About us
We're a community fostering friendship and insights by engaging in thoughtful discussions on significant concepts discovered from reading books and intellectual consumption.
Upcoming events
41
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Pier 57, 25 11th Avenue, New York, NY, USReading the existentialists for the last few months we have heard Dostoevsky's name come up many times. For this reason, it seems fitting to dive into the novella by Dostoevsky for a week before transitioning back to philosophy of science. It has also been pointed out to me that there are parallels between the main character in Notes from the Underground and the main character in Nausea. So we may want to specifically note these parallels to add to our discussion for this week.
Participants should read the entire reading before attending this in person meeting. I will be reading from this version here and a free copy can be found here. ***We will be meeting in the Oyster classroom for this discussion***
For questions please send me a message or post to meetup.
Best,
Brian
18 attendees
Heidegger on Enframing, Science, and Reflection
Pier 57, 25 11th Avenue, New York, NY, USIn this session, we’ll discuss two short but influential essays by Martin Heidegger:
- The Question Concerning Technology
- Science and Reflection
Together, these essays ask: What happens to the world, and to us, when science and technology become the dominant ways reality is understood?
Heidegger is not asking whether technology is good or bad, nor is he calling for a rejection of science. Instead, he argues that modern technology and modern science shape how reality shows up for us. Training us to see nature, time, work, and even ourselves primarily as resources to be measured, optimized, and managed. He calls this way of seeing “enframing.”
In The Question Concerning Technology, Heidegger explores how modern technology differs from earlier forms of making and craft, and why its danger lies less in machines themselves than in the narrowing of how we understand meaning and value.
In Science and Reflection, he deepens this analysis by examining scientific thinking itself, suggesting that science succeeds precisely because it operates within a projected framework and that reflection begins when we become aware of those hidden assumptions.
Reading for this week (60 pages total):
Martin Heidegger:- The Question Concerning Technology (33 pages)
- Science and Reflection (27 pages)
I will be reading the essay collection available here.
Free pdfs are available online if you search for them.Rules for Our Group
1. Be Courteous
Respectful disagreement is totally acceptable; Condescension is not.
2. Be Concise
Keep comments brief, on topic, and allow space for others to join in.
3. Do the Reading
If you have not done the reading for the week you are welcome to attend and listen to the discussion, but out of respect for those who have read, you will not be permitted to participate in the discussion.Finally, Please update your RSVP if you are no longer able to attend the event.
- inaccurate RSVPs make it difficult for coordinators to plan successful events
- inaccurate RSVPs prevent waitlisted individuals from attending
*Multiple no shows may result in losing RSVP privileges for future events.
For more info and FAQ on the group click here.
Looking forward to the discussion!
- Brent24 attendees
Decline of the West, Volume Two - Oswald Spengler | Part 1, Reading & Discussion
Ace Hotel New York, 20 West 29th Street, New York, NY, USAlright folks.
This will be the first edition in our exploration of Oswald Spengler's 1922 follow-up to 1918's The Decline of the West: Form & Actuality - from henceforth, Perspectives of World-History will be our primary concern.
Behind us are the lengthy considerations of Rembrandt's studio-brown, the deliberations on varieties of garden-art, the confusion surrounding hatred of plein-air, the bickering over the Renaissance as a revolt of plastic poseurs, the vague definitions of pseudomorphosis, the designation of the Apollonian as a world-fearing faction of fumbling body-obsessed buffoons. Certainly this is behind us. It must be. How could it not be.
For this initial session, we will be reading Chapter 1: Origin and Landscape - A. The Cosmic & the Microcosm, Chapter 2: Origin and Landscape - B. The Group of the Higher Cultures, and Chapter 3: Origin and Landscape - C. The Relations Between the Cultures. If you're reading the Arktos Edition (which I recommend everyone do), this will be around 105 pages.
Here is a free PDF version of the text: Ta-da. Volume 2 starts on page 461 of the PDF.
It's the same translation from Charles Francis Atkinson across the board so, ultimately, it does not matter whether you proceed via the PDF or the printed copy from Arktos or any of the other sellers on Amazon. Work with whatever works with you.As always, if you're unable to complete the reading prior to our meeting, no worries - it's dense and semi-lengthy, so we're just happy to have you and welcome whatever insights, critiques, questions, etc. you may have based on what you were able to read. That said, given that this is the second volume of a ~1300 page text, at least bother to read the Wikipedia before deciding to come yap with us.
For those who have missed the first five sessions, I've been working needlessly hard on compiling a Spenglerian glossary that provides definitions for most of what has been covered so far. I'll provide an updated version closer to the meeting, but in the meantime, you can access it here: link link link. Let me know if you have issues.
We will be meeting in the Ace Hotel lobby on W 29th. There is coffee, breakfast, and booze. Message me the day of if you can't find us. We usually sit toward the back of the lobby next to the bar.
As always, this group is open to newcomers to Spengler, novices of philosophy, history, aesthetics, etc., ragamuffins, ne'er-do-wells, urchins of all sorts, etc. All insights are encouraged, just be somewhat sensible and all the way cool. Ain't no fun to be found in nodding your head along with a thinker for a hundred pages - strive to disagree, with decency.
Alright, looking forward to it - again, reach out to me with any questions or concerns in the meantime.
Looking forward,
Hamp
13 attendees
Of Grammatology (week 2)
Art Cafe, 884 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, NY, USJoin us for weekly discussions of Jacques Derrida's 1967 deconstruction of the speech/writing binary in western philosophy, Of Grammatology.
Required reading for this meeting: ch. 2 Linguistics and Grammatology (pg. 29) up to The Hinge [La Brisure] (pg. 71)
Most of us are reading the 2016 edition of the book. We plan to meet weekly and work our way through the whole book about 30–40 pages at a time.
We'll be meeting at Art Cafe + Bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
This event is free but we're all still socially obligated to purchase something, and Art Cafe is a cool place that we should support! They have a bar and they serve coffee and tea among other non-alcoholic drinks, as well as food.
9 attendees
Past events
886
Group links
Organizers
Members
6,959
