About us
The Symposium is a community dedicated to exploring life's questions with use of various guiding texts. Since Plato, philosophy was considered a devotional activity, emerged from the mythic age, among lovers and inspired poets, casting light into their world with the aid of reason. Let us familiarize ourselves with the wisdom tradition, uncover new shapes of thought, and find the great freedom that comes from seeing the lifeworld of our connected selves.
By sharing together we create an open space for fresh insights, whether through ourselves or from others. It is through the light of our questions that we stay connected to the true, even as the depth of our ignorance is continually revealed. Yet as we cleanse the mirror, we find unique harmony between what is thought and spoken, for wisdom to usher in, and for the spirit of philosophical friendship to take hold.
Let us honor that space together.
Upcoming events
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The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Kapéj Coffee, 1447 N Sedgwick St, Chicago, IL, USIn 1935, while in exile in Paris from the Nazi regime, Walter Benjamin wrote a highly original essay concerning the evolution of art at that time. Especially with the invention of photography in the 19th century and the growth of film in the early 20th century, art increasingly lent itself to "mechanical reproduction", that is, copying.
In the essay, Benjamin discusses the loss of "aura", or of authenticity. He writes, "the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence." He ultimately connects this observation to mass movements — particularly Fascism — by which the decline of art's "cult value" in favor of "exhibition value" makes it vulnerable to political abuse in the form of aestheticization.
The essay is 20 pages long with an additional 5 pages of notes. A link to the text that our discussion will refer to can be found here. On YouTube, there is also an audiobook reading as well as multiple videos of analysis including Then & Now and the Overthink Podcast.
21 attendees
Selection from "The Screwtape Letters"
Kapéj Coffee, 1447 N Sedgwick St, Chicago, IL, USC.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters [published 1942] is a thoughtful commentary on the human condition, the nature of temptation, and the struggle between good and evil. Through the correspondence between Screwtape [a senior devil] and Wormwood [his nephew], readers gain insight into the complexities of faith and the subtle ways in which individuals can be led away from their beliefs. Note this passage from the Preface:
There are two equal and opposite errors into which [the human] race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight. The sort of script which is used in this book can be very easily obtained by anyone who has once learned the knack; but disposed or excitable people who might make a bad use of it shall not learn it from me.
Please read the Preface and Chapters 1 through 15 of The Screwtape Letters. The reading is about 14,500 words long and may take 70 to 100 minutes to read. You can download free *.pdfs of The Screwtape Letters from Preacher's Help and the Internet Archive.
This YouTube audiobook is narrated by John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) and has a running time of just over three and a half hours. The audio for the preface and the first fifteen chapters is about an hour and a half of listening; the fifteen letter ends at the 1:33:22 mark.
Here are some secondary articles for your entertainment (not required for the Meetup):
· Meet C.S. Lewis, from the C.S. Lewis Institute
· The Screwtape Letters, summaries and analyses, from SparkNotes
· A lighter-hearted take on The Screwtape Letters, from 12min Blog
· “10 Essential Truths from C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters,” from Inward TurnABSOLUTELY NO OUTSIDE FOOD OR BEVERAGES ARE ALLOWED IN THE CAFÉ. Kapéj Coffee Roasters (“Kapéj”) has a huge selection of coffees, cold drinks, sandwiches and pastries available for purchase. We support Kapéj – we hope you will too.
We look forward to seeing you.
27 attendees
Poetics by Aristotle
Kapéj Coffee, 1447 N Sedgwick St, Chicago, IL, USOur subject being Poetry, I propose to speak not only of the art in general but also of its species and their respective capacities; of the structure of plot required for a good poem; of the number and nature of the constituent parts of a poem; and likewise of any other matters in the same line of inquiry. - Aristotle
In this treatise, Aristotle analyzes the storytelling devices found in Greek tragedy and epic poetry. His aim is largely descriptive, in explaining why people enjoy the storytelling found within these plays and styles. He builds upon this descriptive analysis to talk about what benefit can be derived from stories that evoke negative emotions like tragedy and begins to formulate the concept of Catharsis. This work is considered one of the earliest pieces of literary and dramatic theory.
This will be a free discussion over this treatise.
The Poetics - Aristotle (Free version online) (I particularly find the preface to be enlightening in the context of other discussions.)
Poetics by Aristotle | Audiobook with full Text - YouTube
Optional/supplemental resources:
The Poetics: WTF? Aristotle’s Poetics, Greek Tragedy and Catharsis14 attendees
The Book of Job: philosopher's edition
Kapéj Coffee, 1447 N Sedgwick St, Chicago, IL, USIt is the year 0001 P.A. In your travels, you come across an ancient scroll. Brushing off the dust, you see its name: The Tanakh.
You hope it may be wise, or at least helping and friendly. Upon reading this old text you immediately call your philosophy friends. Turns out they've read it too! And so it is decided: meet and let's discuss The Book of Job from the wisdom writings of the Hebrew Bible.
Whether they're inspired by it, or driven to revolt, Western philosophers are indebted to Judaism. But what does the Old Testament actually say?
This is part of a series in which we attempt cooperative readings of religious writings with fresh eyes. We have previously read Genesis, Ecclesiastes, Corinthians, and The Gospels, and it was very successful in terms of opening a space for insights coming from diverse and honest perspectives. Let's keep it going.Required reading: The Book of Job.
I highly recommend this audiobook production from The Bible Experience: Inspired By featuring Angela Bassett, Cuba Gooding Jr, and Samuel L. Jackson and others. (NIV Translation). Whoever played Elihu deserves an award.
The following is from Kierkegaard's Repetition:
November 15:
My Silent Confident: If I did not have Job! It is impossible to describe all the shades of meaning and how manifold the meaning is that he has for me. I do not read him as one reads another book, with the eyes, but I lay the book , as it were, on my heart and read it with the eyes of the heart, in a clairvoyance interpreting the specific points in the most diverse ways. Just as the child puts his schoolbook under his pillow to sure he has not forgotten his lesson when he makes up in the morning, so I take the book to bed with me at night. Every word by him is food and clothing and healing for my wretched soul. Now a word by him arouses me from my lethargy and awakens new relentlessness; now it clams the sterile raging within me, stops the dreadfulness in the mute nausea of my passion..
Have you really read Job? Read him, read him again and again. I do not even have the heart to write one single outcry from him in a letter to you, even though I find my joy in transcribing over and over everything he has said, sometimes is Danish script and sometimes in Latin script, sometimes in one format and sometimes in another. Every transcription of this kind is laid upon my sick heart as God's-hand-plaster. Indeed, on whom did God lay his hand as on Job! But quote him - that I cannot do. That would be wanting to put on my own pittance, wanting to make his words my own in the presence of another. When I am alone, I do it, appropriate everything, but as soon as anyone comes, I know very well what a young man is supposed to do when the elderly are speaking.13 attendees
Past events
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