Philosophy

Join us on 14–15 March for an intimate homecoming into your wholeness. What: A monthly embodied gathering — movement, energy practices, and sacred intimacy Theme: Self-trust, flow & contained boundaries When: 14–15 March Where: Zambujal (close to Meco) For whom: anyone curious about embodiment and presence Small circle — limited places. I love. I trust. - monthly gathering A weekend exploring the living relationship between self-trust, flow, and boundaries. Without self-trust, boundaries wobble. Without contained boundaries, flow floods. Without loving flow, boundaries become rigid. We work through movement and embodiment practices, direct experiential exercises, energy-based work (at times inspired by qigong), and relational sacred intimacy practices. There will be guided exploration, individual reflection, partner exercises, and structured group integration. The space is held with clarity and loving care. No performance, no fixing — just direct experience and embodied inquiry. Bringing your presence is enough. Facilitated by Mack Price & Cremilde Almeida

Join us on 14–15 March for an intimate homecoming into your wholeness. What: A monthly embodied gathering — movement, energy practices, and sacred intimacy Theme: Self-trust, flow & contained boundaries When: 14–15 March Where: Zambujal (close to Meco) For whom: anyone curious about embodiment and presence Small circle — limited places. I love. I trust. - monthly gathering A weekend exploring the living relationship between self-trust, flow, and boundaries. Without self-trust, boundaries wobble. Without contained boundaries, flow floods. Without loving flow, boundaries become rigid. We work through movement and embodiment practices, direct experiential exercises, energy-based work (at times inspired by qigong), and relational sacred intimacy practices. There will be guided exploration, individual reflection, partner exercises, and structured group integration. The space is held with clarity and loving care. No performance, no fixing — just direct experience and embodied inquiry. Bringing your presence is enough. Facilitated by Mack Price & Cremilde Almeida

This will be our second (and possibly last) meeting on *Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic*, by Matthew Stewart. For this meeting, please try to read chapters 4 and 6. (You can skim chapter 5, which is particularly confusing). **Where did the ideas come from that became the cornerstone of American democracy?** America’s founders intended to liberate us not just from one king but from the ghostly tyranny of supernatural religion. Drawing deeply on the study of European philosophy, Matthew Stewart brilliantly tracks the ancient, pagan, and continental ideas from which America’s revolutionaries drew their inspiration. In the writings of Spinoza, Lucretius, and other great philosophers, Stewart recovers the true meanings of “Nature’s God,” “the pursuit of happiness,” and the radical political theory with which the American experiment in self-government began. [LINK](https://a.co/d/bkTWJNb) This book is not always an easy read. You may want to make use of AI tools such as ChatGPT. You can ask it questions like: "What does Matthew Stewart say about happiness in his book Nature's God?" OR: What does Matthew Stewart say about Spinoza? This may be our last meeting on this book. If you want to have a third meeting later, on the last two chapters, let me know. I hope to see you there! Fred

Join an exclusive hands-on portrait photography workshop at **Sarosh Photography & Studios** where creativity meets professional guidance. This immersive studio session will give photographers the opportunity to learn lighting techniques, posing direction, composition, and creative storytelling while working with **International model Cordelia**. Participants will gain real-world experience capturing elegant portraits in a controlled studio environment, while also learning practical tips on working with professional models, styling, and creating portfolio-worthy images. This workshop is designed to help photographers refine their artistic vision, improve technical skills, and elevate their portrait photography through guided demonstrations and live shooting sessions.

Come join us for in-depth discussions on topics relating to moral and political philosophy. This is a group for members who are comfortable discussing topics that are often anxiety producing and controversial. *"Aristotle was a realist who believed that reality and knowledge are found in the physical world, accessible through sensory experience and logic. This led to contrasting views on ethics, politics, and the nature of reality itself. Plato emphasized abstract, ideal concepts, while Aristotle prioritized empirical observation and the study of the natural world."* \- Google Gemini Following Aristotle's lead, this group will lean heavily on empirical data to make arguments. The Socratic method is still the preferred way to engage in conversation, and Platonic Idealism is still relevant to the conversation as points of reference.

