Previous Paideia reading groups
‘The Good Life’ Reading Group
When
Every second Thursday from 7.30-9pm, beginning 6 October 2011 for six meetings.
Where
Wesley Centre for Life Enrichment,
218 Ryrie St, Geelong.
Cost
$60, includes book and additional reading material. Coffee, tea and biscuits provided.
Payment can be made by cash, cheque, or credit card.
A new Paideia Australia reading group begins on Thursday 6 October. Using Christopher Phillips’ Six Questions of Socrates, we will ask the questions What is Virtue? What is Moderation? What is Justice? What is Good? What is Courage? What is Piety? Is Excellence Still Possible? In addition to the book chapters, each topic will be supplemented by an extract from Plato’s dialogues.
The reading group will meet from 7.30-9pm at the Wesley Centre for Life Enrichment on every second Thursday, beginning 6 October 2011. The group will run for six meetings, finishing on 15 December (6 Oct, 20 Oct, 3 Nov, 17 Nov, 1 Dec, 15 Dec). Enrolment is $60 for the six meetings and includes a copy of the book, additional reading material and tea, coffee and biscuits at each meeting. Payment by cash and cheque can be made at any Paideia event.
About Six Questions of Socrates:
What is virtue? Courage? Justice? Piety? By discussing possible answers, Socrates sought understanding and perspective in order to become a better human being. With the same goal in mind, the author took these questions to informal discussion groups throughout the world. They included schoolchildren, the elderly, the homeless, university students, and average middle-class workers. What makes this book so fresh and appealing is how these age-old questions are revealed to be incredibly relevant today. September 11, Mexico’s Zapatista rebels, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and Native American struggles are just a few of the huge range of topics that came up. In trying to define modesty, Muslim women gave diverse viewpoints regarding traditional dress, Korean students argued the merits of Confucianism, and U.S. students offered thoughts on conspicuous consumption. The book is dialogue-driven with the thoughts of prominent thinkers like Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Jefferson, and, of course, Socrates inserted at appropriate places. Phillips’s smooth, natural style enables readers to feel that they are part of the discussion at hand, making the book engaging and accessible to those who may have been put off by the formality of traditional works.
(School Library Journal)
For more information, email Petra Brown at petra@paideiaaustralia.org.au.
Paideia Australia Compassion Reading Group
When
Every second Tuesday from 7.30-9pm, beginning 3 May 2011 for ten meetings.
Where
Wesley Centre for Life Enrichment,
218 Ryrie St, Geelong.
Cost
$75, includes book and additional reading material. Coffee, tea and biscuits provided.
Payment can be made by cash, cheque, or credit card (via PayPal, see below).
Further information
Following the success of this year’s compassion themed Fun and Philosophy weekend, Paideia Australia will host a reading group based on Karen Armstrong’s book Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.
Karen Armstrong argues that while compassion exists in all human beings, each of us needs to work diligently to cultivate and expand our capacity for compassion. In Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life she offers concrete ways of putting compassion into action in our everyday lives.
As part of an international effort to activate the Golden Rule globally, we will join in the efforts of reading groups around the world to foster a greater understanding of compassion and promote the cultivation and practice of compassion in individual and community life by engaging with the ideas in Armstrong’s work.
Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life reading groups are affiliated with the Charter for Compassion, a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Prize project in collaboration with The Fetzer Institute.
The Paideia chapter of this reading group will meet each fortnight for ten meetings at the Wesley Centre for Life Enrichment, Yarra St, Geelong. Each meeting will be structured around Armstrong’s book, with additional material provided.
Meeting dates for the reading group are as follows.
- Tuesday 3 May 2011
- Tuesday 17 May
- Tuesday 31 May
- Tuesday 14 June
- Tuesday 28 June
- Tuesday 12 July
- Tuesday 26 July
- Tuesday 9 August
- Tuesday 23 August
- Tuesday 6 September
The cost to participate in this reading group is $75 for ten weeks. The price includes a copy of Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life and additional materials. Coffee, tea and biscuits will be provided.
For more information, contact Petra via email at petra@paideiaaustralia.org.au.
Who am I? Reading Group
The inaugural Paideia Philosophical Reading Group commenced on February 1, 2010 at The Barking Dog Hotel in Geelong West. The group explored the question ‘Who am I?’ through the philosophy of Plato, Augustine, Descartes and Kierkegaard. Participants were introduced to these four philosophers through a selection of their writings, presented by four different facilitators in Ian Weeks (Plato), Lindsay Dawson (Augustine), Dylan Nickelson (Descartes) and Petra Brown (Kierkegaard).
The readings and an introduction to each philosopher were compiled together in a reader. Below is the Introduction to that reader:
The question ‘Who am I?’ is one of the most obvious questions you can ask yourself, but it is a question that can be difficult to answer. This reader brings together the work of four philosophers – Plato, St. Augustine, René Descartes and Søren Kierkegaard – in the hope that their thoughts on this very question will help you in your search for an answer.
In the first chapter of this reader, Ian Weeks introduces the philosophy of Plato. Ian draws our attention to the subtleties in Plato’s writings as he traverses ideas on education, love, responsibility, justice, knowledge, the human soul and the afterlife. In the second chapter, Lindsay Dawson introduces the ideas of Augustine of Hippo. Lindsay’s selections from Augustine’s writings deal with such topics as the power of human reason, the freedom of the will and how memory acts as the source of our identity. Lindsay skilfully structures the readings so that your encounter with Augustine both answers the question ‘Who am I?’ and leads into the work of our third philosopher, René Descartes. In the third chapter, Dylan Nickelson presents the work of Descartes. Dylan extracts three different but related answers to our question from Descartes’ writings: the ethical, dealing with how we should be; the philosophical, dealing with what we can know; and the biological, dealing with what we are. In the final chapter, Petra Brown presents the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard. Petra answers our question by guiding us though Kierkegaard’s ideas on three aspects of life – aesthetics, ethics and religiosity.
As you trawl the pages before you, you may well find an answer that resonates with your own idea of who you are. However, you may also find that as you reach the end you are no closer to an answer than when you began. Do not despair. Although philosophers throughout history have attempted to answer this question, the question remains open today. Accordingly, this is not a textbook. There is no answers section in the back. What you will find in these pages is a conversation – a conversation on the question of ‘Who am I?’, and a conversation of which you are now a part.
