About us
Welcome to the Edinburgh Existentialist Philosophy Reading Group! We read books, essays and stories that are historically or thematically linked to the existentialist tradition, and then we meet up weekly to talk about them. We've been reading Nietzsche, Camus, Kafka, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Heidegger and a bunch of others - take a look at our past & upcoming meetings for an idea of what we're about.
Everyone is welcome to attend. We meet in University of Edinburgh rooms, but we’re a community group and not affiliated with the university - no academic background is necessary. Our members have varying levels of prior involvement in philosophy, so even if this is your first time reading a philosophical text, please come along!
We’re always happy to welcome newcomers, even if we're half way through a long read - feel free to dive in at some point along the way. Our conversations are open, respectful, lively & wide-ranging. You might get a little more from the conversation if you've read at least some of the text, but don't worry, we're not going to test you on it :)
Our group provides opportunities for:
- meeting like-minded people interested in existentialist philosophy - enjoying philosophical reading, thinking, and discussion
- finding much needed peer-support & accountability for untangling these famously unintuitive texts - helping each other to keep up & to understand
- sharing one’s personal relationship to the text: "what this means for me"
- developing one’s own philosophical worldview and personal canon of important texts
See https://sites.google.com/view/edinburgh-existentialists/reading-suggestions for our list of past & present reading suggestions. Anyone who's been to at least one meeting can nominate, and we select our next readings by poll in our WhatsApp group chat.
Our group is really friendly and helpful.
If you've got any questions you're not too sure of feel free to ping our admins (Ben, Lachlan, Marton, Livia, and Richard) a message or grab us for a quiet word on a Weds night.
Or you can also email edinburghexistentialists@gmail.com with questions/feedback.
Also see our FAQ for more details: FAQ Document
Upcoming events
4
Summer Series No.8 - The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud
1.37 Paterson's Land, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8AQ, Edinburgh, GBSigmund Freud — The Future of an Illusion
Wed 2 Sept
This is the first of two sessions covering Freud's 1927 essay on the origins and meaning of the religious impulse. He argues that religion is best understood as a kind of wish-fulfilment born from our helplessness and need for protection. We can see how it fits amongst some of our other readings from this summer - Dostoevsky, Weil, Murdoch - that take very different positions on religious belief.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.
For more info see our: FAQ Document
19 attendees
Summer Series No.8 - The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud
1.37 Paterson's Land, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8AQ, Edinburgh, GBSigmund Freud — The Future of an Illusion
Wed 9 Sept
Completing our reading of Freud's essay on the nature of religious belief.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.
For more info see our: FAQ Document
18 attendees
Past events
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