- A Discourse Upon the Origin of Inequality - RousseauLink visible for attendees
This meetup is hosted by Wisdom and Woe. For more details and to sign up for this event, go to: https://www.meetup.com/wisdom-and-woe/events/275332042/
Rousseau's A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality Among Mankind (1755) weaves together philosophy, political theory, and anthropology to explore the history of human societies. It postulates a moment in time--before any notions of property or justice--in which distinctions of rank, wealth, and power did not exist.
According to Rousseau, an individual is naturally endowed with the basic means of survival. The shortcomings of the human condition (exposure to the elements, for instance) are perfectly tolerable within the limits of one's own self-sufficiency (e.g., by an ability to fashion crude clothing and shelter).However, interactions between people create the opportunity for material wealth to be shifted to some at the expense of others. And "from the moment it appeared an advantage for one man to possess the quantity of provisions requisite for two, all equality vanished." Through socialization, such inordinate desires may be normalized, legitimized, and institutionalized: as civil society takes shape, people (like domesticated plants and animals) may be abberated into inhumane "monsters."
With an eloquent elaboration on the "noble savage" motif, Rousseau invokes nostalgia for a simpler existence, diagnoses our modern alienation from nature, and argues in favor of our material and psychological independence, anticipating Nietzsche's moral genealogy and Veblen's critique of "conspicuous consumption."
Join Wisdom and Woe here: https://www.meetup.com/wisdom-and-woe
Wisdom and Woe is a philosophy and literature discussion group dedicated to exploring the world, work, life, and times of Herman Melville and the 19th century Romantic movement. The group is free and open to anybody with an interest in learning and growing by "diving deeper" into "time and eternity, things of this world and of the next, and books, and publishers, and all possible and impossible matters."
- Designing The Perfect Society – 1on1 philosophical & political discussion (COH)Link visible for attendees
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
To be the speaking participant you must RSVP via Calendly.
The link to my Calendly calendar is available in my Egora profile:
Egora-ILP.org/philosopher/Cezary_JurewiczAll others are welcome to join to listen, use the chat, use the breakout rooms, and comment at the end.
About Citizen Office Hours:
If the Citizen is to be the highest authority in democracy, should we not have office hours to make ourselves available and accountable to our fellow citizens? The answer is YES – yes, we should.Also, in a democracy, there is no power without responsibility. If the citizens do not accept the responsibility of being citizens, then we do not really have any power – the power we might think we have is illusory. Therefore, all responsible citizens should make themselves available at their own "Citizen Office Hours".
This event is a publication of my Citizen Office Hours. I am making myself available to discuss any of my or your ideas published in Egora. Please be already registered for Egora before our meeting and at least somewhat familiar with my Ideological Profile so we can have a proper and thorough discussion. If you share your Ideological Profile in the comments in advance, i will take some time to study it before our meeting (ideally, the audience will do so too).
- Anton Chekhov: “The Bishop” (1902) — Short Story DiscussionLink visible for attendees
"Chekhov is one of the few indispensable writers... His stories, which deluge us with feeling, make feeling more intelligent; more magnanimous. He is an artist of our moral maturity." (Susan Sontag)
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) was a master of the short story and a founder of the modern drama. His works explored the complexities of the human condition with deep psychological insight, empathy, and subtle humor. He described the Russian life of his time with a deceptively simple technique devoid of obtrusive literary devices, and his works are regarded as outstanding representatives of early modernism and 19th-century Russian realism, influencing important writers of an array of genres including Ernest Hemingway, Vladimir Nabokov, Tennessee Williams, James Joyce, and Henry Miller.
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This is a series of occasional meetups (hosted by the Toronto Philosophy Meetup group) to discuss short stories by various authors. (Currently meeting every other Sunday evening.)
This time we will discuss Chekhov's “The Bishop” (1902), about the last days of a terminally ill priest. It's the second last story Chekhov ever wrote before he died of tuberculosis at the too young age of 44.
Please read the story in advance (around 25 pages). Bring your thoughts, queries, critiques, and favourite passages to share with us at the meeting. A pdf copy of the stories is available on the main event page.
Stories by Chekhov we've previously discussed in this group:
- The House with the Mezzanine: An Artist’s Story (1896)
- The Lady with the Little Dog (1899)
- Gusev (1890)
- The Man in a Case (1898)
- Gooseberries (1898)
- About Love (1898)
- The Black Monk (1894)
- The Huntsman (1885)
- The Student (1894)
BONUS ARTICLE: 10 pictures of young Chekhov, ranked by hotness 🔥
Note: We'll be joined by numerous other participants from the Toronto Philosophy Meetup at this meeting – https://www.meetup.com/the-toronto-philosophy-meetup/events/300875723/
- The Theory of the Leisure Class - VeblenLink visible for attendees
This meetup is hosted by Wisdom and Woe. For more details and to sign up for this event, go to: https://www.meetup.com/wisdom-and-woe/events/298150849/
The explosion in prosperity and mass manufacture during the Industrial Era was of pivotal interest to those working in the fledgling social sciences. In the groundbreaking Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), Thorstein Veblen attempts to trace the evolution of Western society into the class stratifications that characterized it at the end of the 19th century.
Veblen analogizes the industrialized system to a barbarian plunder, where the weaker members of society are subservient to the those exempt from the dredges of manual labor.
In Veblen's most famous argument, the leisure class acquires a surplus of time and money which it dedicates to "conspicuous" luxuries designed to advertise its wealth and promote social standing: "it is not sufficient merely to possess wealth or power. The wealth or power must be put in evidence, for esteem is awarded only on evidence."
Veblen considers (among other things) the conspicuous consumption of sports, fine arts, and clothing--particularly the corset, whose ostentation is a proportionate to its impracticality.
