The Nothing Project

Keiji Nishitani — Religion and Nothingness
Jean-Paul Sartre — Being and Nothingness
Wed 7 Oct << note the change of date!!
Paterson's Land, room G43
Our next long reading project takes on the challenge posed by nihilism, via major works by Keiji Nishitani and Jean-Paul Sartre.

During this first week, we're setting up the whole project - what do we mean by nihilism, what threat does it pose, and how do the works that we're planning to read take it on?

We'll base a lot of this intro session in a re-reading of some key texts that we've already covered: section 125 on the Death of God from The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche (& also section 343 on the same subject) - the short section called "How the True World Finally Became a Fable" from Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols - and section 40 on Dasein's anxiety from Martin Heidegger's Being and Time. By bringing those sections together, we can see how a (mis?)reading of Nietzsche and Heidegger threatens to pull out the carpet from under the sense of solidity and certainty that much of European philosophy had been relying on until that point.

Next week, we'll kick off our reading of the Nishitani. It's a big book, so that will likely take us through until after Christmas - then we'll start on the Sartre early in the new year.

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 on the group, see our FAQ Document
For more info on these readings, see The Nothing Project