NYC Philosophy and Psychology Readers Community

Many radical empiricists in the history of philosophy have attempted to rid philosophy of its need for rational intuition. The idea is to build a foundation for philosophy on pure empirical facts. Though many have tried, most philosophers would agree that intuition will have to play a role in selecting at least a few base principles at the foundational level of philosophy, and hence the problem of justifying intuition in philosophy seems unavoidable. In this book, Steven Hales argues this point by laying out carefully the Problem of Intuition and demonstrating that there seems to be no way of avoiding the claim of an arbitrary choice at this foundational level. He proposes a relativistic solution which is carefully articulated as to avoid the usual claim that relativism is self defeating. Although relativism is often feared and derided by its opponents, we should be guided by the reality of where philosophical inquiry seems to lead us, and be open to the possibility that relativism is not as bad as it might seem at first sight. Join us as we critically discuss this contemporary issue with Steven D. Hales, Professor of Philosophy at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in the analytic tradition, as our guide.

One of the great classics of European literature, Faust is Goethe's most complex and profound work. To tell the dramatic and tragic story of one man’s pact with Mephistopheles in exchange for knowledge and power, Goethe drew from an immense variety of cultural and historical material, and a wealth of poetic and theatrical traditions. What results is a tour de force illustrating Goethe’s own moral and artistic development, and a symbolic, cautionary tale of Western humanity striving restlessly and ruthlessly for progress.

Join us to discuss this classic book over the course of 6-weeks!
Week 1 Sat 6/20 12:30pm-2:30pm The Seahorse Room @ Pier 57
Week 2 Sat 6/27 12:30pm-2:30pm The Seahorse Room @ Pier 57
Week 3 Sat 7/4 12:30pm-2:30pm The Seahorse Room @ Pier 57
Week 4 Sat 7/11 12:30pm-2:30pm The Seahorse Room @ Pier 57
Week 5 Sat 7/18 12:30pm-2:30pm The Oyster Room @ Pier 57
Week 6 Sat 7/25 12:30pm-2:30pm The Seahorse Room @ Pier 57

Reading for Week 4
Part 2 Act 1 (about 52 pages)

Deterritorialize with us at weekly discussions of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's 1972 first volume of their groundbreaking Capitalism and Schizophrenia. This critique of Freudian psychoanalysis and modern capitalism reframes unconscious desire as a machinic productive force, dynamic multiplicities of flows that can be directed against fascistic thinking toward creative and revolutionary action.

Required reading for this meeting: Ch. 1 "The Desiring-Machines" sections 4–6 (pg. 22–50)

I'm posting this event again. Since the date on the previous one was wrong.

Plotinus isn't just a weak reverberation of Plato, but a very influential philosopher of the soul and its relationship to the divine. He is a deep thinker who lived in the transitional period (204/5 -270) of the human consciousness, moving from polytheistic thinking to monotheistic thinking. He is one of the last, free writers on god and the soul without the christian dogma.
Yet, still he deeply influenced many christian theologising like St. Augustine of Hippo and Pseudo-Dionysius and had direct influence on Islamic thinkers.
His original writings (written in greek) were lost to the West until renaissance.

We will read "The Enneads"
which is collection of his writings assembled by his student Porphyry of Tyre, in 12 sections approx. 40-50 pages every two weeks.