' contributions to philosophy arose. Learn more and RSVP for this workshop here!
In this workshop, we’ll explore three techniques of meditation with deep roots in Western spiritual, religious, and philosophical life and practice. We’ll begin with two simple exercises, popular among the ancient Pythagoreans and Stoics, for developing the power of recollection and preparing ourselves for challenging circumstances. Then we’ll turn to a practice known as “discursive meditation,” where a particular sort of focused inner dialogue is used to unlock layers of meaning within a text, an image, or a conceptual system. Learn more & RSVP here!
Gertrude Stein’s “there is no there there” has been used as a description for placeless spaces. But what exactly is “place”? There are lots of ways to think about it. In this workshop led by Dennis McCahon we’ll be thinking about “place” in terms of our urban outdoors. When we get that Helena “sense of place” out there, what’s going on? What are we sensing? Is it urban design — deliberate “place-making” on somebody’s part? Is it a lucky accident? Something else? If it’s a mix of those, what’s the ratio? When can urban design be called “place-making” at all? This is an unruly bunch of questions. Unruly questions, though, can be fun, and even if they don’t lead to a hard-set definition, they can, in the case of Helena’s urban outdoors, lead to something useful — a shared, or at least better clarified and articulated vision and use of a Helena-specific, vocabulary and frame of reference — a basis, maybe, for practical understanding. Learn more, download the preparatory material & RSVP here!
Some experiences in life are so significant, so profound, so intense, that after we go through them, there’s a very real sense in which “we’re not the same person we used to be.” That might involve a change in how we understand ourselves or the world, or in what we value or take to be important. In this workshop, we’ll develop some basic concepts and categories, that might help us make sense of these transformative experiences. We'll also point toward some of the bigger philosophical questions, that are lurking behind the problem of transformative experience, including rational choice, personal identity, and freedom & the Good. Learn more and register for this Zoom workshop here!
Ancient authors tell us that, at the door to Plato’s Academy, there was a sign which read “Let no one who does not geometrize enter here.” Regardless of the literal truth of that story, the practice of geometry clearly held an important place in the Academy, and in the ancient Greek philosophical tradition more generally. Over the course of four weeks together, we’ll explore some of the reasons why. This exploration will combine hands-on, practical, collaborative work in doing geometry, with philosophical reading and reflection on what we’re doing, and why it matters. This is not a "math class." Each and every week, we’ll combine four different elements: Practical exercises in geometry, short readings from the dialogues of Plato, ideas drawn from other ancient philosophers like Aristotle, Euclid, Iamblichus, and Proclus, and lively & active conversation and collaboration, as a community of learners, exploring together the interplay of these philosophical and geometrical themes. Learn more and register here!
Ancient authors tell us that, at the door to Plato’s Academy, there was a sign which read “Let no one who does not geometrize enter here.” Regardless of the literal truth of that story, the practice of geometry clearly held an important place in the Academy, and in the ancient Greek philosophical tradition more generally. Over the course of four weeks together, we’ll explore some of the reasons why. This exploration will combine hands-on, practical, collaborative work in doing geometry, with philosophical reading and reflection on what we’re doing, and why it matters. This is not a "math class." Each and every week, we’ll combine four different elements: Practical exercises in geometry, short readings from the dialogues of Plato, ideas drawn from other ancient philosophers like Aristotle, Euclid, Iamblichus, and Proclus, and lively & active conversation and collaboration, as a community of learners, exploring together the interplay of these philosophical and geometrical themes. Learn more and register here!
Ancient authors tell us that, at the door to Plato’s Academy, there was a sign which read “Let no one who does not geometrize enter here.” Regardless of the literal truth of that story, the practice of geometry clearly held an important place in the Academy, and in the ancient Greek philosophical tradition more generally. Over the course of four weeks together, we’ll explore some of the reasons why. This exploration will combine hands-on, practical, collaborative work in doing geometry, with philosophical reading and reflection on what we’re doing, and why it matters. This is not a "math class." Each and every week, we’ll combine four different elements: Practical exercises in geometry, short readings from the dialogues of Plato, ideas drawn from other ancient philosophers like Aristotle, Euclid, Iamblichus, and Proclus, and lively & active conversation and collaboration, as a community of learners, exploring together the interplay of these philosophical and geometrical themes. Learn more and register here!
