Philosophy Night! Pythagoreans, Part 2 ft. Dr Brian Register
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Come enjoy a night of thought provoking “brain bubblegum”! This group meets to discuss & share ideas on philosophy. Do you like to talk about life and its meaning? Join others who do as well! We begin each meeting with a concept or topic, and then have lively and fun discussions.
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This week, we are hosting Dr. Brian Register, professor of Philosophy at UT-Austin and Austin Community College. Brian specializes in Ancient Greek Philosophy, and this week, he is giving us a lecture about the Pythagoreans! Come put your mental agility to the test, and see how well you could do in a college-level philosophy course.
According to Encyclopædia Brittanica, Pythagoras basically started a bunch of philosophy-cults in southern Italy about 2500 years ago[1]. Come ask Brian questions about the mysterious Pythagorean Cults, and how the ideas of a few key philosophers spawned schools and cults.
Learn about what history tells us, and come up with conjectures about what possible facts and stories were lost to time.
(My favorite fun fact: Brian is great at answering questions about what ancient Greeks 'would' and 'would not' have known, thought, or done! I love using my imagination to fill in the gaps in history, and make guesses about what people in the ancient times were thinking! Would making a cult have been normal? Were these groups all-men, and like the equivalent of an 'Andrew Tate' fan club? Only a pro like Dr. Register would be able to tell you the most accurate answer -- take that, A.I.! - Hayley)
Feel free to show up in-person up to 30 mins early (6:30pm) to hang out, make yourself a free coffee, grab some snacks (also free), and chat with other folks before we get started.
If you can't make it in person, feel free to join our virtual discussion group and watch party, via Google Meets! https://meet.google.com/meet/wzh-xdug-dzi
We look forward to seeing you there!
Cited:
[1] "The school apparently founded by Pythagoras at Croton in southern Italy seems to have been primarily a religious brotherhood centred around Pythagoras and the cults of Apollo and of the Muses...". via https://www.britannica.com/science/Pythagoreanism/Early-Pythagoreanism#ref68387