About us
This group is for anyone interested in exploring literature, philosophy, and cinema through occasional film viewings and monthly reading discussions, hosted and curated by a local Philosophy professor, that will be centered around classic and contemporary works of (primarily) Western Philosophy, Fiction, and Cinema. We will not only look at the traditional cast of existential characters (Sartre, de Beauvoir, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Camus, Kafka), but will also be very open to other work within the European philosophical tradition that is derivative of, influential to, or critical towards "existential" philosophy. Special consideration will also be given to works within the "phenomenological" tradition. Join us in this exciting intellectual endeavor! Get ready for fun, riveting, and thoughtful discussions about society, values, faith, spirituality, truth, experience, subjectivity, and existence (of course).
Upcoming events
8
Paul Coelho, The Alchemist
Bayou Heights Bier Garten, 3905 Washington Ave,, Houston, TX, USFor April, we will discuss Paul Coelho's popular novel The Alchemist.
For our discussion, we will be meeting at the Bayou Heights Biergarten and sitting inside (upstairs above the beer taproom). Below is a link to the reading followed by a brief description of the work:CLICK HERE TO VIEW/DOWNLOAD THE READING
Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom, and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, this beloved work of philosophical fiction, The Alchemist, has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.
This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and soul-stirring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried near the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself a king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles in his path. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a profound journey of spiritual self-discovery.
Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.11 attendees
Kierkegaard, Philosophical Fragments
Bayou Heights Bier Garten, 3905 Washington Ave,, Houston, TX, USFor May's meeting, we will begin our two-month discussion of Søren Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments, focusing this month on the first half of the essay (the Preface and chapters 1-3). For our discussion, we will be meeting at the Bayou Heights Biergarten and sitting inside (upstairs above the beer taproom). Below is a link to the reading followed by a brief description of the work:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW/DOWNLOAD THE READING
Philosophical Fragments, written by Søren Kierkegaard under the pseudonym Johannes Climacus, is a pivotal 1844 work that contrasts Christian paradox with Greek philosophy, particularly the Socratic idea of truth as recollection, arguing that Christian truth is acquired through grace and the "absolute paradox" of the God-man. It explores doubt, the limits of reason, and the individual's passionate commitment to faith, challenging the speculative theology of Hegel and laying groundwork for existentialism.
The central issue of Johannes Climacus is doubt. Probably written between November 1842 and April 1843 but unfinished and published only posthumously, this book was described by Kierkegaard as an attack on modern speculative philosophy by "means of the melancholy irony, which did not consist in any single utterance on the part of Johannes Climacus but in his whole life. . . . Johannes does what we are told to do--he actually doubts everything--he suffers through all the pain of doing that, becomes cunning, almost acquires a bad conscience. When he has gone as far in that direction as he can go and wants to come back, he cannot do so. . . . Now he despairs, his life is wasted, his youth is spent in these deliberations. Life does not acquire any meaning for him, and all this is the fault of philosophy." A note by Kierkegaard suggests how he might have finished the work: "Doubt is conquered not by the system but by faith, just as it is faith that has brought doubt into the world!."
6 attendees
Kierkegaard, Philosophical Fragments
Bayou Heights Bier Garten, 3905 Washington Ave,, Houston, TX, USFor our June meeting, we will conclude our two-month discussion of Søren Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments, focusing this month on the second half of the essay (Chapter 4 forward, beginning on page 31 of the PDF below).
For our discussion, we will be meeting at the Bayou Heights Biergarten and sitting inside (upstairs above the beer taproom). Below is a link to the reading followed by a brief description of the work:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW/DOWNLOAD THE READING
Philosophical Fragments, written by Søren Kierkegaard under the pseudonym Johannes Climacus, is a pivotal 1844 work that contrasts Christian paradox with Greek philosophy, particularly the Socratic idea of truth as recollection, arguing that Christian truth is acquired through grace and the "absolute paradox" of the God-man. It explores doubt, the limits of reason, and the individual's passionate commitment to faith, challenging the speculative theology of Hegel and laying groundwork for existentialism.
The central issue of Johannes Climacus is doubt. Probably written between November 1842 and April 1843 but unfinished and published only posthumously, this book was described by Kierkegaard as an attack on modern speculative philosophy by "means of the melancholy irony, which did not consist in any single utterance on the part of Johannes Climacus but in his whole life. . . . Johannes does what we are told to do--he actually doubts everything--he suffers through all the pain of doing that, becomes cunning, almost acquires a bad conscience. When he has gone as far in that direction as he can go and wants to come back, he cannot do so. . . . Now he despairs, his life is wasted, his youth is spent in these deliberations. Life does not acquire any meaning for him, and all this is the fault of philosophy." A note by Kierkegaard suggests how he might have finished the work: "Doubt is conquered not by the system but by faith, just as it is faith that has brought doubt into the world!."4 attendees
Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Bayou Heights Bier Garten, 3905 Washington Ave,, Houston, TX, USAt July's meeting, we will begin our four-month exploration of Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
We will be meeting at the Bayou Heights Biergarten and sitting inside (upstairs above the beer taproom). Our discussion will focus on the First Part of Zarathustra, sections 1-7, 10, 11, 15, 16, and 19-22, but any section from part one is fair game for our conversation.
Below is a link to the reading followed by a brief description of the work (Nietzsche's text begins on pg. 7 of the PDF, as the file begins with editor's notes by Walter Kaufmann, who is also the translator):
CLICK HERE TO VIEW OR DOWNLOAD THE READING
"Nietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and subversive thinkers in Western philosophy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra remains his most famous and influential work. It describes how the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra descends from his solitude in the mountains to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman, the human embodiment of divinity, is his successor.
Nietzsche's utterance 'God is dead', his insistence that the meaning of life is to be found in purely human terms, and his doctrine of the Superman and the will to power were all later seized upon and unrecognisably twisted by, among others, Nazi intellectuals.
With blazing intensity and poetic brilliance, Nietzsche argues that the meaning of existence is not to be found in religious pieties or meek submission to authority, but in an all-powerful life force: passionate, chaotic and free."
2 attendees
Past events
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