The Toronto Philosophy Meetup

In this talk, I reveal a pervasive though often unobtrusive form of racism which merits its own discussion. Gradated racism, as I call it, can co-exist with sophisticated moral views. To elucidate this, I make use of Kant's race and moral theories, considered as equally important. I borrow his dichotomy of "end in itself" and "mere means" and re-conceptualize it. I argue that it helps us to analyze the normative nature of gradated racism properly. I then argue for reading the terms of the dichotomy as correlational with one another and as two termini of an "open interval continuum". Those who are racialized against in this way, whom I call, taking inspiration from Charles Mills, "sub-persons", are treated along that continuum: they are useful to the "superior" race in specific ways, are never respected unconditionally, nor seen as non-persons.

This will mostly be a discussion around major recent and ongoing events in international relations, while applying as much IR concepts and frameworks as possible. Since this is rather impromptu, if the number of signups are limited, I may reschedule to Saturday afternoon.

[Placeholder for references]

1. Middle East
2. Ukraine
3. NATO / Transatlantic
4. China / BRICS
5. Other

Phaedo is a fictional account of the conversation that took place between Socrates and his adherents just as Socrates was waiting to drink the hemlock. It marks a transition from the earlier ethical dialogues the more comprehensive works that involve proper epistemological and ontological inquiry. It is also the first dialogue to give a proper account of the theory of forms and contains a very short intellectual autobiography of Socrates. Phaedo remains important in our modern age both as a treasure trove of intellectual possibilities and because it provides a firm and coherent foundation for the philosophical life which, in Socrates' case culminates in death.

Therefore, Phaedo is both an ideal introduction to the platonic theory of forms and a summary of some of the arguments that would be used to defend the immortality of the soul for more than 2300 years.

Phaedo, along with the Euthyphro, the Apology, and Crito comprise the quartet of Plato’s works and are sometimes collectively called "The Trial and Death of Socrates". It is part of the first tetralogy of Platonic works and belongs to Plato’s middle creative period.

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This is a live reading of Phaedo. No previous knowledge of the Platonic corpus is required but a general understanding of the question of philosophy in general and of ancient philosophy in particular is to some extent desirable but not presupposed. This Plato group meets on Saturdays and has previously read the Apology, Philebus, Gorgias, Critias, Laches, Timaeus, Euthyphro, Crito and other works, including ancient commentaries and texts for contextualisation such as Gorgias’ Praise of Helen. The reading is intended for well-informed generalists even though specialists are obviously welcome. It is our aspiration to read the Platonic corpus over a long period of time.

The host is Constantine Lerounis, a distinguished Greek philologist and poet, author of Four Access Points to Shakespeare’s Works (in Greek) and Former Advisor to the President of the Hellenic Republic. May 3 is the introductory session for Phaedo and hence an ideal opportunity to join the group without having to do any catching up.