Please join us for our Annual Open House at the Studio on March 21st from 1lam to 4pm. Enjoy light drinks, small bites, and a relaxed stroll through the studio. As we step into our 5th year at this location, we'd love for you to stop by & celebrate with us. This is a drop-in event from llam-4pm

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“The Secrets of Runes,”** on the origins, development, and interpretation of the runic script, with Lilla Kopár, runologist and a professor of medieval literature and culture at Catholic University. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/nv-rune-secrets](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/nv-rune-secrets) .] The fame of runes outshines that of any other ancient script. They can be found not just on Viking Age rune stones, but on Bilbo’s door and as the Bluetooth logo on your cell phone. Runic script is commonly associated with magic, used by modern practitioners of neopaganism, and in recent decades has captured the imagination of filmmakers and video game designers. Yet most of us know little about the historical origins of runes and have no clue how to read or use them. Come to Crooked Run Fermentation in Sterling, Va., to get schooled on runic script with the help of Lilla Kopár, a veteran scholar of runes who has earned a following among Profs and Pints fans by giving fantastic talks on medieval monsters and Norse mythology. As someone who has carried out extensive field research on runes, published several articles on runic objects, and even appeared on the History Channel commenting on runes in America, she’s exceptionally qualified to introduce you to runology and the fascinating things that runes tell us. Dr Kopár will discuss the development of runic script from its humble origins on the borders of the Roman Empire in the first or second century CE, through its popularity in the Viking world, to its use and misuse in modern times. She’ll discuss how runes are a set of related alphabets that underwent changes over time and she’ll describe what inspired changes in this writing system and where and how runes were used in the medieval period. Her richly illustrated talk will highlight some of the most intriguing objects with runic inscriptions, from humble bone fragments to impressive rune stones, and offer insight into the scholarly methods of deciphering and interpreting runic inscriptions. We’ll also look at the function of the runic script from simple practical notes and memorial inscriptions to cipher-runes and magic. The most fun might be the in-class assignment, which will involve reading a few runic inscriptions and writing your name and other words in runes. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: Part of Codex runicus, a rune manuscript written on animal skin and dating to about 1300 (University of Copenhagen / Wikimedia Commons).

Come and join us for a leisurely brunch social at **Barrel & Bushel** in Tyson's Corner (7901 Tysons One Place, at the mall). [https://www.barrelandbushel.com](https://www.barrelandbushel.com) I hope to see you there! Fred

Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) stands as one of the great dissenters from the Cartesian worldview that dominated eighteenth-century Europe, and as one of the first sociologists and philosophers of history and class struggle. While Descartes and his followers sought to extend the geometric method to all domains of knowledge, Vico insisted that human affairs require a fundamentally different approach. He grounded this approach not in mathematical certainty but in rhetoric, imagination, and historical understanding. Vico spent most of his life in Naples, working as a professor of rhetoric. From this position, he watched Cartesian science sweep the academies, displacing the ancient humanistic traditions he cherished. His early works defended the value of rhetoric and imagination against those who saw clarity and distinctness as the sole criteria of knowledge. Vico was developing the idea that cultivated imagination is its own, independently valid way of knowing. But his mature philosophy went further, expanding his concept of imaginative or poetic knowing into a comprehensive science of history that has been seen as fundamentally at odds with the Enlightenment project. At the heart of Vico's thought lies the *verum-factum* principle: we can truly know only what we ourselves have made. Since God made the natural world, only God can fully comprehend it. But the civil world—the world of laws, customs, languages, and institutions—is a human creation, and therefore deeply knowable by human minds. This insight reverses the effect of the mathematical philosophy, which had seemed to make physics knowable and human affairs unaccountable. In his great work, the *New Science*, Vico develops his insight into a comprehensive philosophy of history. He argues that all nations pass through an ideal eternal history—a cycle of three ages (gods, heroes, and humans) driven not by rational deliberation but by providence working through human passions and necessities. The earliest humans, Vico claims, did not think in concepts but in what he calls "imaginative universals"—mythic figures like Jove and Juno that organized experience through poetry and ritual rather than analysis. Understanding this "poetic wisdom" requires overcoming what Vico calls the "conceit of scholars": our tendency to assume that ancient peoples thought as we do or did not think at all. **Readings** *[The New Science](https://www.amazon.com/Science-Penguin-Classics-Giambattista-Vico/dp/0140435697?tag=ustxtaddt-20&asin=0140435697&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1)*, Third Edition (1744) * Book 1, parts 2-4 * Book 2, Introduction, parts 1-4, Part 5 paragraphs 582-661 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Conclusion **Further Readings** *[The New Science](https://www.amazon.com/Science-Penguin-Classics-Giambattista-Vico/dp/0140435697?tag=ustxtaddt-20&asin=0140435697&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1)*, Third Edition (1744) * Idea of the work (for an idiosyncratic precis of Vico's project in the form of an image * Book 3 (for an application of Vico's critical method to the Homeric corpus) [Vico, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy](https://iep.utm.edu/vico/) [Vico, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/vico/)