Philosophy for Amateurs

Join us for a discussion of sections from Bruno Latour's 1993 book We Have Never Been Modern. We will focus on Latour's views about the myth of modernity that wants to separate nature from society and keep those categories distinct and pure. When we envision a world made up of hybrids, where human and non-humans exist in radical symmetry, what are implications for politics? How do we (or should we) include the non-human "parliament of things" in our concept of political order?

Please read these sections:

1. Crisis (~13 pages)
2. Constitution (~35 pages)
3. Redistribution (~16 pages)

Based on the interest in Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments, we will continue with some additional Adam Smith, this time fromThe Wealth of Nations. We will look at the start of his argument about the formation of political economy and try to draw connections back to the moral framework he developed in The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

If time allows, please read Book I of The Wealth of Nations (~220 pages).
If time is short, please focus on Book I, Chapters 1-7 (~60 pages).

Join us for a discussion of Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. We will be discussing Veblen's connections between wealth, self image, and social status.

• If time allows, please read all of The Theory of the Leisure Class (~240 pages).
• If time is short, please focus on Chapters 1-4 (~60 pages)