Rotterdam Philosophy guided reading group

Come and discuss one of the classics on love and rherorics, with the central question: What is love?

The most beautiful idea from the book, according to me, is Diotima's ladder of love, if you didn't have enough time to read the dialogue's:

The Rungs of the Ladder

1. Love of a Single Beautiful Body The ascent begins in youth with a physical attraction to one specific person's outer comeliness, which inspires noble thoughts and discussions.
2. Love of All Beautiful Bodies The lover realizes that physical beauty in one body is kindred to the beauty in all other bodies. This broader perspective softens the obsessive attachment to a single person, giving rise to an appreciation for physical grace in general.
3. Love of Beautiful Souls and Minds The seeker elevates their vision beyond the physical realm, coming to value moral, spiritual, and intellectual character far more than outward appearance. At this stage, one loves a virtuous person even if their body lacks comeliness, generating ideas that help guide and improve the young.
4. Love of Beautiful Laws and Institutions The focus expands from individual character to the broader social world. The lover sees the beauty in customs, laws, and moral institutions, recognizing that all forms of societal beauty share a common family.
5. Love of the Beauty of Knowledge (The Sciences) Turning away from specific human affairs, the philosopher looks toward the "vast sea of beauty" found in various branches of knowledge, philosophy, and truth. Here, the mind generates veritably noble concepts in a boundless love of wisdom.
6. Vision of Absolute Beauty (The Form of Beauty) At the summit of the ladder, the philosopher suddenly catches sight of Absolute Beauty (Autoto Kalon). This is not a physical shape, a word, or a specific science, but eternal, unchanging, pure, unalloyed, and perfect Beauty itself—the transcendent Form from which all physical and mental beauties derive their value.

***

The Ultimate Purpose
Diotima explains that by gazing upon Absolute Beauty with the eye of the mind, a human being no longer creates mere "images" or shadows of virtue, but true, genuine virtue. Through this realization, the philosopher fulfills human destiny: gaining divine friendship and achieving true immortality.

Whether you're a seasoned philosophy lover or reading Plato for the very first time, this book promises a fascinating discussion on intimacy, friendship, and passion.

Want to have deep conversations on philosophy and life in good company, which always consist of at least one person with a good sense of humour? Then please join this reading group.

We aim at making this a kind and inclusive group, where everyone feels appreciated and warmly welcomed. No background knowledge or reading is obligatory; everyone is free to join and listen in or join the discussion we're having.

The purpose of this group is to delve into philosophical topics and classic and modern philosophers. Each month we read a book of a contemporary or old philosopher, which we dan delve into in an informal and accessible manner. As a philosopher I can guide these meetings if wanted or needed, but will do minimum lecturing, except if anyone feels like it.
A professor of mine said: 'Bring philosophy everywhere' and that is what I try to do, also to give away my philosophy degree for free to a group such as this.

I have more than a decade worth of teaching experience, which also consists in engaging in philosophical and Socratic dialogue in the university of applied sciences, highschool, primary school and in prison. I also used philosophy as a conversational tool in the field of social work in the past.

"On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense") is an (initially) unpublished work of Friedrich Nietzsche written in 1873, one year after The Birth of Tragedy. It deals largely with epistemological questions of truth and language, including the formation of concepts. Every word immediately becomes a concept, inasmuch as it is not intended to serve as a reminder of the unique and wholly individualized original experience to which it owes its birth, but must at the same time fit innumerable, more or less similar cases—which means, strictly speaking, never equal—in other words, a lot of unequal cases. Every concept originates through our equating what is unequal. According to Paul F. Glenn, Nietzsche is arguing that "concepts are metaphors which do not correspond to reality." Although all concepts are human inventions (created by common agreement to facilitate ease of communication), human beings forget this fact after inventing them, and come to believe that they are "true" and do correspond to reality. Thus Nietzsche argues that "truth" is actually: A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms—in short, a sum of human relations which have been enhanced, transposed, and embellished poetically and rhetorically, and which after long use seem firm, canonical, and obligatory to a people: truths are illusions about which one has forgotten that this is what they are; metaphors which are worn out and without sensuous power; coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins. These ideas about truth and its relation to human language have been particularly influential among postmodern theorists, and "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" is one of the works most responsible for Nietzsche's reputation (albeit a contentious one) as "the godfather of postmodernism."

