Sun, Apr 7 at 10:30 a.m. | 90 minutes
"Say what we will, death is the best thing nature has found to please everyone. With each of us, everything vanishes, everything stops forever. What an advantage, what an abuse! Without the least effort on our part, we own the universe, we drag it into our own disappearance". Cioran, The Trouble with Being Born
We’re all gonna die, no question about that. But hold on! What does it mean to say that a person dies? Can we even describe what death is? Where does our fear of death stem from? Would immortality even be desirable…? Should our awareness about the fact that we will die affect our lives, and if so, in what ways? We'll explore some arguments about the supposed "negatives of death" around philosophers like Epicurus, but also novelists like Tolstoy. And if Montaigne was right when he said that "Philosophizing is learning how to die", then let's try to do just that together!
While teaching at different universities in New York, Jeanne is advocating for a widening of philosophical education beyond the academia frontiers by participating in different events open to the general public. She taught at Rikers Island as a volunteer, and regularly gives public talks in philosophy, leading her to recently produce her own podcast, "Can You Phil It?”.
Think Olio is here to put the liberation back into the liberal arts.
Classically, the liberal arts, were the education considered essential for a free person to take an active part in civic life. To counter a humanities that has been institutionalized and dehumanized we infuse critical thinking, openness, playfulness, and compassion into our learning experience.
Read more about our mission, our story, and how we are doing this.
Scenius Membership
If Friday night lectures, museum field trips, and living room salons sound like your kind of thing, then you've found your people. We can't wait to welcome you to the Think Olio Scenius. More info