In Moby-Dick, Melville's criticism of the corset is comparatively tempered by Ishmael's in-character tendency to exalt such whale derivatives. But his most acerbic commentary on the garment comes from Mardi, where the women of the fictional island of Pimminee are so constricted by their corsets that they are prevented from gazing skyward.
Join Wisdom and Woe here: https://www.meetup.com/wisdom-and-woe
Wisdom and Woe is a philosophy and literature discussion group dedicated to exploring the world, work, life, and times of Herman Melville and the 19th century Romantic movement. The group is free and open to anybody with an interest in learning and growing by "diving deeper" into "time and eternity, things of this world and of the next, and books, and publishers, and all possible and impossible matters."
- Of Dandyism and of George Brummell - Jules Barbey d'AurevillyLink visible for attendees
This meetup is hosted by Wisdom and Woe. For more details and to sign up for this event, go to: https://www.meetup.com/wisdom-and-woe/events/292314701/
The word "dandy" denotes a person of flamboyant dress and meticulous grooming, generally associated with aristocratic manners and a self-absorbed attitude. In the 18th and 19th centuries, dandyism was a movement unto itself, proudly represented by the likes of Lord Byron, Oscar Wilde, Baudelaire, and Huysmans. However, the most prominent dandy of the period was the (now mostly forgotten) commoner George "Beau" Brummell.
In fact, Lord Byron estimated that the three greatest men of the 19th century were (in order) Brummell, Napoleon, and himself. All three were not only fashionable (Napoleon wearing garments of "opulent grandeur"), but they were also said to have similar downfalls. Brummell eventually lost his fortune, his friends, his reputation, and died in exile and poverty: "the year 1815 was fatal to three great men--Byron, Buonaparte, and Brummell" (the year Byron was married, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, and Brummell was ostracized).
"Of Dandyism and of George Brummell" (1844), by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, is considered one of the foremost manifestos of the dandy philosophy. "Dandyism," the author writes, is more than a superficial concern for outward appearance, it "is a complete theory of life." The author portrays Brummell as a genius of style and wit, who transcended class distinctions and the mediocrity of the modern world, to courageously embrace his destiny as a tragic hero.
Join Wisdom and Woe here: https://www.meetup.com/wisdom-and-woe
Wisdom and Woe is a philosophy and literature discussion group dedicated to exploring the world, work, life, and times of Herman Melville and the 19th century Romantic movement. The group is free and open to anybody with an interest in learning and growing by "diving deeper" into "time and eternity, things of this world and of the next, and books, and publishers, and all possible and impossible matters."
- Designing The Perfect Society – 1on1 philosophical & political discussion (COH)Link visible for attendees
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
To be the speaking participant you must RSVP via Calendly.
The link to my Calendly calendar is available in my Egora profile:
Egora-ILP.org/philosopher/Cezary_JurewiczAll others are welcome to join to listen, use the chat, use the breakout rooms, and comment at the end.
About Citizen Office Hours:
If the Citizen is to be the highest authority in democracy, should we not have office hours to make ourselves available and accountable to our fellow citizens? The answer is YES – yes, we should.Also, in a democracy, there is no power without responsibility. If the citizens do not accept the responsibility of being citizens, then we do not really have any power – the power we might think we have is illusory. Therefore, all responsible citizens should make themselves available at their own "Citizen Office Hours".
This event is a publication of my Citizen Office Hours. I am making myself available to discuss any of my or your ideas published in Egora. Please be already registered for Egora before our meeting and at least somewhat familiar with my Ideological Profile so we can have a proper and thorough discussion. If you share your Ideological Profile in the comments in advance, i will take some time to study it before our meeting (ideally, the audience will do so too).
- Typee: A Peep At Polynesian Life - MelvilleLink visible for attendees
This meetup is hosted by Wisdom and Woe. For more details and to sign up for this event, go to: https://www.meetup.com/wisdom-and-woe/events/295313555/
Almost from the time of its publication, Melville's first book, Typee (1846), has been recognized as a classic of travel and adventure literature. It was immensely popular in Melville's lifetime, and often regarded as his best work. It established his reputation as the literary discoverer of the South Seas, and continued to inspire the likes of Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Frederick O'Brien.
Loosely based on Melville's first-hand experience as a guest-captive of the (allegedly cannibalistic) natives of the Marquesas Islands, it is a fast-moving and humorous adventure tale, describing the Typee culture, customs, and beliefs with a mixture of admiration, curiosity, and criticism. The narrator also describes his escape attempts, his friendship with his companion Toby and servant Kory-Kory, and his island romance with the beautiful Fayaway.The book is both an anthropological study and a philosophical reflection on the contrast between civilization and savagery, an examination of the nature of good and evil, and a frank exploration of sensuality and exotic ritual.
The subtitle--"A Peep at Polynesian Life"--apparently alludes to a kind of island "peep show," obliquely suggesting that the narrator of the novel (who only calls himself "Tom") is a "Peeping Tom": the legendary character who refused to avert his eyes during Lady Godiva's famous ride through town.Initially rejected by critics as too fantastic to be true, scholars continue to discuss the book's veracity in terms of its imaginative embellishments and unacknowledged use of secondary sources.
Week 1: 6/9: chapters 1-11
Week 2: 6/16: chapters 12-24
Week 3: 6/23: chapters 25-34, The Story of TobyJoin Wisdom and Woe here: https://www.meetup.com/wisdom-and-woe
Wisdom and Woe is a philosophy and literature discussion group dedicated to exploring the world, work, life, and times of Herman Melville and the 19th century Romantic movement. The group is free and open to anybody with an interest in learning and growing by "diving deeper" into "time and eternity, things of this world and of the next, and books, and publishers, and all possible and impossible matters."