Want to have deep conversations on philosophy and life in good company, which always consist of at least one person with a good sense of humour? Then please join this reading group.

We aim at making this a kind and inclusive group, where everyone feels appreciated and warmly welcomed. No background knowledge or reading is obligatory; everyone is free to join and listen in or join the discussion we're having.

The purpose of this group is to delve into philosophical topics and classic and modern philosophers. Each month we read a book of a contemporary or old philosopher, which we dan delve into in an informal and accessible manner. As a philosopher I can guide these meetings if wanted or needed, but will do minimum lecturing, except if anyone feels like it.
A professor of mine said: 'Bring philosophy everywhere' and that is what I try to do, also to give away my philosophy degree for free to a group such as this.

I have more than a decade worth of teaching experience, which also consists in engaging in philosophical and Socratic dialogue in the university of applied sciences, highschool, primary school and in prison. I also used philosophy as a conversational tool in the field of social work in the past.

A deeply irreverent and Biblically correct takedown of the far-right and their co-opting of religion, and guide to engaging them in effective conversational combat

For more than two centuries the United States constitution has given Americans the right to live in a society where church and state exist independently and without conflict. So why is Christianity suddenly being co-opted by far-right groups, politicians, friends, and family members to justify oppressive and unequal policies? And how do we fight back against those acting—literally—in bad faith?

Separation of Church and Hate, by comedian and TV and radio host John Fugelsang—himself the child of a former Catholic nun and Franciscan brother—finally offers the answers. In this informative, perspective-shifting guide, Fugelsang takes readers through common talking points and arguments—God condemns abortion, gay marriage is a sin, guns are an ordained right, and more—and exposes their hypocrisy and inaccuracy through scripture, philosophy, and plain old common sense.

Told with Fugelsang’s trademark blend of radical honesty, relevant humor, and deep political and religious knowledge, Separation of Church and Hate is the book every American today needs. It's a return to civility, a rallying cry for compassion and clarity, and a reclamation of the values and truths Americans hold dear. It's for anyone raised Christian but now disillusioned by organized religion; for Democrats, progressives, liberals, and moderates fed up with the right wing pretending to own Christianity; for atheists, agnostics, and any one of any faith who's sick of fundamentalists cloaking hatred in religion. It's for everyone who's realized that one doesn't have to subscribe to a religion to be a good person.

Want to have deep conversations on philosophy and life in good company, which always consist of at least one person with a good sense of humour? Then please join this reading group.

We aim at making this a kind and inclusive group, where everyone feels appreciated and warmly welcomed. No background knowledge or reading is obligatory; everyone is free to join and listen in or join the discussion we're having.

The purpose of this group is to delve into philosophical topics and classic and modern philosophers. Each month we read a book of a contemporary or old philosopher, which we dan delve into in an informal and accessible manner. As a philosopher I can guide these meetings if wanted or needed, but will do minimum lecturing, except if anyone feels like it.
A professor of mine said: 'Bring philosophy everywhere' and that is what I try to do, also to give away my philosophy degree for free to a group such as this.

I have more than a decade worth of teaching experience, which also consists in engaging in philosophical and Socratic dialogue in the university of applied sciences, highschool, primary school and in prison. I also used philosophy as a conversational tool in the field of social work in the past.

For today we will read the seminal and grounding works on ethics: J.S. Mills Utilitarianism and Kants Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals.

What matters more when we act: intentions? Principles? Or solely the consequences of our actions?

Want to have deep conversations on philosophy and life in good company, which always consist of at least one person with a good sense of humour? Then please join this reading group.

We aim at making this a kind and inclusive group, where everyone feels appreciated and warmly welcomed. No background knowledge or reading is obligatory; everyone is free to join and listen in or join the discussion we're having.

The purpose of this group is to delve into philosophical topics and classic and modern philosophers. Each month we read a book of a contemporary or old philosopher, which we dan delve into in an informal and accessible manner. As a philosopher I can guide these meetings if wanted or needed, but will do minimum lecturing, except if anyone feels like it.
A professor of mine said: 'Bring philosophy everywhere' and that is what I try to do, also to give away my philosophy degree for free to a group such as this.

I have more than a decade worth of teaching experience, which also consists in engaging in philosophical and Socratic dialogue in the university of applied sciences, highschool, primary school and in prison. I also used philosophy as a conversational tool in the field of social work in the past.