The Calgary Philosophy Meetup

At Calgary Stoics Club, we host weekly meetups for anyone interested in learning about and applying Stoicism in everyday life. Flexible format intended to encourage discussion. Calgary Central Library, Third Floor, Room 3-17 B.

Let's try something new. For the next dozen weeks or so, starting 4/17/2022, we are going to live-read and discuss Aristotle's ~Nicomachean Ethics~. What is new and different about this project is that the translation, by Adam Beresford (2020), happens to be rendered in standard 'Murican English.
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From the translator's "Note" on the text:
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"This translation is conservative in interpretation and traditional in aim. It aims to translate the text as accurately as possible.
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"I translated every page from scratch, from a clean Greek text, rather than revising an existing translation. ... I wanted to avoid the scholars’ dialect that is traditionally used for translating Aristotle.
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"I reject the approach of Arthur Adkins, Elizabeth Anscombe, and others who followed Nietzsche in supposing that the main elements of modern thinking about right and wrong were unknown to the Greeks, or known to them only in some radically different form. My view of humanity and of our shared moral instincts is shaped by a newer paradigm. This is a post-Darwinian translation. (It is also more in line with the older, both Aristotelian and Christian view of human character.)
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"Having said that, I have no interest at all in modernizing Aristotle’s ideas. All the attitudes of this treatise remain fully Greek, very patriarchal, somewhat aristocratic, and firmly embedded in the fourth century BC. My choice of dialect (standard English) has no bearing on that whatsoever. (It is perfectly possible to express distinctively Greek and ancient attitudes in standard English.) ... I have also not simplified the text in any way. I have translated every iota, particle, preposition, noun, verb, adjective, phrase, clause, and sentence of the original. Every premise and every argument therefore remains – unfortunately – exactly as complex and annoyingly difficult as in any other version in whatever dialect.
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"Some scholars and students unwarily assume that the traditional dialect has a special connection with Greek and that using it brings readers closer to the original text; and that it makes the translation more accurate. In reality, it has no special tie to the Greek language, either in its main philosophical glossary or in its dozens of minor (and pointless) deviations from normal English. And in my view it certainly makes any translation much less accurate.
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"I will occasionally refer to the scholars’ dialect (‘Gringlish’) and its traditional glossary in the Notes."
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Here is our plan:
1. Read Intro excerpts or a summary to gain the big picture.
2. Read a segment of the translated text.
3. Discuss it analytically and interpretively.
4. Repeat again at #2 for several more times.
5. Discuss the segments evaluatively.
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Zoom is the project's current meeting platform, but that can change. The project's cloud drive is here, at which you'll find the reading texts, notes, and slideshows.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
To be the speaking participant you must RSVP via Calendly.
The link to my Calendly calendar is available in my Egora profile:
Egora-ILP.org/philosopher/Cezary_Jurewicz

All others are welcome to join to listen, use the chat, use the breakout rooms, and comment at the end.

About Citizen Office Hours:
If the Citizen is to be the highest authority in democracy, should we not have office hours to make ourselves available and accountable to our fellow citizens? The answer is YES – yes, we should.

Also, in a democracy, there is no power without responsibility. If the citizens do not accept the responsibility of being citizens, then we do not really have any power – the power we might think we have is illusory. Therefore, all responsible citizens should make themselves available at their own "Citizen Office Hours".

This event is a publication of my Citizen Office Hours. I am making myself available to discuss any of my or your ideas published in Egora. Please be already registered for Egora before our meeting and at least somewhat familiar with my Ideological Profile so we can have a proper and thorough discussion. If you share your Ideological Profile in the comments in advance, i will take some time to study it before our meeting (ideally, the audience will do so too).

Blue is the fourth studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released in 1971. Written and produced by Mitchell, Blue explores various facets of relationships such as love, heartbreak, and self-discovery with extraordinary emotional candor and features spare accompaniments on piano, guitar and dulcimer. Retrospectively, Blue has been widely regarded by music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time; Mitchell's compositions, poetic lyrics, and vocals are frequent areas of praise. In 2020, Blue was rated the 3rd greatest album of all time in Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", the highest entry by a female artist. In 2017, Blue was chosen by NPR as the greatest album of all time made by a woman. In 2000, The New York Times chose Blue as one of the 25 albums that represented "turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music". (Wikipedia)

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New-ish series! Join the Toronto Philosophy Meetup to listen to and discuss some of the greatest and most important albums of all time across different genres and eras. After each track we'll pause for a short discussion where we can share our thoughts and reflections or what the music has meant to us personally. We've had a great time discussing 4 albums so far.

I'll have lyrics up on Zoom's screen share.

For our 5th session let's listen to Joni Mitchell's masterpiece Blue, the ideal December album. I'm still blown away by this record every time I listen to it.

Albums we've previously discussed:

1. Nirvana's Nevermind (1991)
2. Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska (1982)
3. Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush (1970)
4. Radiohead’s OK Computer (1997)

We'll be joined by many other participants from the Toronto Philosophy Meetup at this meeting — https://www.meetup.com/the-toronto-philosophy-meetup/events/312261362/

Check out other music, film, and poetry discussions in the group every Sunday and occasionally other days.

Potential future listening sessions:

• The Beach Boys
• Massive Attack
• Bob Dylan
• Pavement
• Wilco
• The Beatles
• David Bowie
• Sonic Youth
• Kraftwerk
• The Velvet Underground
• Patti Smith
• Prince
• Marvin Gaye
• Lauryn Hill
• Aphex Twin
• The Pixies
• Sex Pistols
• The Clash
• The Smiths
• Joy Division
• Primal Scream
• DJ Shadow
• Public Enemy
• Aretha Franklin
• Talking Heads
• Fleetwood Mac
• Arcade Fire
• Kendrick Lamar
• The Streets
• The Strokes
• Built To Spill
• Bjork
• Nine Inch Nails
• Sufjan Stevens
• ETC...