Ocularcentrism: Theoria as a Cultural Practice (with some Heidegger too)

"From being viewed as an activity performed in practical and political contexts, wisdom in fourth-century BC Athens came to be conceived in terms of theoria, or the wise man as a "spectator" of truth. This book examines how philosophers of the period articulated the new conception of knowledge and how cultural conditions influenced this development. It provides an interdisciplinary study of the attempts to conceptualize "theoretical" activity during a foundational period in the history of Western philosophy..."

Hello Everyone! Welcome to the next meetup series from Jen and Philip!

This time around we will be reading the book:

• Spectacles of Truth in Classical Greek Philosophy: Theoria in its Cultural Context (Oxford University Press 2009) by Andrea Wilson Nightingale
  – A pdf is available here.

Our plan is to read the first part of Andrea Wilson Nightingale's book until we have a good sense of how she handles the theme of "Theoria" Then we will switch to another reading selection and try to get a sense of how Heidegger handles the theme of "Theoria".

For this, we will read the essay:

• "Decline and Fall: Ocularcentrism in Heidegger's Reading of the History of Metaphysics" by David Michael Levin, from the anthology Modernity and the Hegemony of Vision (1993) edited by David Michael Levin (See link for further info about the book.)

After we are finished with the David Michael Levin essay we will return to the Andrea Wilson Nightingale book and finish it.

After that, we may consider reading some of the original works by Heidegger that David Michael Levin mentions in his essay. And then we will be done!

The format will be our usual "accelerated live read". What this means is that each participant will be expected to read roughly 15-20 pages of text before each session. Each participant will have the option of picking a few paragraphs they especially want to focus on. We will then do a live read on the paragraphs that the participants found most interesting when they did the assigned reading.

As always, this Sunday meetup will be three hours. During the first two hours we will talk in a very focused way on the chapter we have read. During this part of the meetup only people who have done the reading will be allowed to influence the direction of the conversation. So please do the reading if you intend to speak during the first 2 hours of this meetup. You might think this does not apply to you, but it does! It applies to you.

During the last hour (which we call "The Free for All") people can talk about absolutely anything related to philosophy. People who have not done the reading will be allowed to direct the conversation during this third hour.

Please note that in this meetup we will be actually doing philosophy and not merely absorbing philosophical ideas in a passive way. Part of what this means is that we will be trying to find flaws in the reasoning and in the mode of presenting ideas that our two authors engage in. We will also be trying to improve the ideas in question and perhaps proposing better alternatives. That is what philosophers do after all!

The READING SCHEDULE will be specified further as we get a sense of when it is best to start to incorporate the Heidegger aspects of the meetup.

For the April 20 reboot of the series, please read pages 52-60 of Chapter 1 "Theoria as a Cultural Practice":

• Elites as civic representatives p. 52
• Athenian festivals and the theoric gaze p. 54

For the May 4 meeting, please read the sections from pp 60-83:

• The politics of panhellenism p. 60
• Theoria in search of wisdom p. 63
• From traditional to philosophic theoria p. 68
• Inventing philosophic theoria p. 72
• Civic theoria in the Republic p. 74
• .......

NOTE: In this meetup, all technology-related issues are handled by Jen. So, if you cannot get into the meetup or are having other technology-related issues, there is no point contacting Philip. Philip is still trying to master the art of building a phone out of two tin cans and a string! : (

So don't contact Philip about technology, contact Jen instead and get some real answers!