Edinburgh Existentialist Philosophy Reading Group

Fyodor Dostoevsky — The Grand Inquisitor
Wed 27 May & Wed 3 Jun
This is a short, self-contained chapter from The Brothers Karamazov, in which Ivan tells his brother Alyosha a "poem" he has imagined: Christ returns to earth during the Spanish Inquisition, and is arrested and interrogated by a Cardinal who explains why the Church has had to correct his work. It's one of the most influential passages in 19th-century literature - a sustained argument about freedom, authority, and whether human beings actually want the burden of choosing for themselves. We'll spend two weeks on it, so there's time to read & to discuss & to work out what's going on - come along to either or both sessions.

Who are we?
We're a reading group that welcomes all - young, old, completely new to philosophy or well versed, from keen students to those who've never darkened the door of a lecture room. We read both long & short texts, but you don't need to join at the very start of our longer reads - you can come along at any stage of the journey. Our conversations are lively, wide-ranging & respectful.

We usually head to the pub to continue the discussion after our meetings.

Fyodor Dostoevsky — The Grand Inquisitor
Wed 27 May & Wed 3 Jun
This is a short, self-contained chapter from The Brothers Karamazov, in which Ivan tells his brother Alyosha a "poem" he has imagined: Christ returns to earth during the Spanish Inquisition, and is arrested and interrogated by a Cardinal who explains why the Church has had to correct his work. It's one of the most influential passages in 19th-century literature - a sustained argument about freedom, authority, and whether human beings actually want the burden of choosing for themselves. We'll spend two weeks on it, so there's time to read & to discuss & to work out what's going on - come along to either or both sessions.

Who are we?
We're a reading group that welcomes all - young, old, completely new to philosophy or well versed, from keen students to those who've never darkened the door of a lecture room. We read both long & short texts, but you don't need to join at the very start of our longer reads - you can come along at any stage of the journey. Our conversations are lively, wide-ranging & respectful.

We usually head to the pub to continue the discussion after our meetings.

Plato — Symposium
Wed 10, 17 & 24 Jun
A dinner party in 416 BC at which seven Athenians - including Socrates, the playwright Aristophanes, and the politician Alcibiades - each give a speech in praise of Eros. The result is one of the strangest and most beautiful works in the Western canon: part philosophical treatise on love and beauty, part comic drama, part scandalous gossip about Socrates' personal life. We'll take three weeks, working through the speeches in order and giving proper attention to Diotima's famous "ladder" and Alcibiades' drunken late entrance, both of which reward slow reading.

Who are we?
We're a reading group that welcomes all - young, old, completely new to philosophy or well versed, from keen students to those who've never darkened the door of a lecture room. We read both long & short texts, but you don't need to join at the very start of our longer reads - you can come along at any stage of the journey. Our conversations are lively, wide-ranging & respectful.

We usually head to the pub to continue the discussion after our meetings.

Plato — Symposium
Wed 10, 17 & 24 Jun
A dinner party in 416 BC at which seven Athenians - including Socrates, the playwright Aristophanes, and the politician Alcibiades - each give a speech in praise of Eros. The result is one of the strangest and most beautiful works in the Western canon: part philosophical treatise on love and beauty, part comic drama, part scandalous gossip about Socrates' personal life. We'll take three weeks, working through the speeches in order and giving proper attention to Diotima's famous "ladder" and Alcibiades' drunken late entrance, both of which reward slow reading.

Who are we?
We're a reading group that welcomes all - young, old, completely new to philosophy or well versed, from keen students to those who've never darkened the door of a lecture room. We read both long & short texts, but you don't need to join at the very start of our longer reads - you can come along at any stage of the journey. Our conversations are lively, wide-ranging & respectful.

We usually head to the pub to continue the discussion after our meetings.