About us
Marginal Thoughts is a discussion group for people who enjoy talking through ideas with critical curiosity. Each session centers on a shared text or other material, which give us something concrete to think about together. Materials are drawn from a wide range of domains, including literature, philosophy, science, art, and popular culture, with essentially everything fair game. No prior expertise is expected - just a willingness to engage with the material and think together. The aim is exploration rather than persuasion: a good session is one we leave with better questions than we arrived with.
Featured event
Discussion: Does Explanation Kill Wonder?
Does understanding the world make it richer or does it drain something essential from it?
In this first session of Marginal Thoughts, we’ll explore that question through three short and very different works:
- A short story by Italo Calvino: "The Distance of the Moon" (~40 min read)
- An animated clip of Richard Feynman's "Ode To A Flower" (~1 min)
- A poem by Walt Whitman: "When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer" (~1 min)
Along the way, we'll see Calvino anticipate the dating trend of 'orbiting' and take it very literally, Feynman may or may not ruin flowers for us, and Whitman will demonstrate that rage-quitting an astronomy lecture can still produce poetry.
How to prepare
Please read/watch the materials in advance. As you do, try to identify at least one point of curiosity, confusion, or uncertainty - these will be natural starting points for our discussion.
What to expect
This is an in-person, conversational meetup. The goal isn't to debate, lecture, or "confess" - it’s to explore ideas and leave with better questions than we arrived with.
Optional context for the extra curious
Calvino's story opens his collection Cosmicomics. The Feynman clip comes from the BBC interview "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out". And here's an honorable mention to Borges' poem "The Moon" which narrowly lost out to Whitman's.
Upcoming events
1
Discussion: Does Explanation Kill Wonder?
Café Votiv, Reichsratsstraße 17, Wien, ATDoes understanding the world make it richer or does it drain something essential from it?
In this first session of Marginal Thoughts, we’ll explore that question through three short and very different works:
- A short story by Italo Calvino: "The Distance of the Moon" (~40 min read)
- An animated clip of Richard Feynman's "Ode To A Flower" (~1 min)
- A poem by Walt Whitman: "When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer" (~1 min)
Along the way, we'll see Calvino anticipate the dating trend of 'orbiting' and take it very literally, Feynman may or may not ruin flowers for us, and Whitman will demonstrate that rage-quitting an astronomy lecture can still produce poetry.
How to prepare
Please read/watch the materials in advance. As you do, try to identify at least one point of curiosity, confusion, or uncertainty - these will be natural starting points for our discussion.What to expect
This is an in-person, conversational meetup. The goal isn't to debate, lecture, or "confess" - it’s to explore ideas and leave with better questions than we arrived with.Optional context for the extra curious
Calvino's story opens his collection Cosmicomics. The Feynman clip comes from the BBC interview "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out". And here's an honorable mention to Borges' poem "The Moon" which narrowly lost out to Whitman's.4 attendees
