A distinguished panel addresses this question on the occasion of the publication of Professor James Miller’s new book, Examined Lives: From Socrates to Nietzsche.
Panelists include Simon Critchley, professor of philosophy at The New School for Social Research and author of The Book of Dead Philosophers; Anthony Gottlieb, author of The Dream of Reason, a three-volume history of philosophy; James Miller, professor of political science and chair of the Committee on Liberal Studies at The New School for Social Research; Astra Taylor, independent filmmaker and director of Zizek! and Examined Life: Philosophy Is in the Streets; and Cornel West, author of Race Matters and Class of 1943 Professor at Princeton University. The panel will be moderated by Lewis H. Lapham, editor of Lapham’s Quarterly.
This event is presented by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library and sponsored by the Committee on Liberal Studies.
Bio
Simon Critchley
Simon Critchley was born in Hertfordshire in 1960, and currently lives and works in New York as Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. He works in continental philosophy, the history of philosophy, literature, ethics and politics.
Critchley argues that philosophy commences in disappointment, either religious or political. These two axes may be said largely to inform his published work: religious disappointment raises the question of meaning and has to, as he sees it, deal with the problem of nihilism; political disappointment provokes the question of justice and raises the need for a coherent ethics. The Book of Dead Philosophers is his eighth book.
Lewis Lapham
Lewis H. Lapham is an American writer. He was the editor of Harper's Magazine from 1976 until 1981, and from 1983 until 2006. He also is the founder of a publication about history and literature entitled Lapham's Quarterly. He has written numerous books on politics and current affairs.
James Miller
James Miller is professor of political science and chair of the Committee on Liberal Studies at The New School for Social Research. He is author of the book Examined Lives: From Socrates to Nietzsche
Astra Taylor
Astra Taylor holds an MA in Liberal Studies from the New School for Social Research and has been an instructor in sociology departments at the University of Georgia and State University of New York, New Paltz where she has taught classes on social theory, globalization, and the sociology of film. Her writing has appeared in the Monthly Review, The Nation, Adbusters, Salon, The Baffler, and Bomb Magazine. She is the director of Zizek!, a feature documentary about the world's most famous philosopher.
Cornel West
Cornel West is a philosopher, author, critic, and civil rights activist. His works include The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought, Race Matters, and The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century.
Critical examination of the rational grounds of our most fundamental beliefs and logical analysis of the basic concepts employed in the expression of such beliefs. Philosophy may also be defined as reflection on the varieties of human experience, or as the rational, methodical, and systematic consideration of the topics that are of greatest concern to humanity. Philosophical inquiry is a central element in the intellectual history of many civilizations. Difficulty in achieving a consensus about the definition of the discipline partly reflects the fact that philosophers have frequently come to it from different fields and have preferred to reflect on different areas of experience. All the world's great religions have produced significant allied philosophical schools. Western philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas, George Berkeley, and Søren Kierkegaard regarded philosophy as a means of defending religion and dispelling the antireligious errors of materialism and rationalism. Pythagoras, René Descartes, and Bertrand Russell, among others, were primarily mathematicians whose views of reality and knowledge were influenced by mathematics. Figures such as Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Stuart Mill were mainly concerned with political philosophy, whereas Socrates and Plato were occupied chiefly by questions in ethics. The Pre-Socratics, Francis Bacon, and Alfred North Whitehead, among many others, started from an interest in the physical composition of the natural world. Other philosophical fields include aesthetics, epistemology, logic, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and philosophical anthropology. See alsoanalytic philosophy; Continental philosophy; feminist philosophy; philosophy of science.
I personally like Cornel West but his comment reflecting that kind of existential sorrow & despair comes from being locked in our westerner's silly trap of 'ego' -- the ultimate delusion of a separate self.
So much for the depth & sophistication of Princeton philosophy.
The Quest for KNOWLEDGE carries a responsibility to SHARE. this, then is the beginning! YES philosophy is a life, a life style. It is a way of thinking that makes room for the new. Reading is a dieing passion. Poetry starts in the Home not at school. Lover of wisdom, love of action of thoughts.Science is a philosophy, 30 % of wisdom is science! Jack Donne!. Philosophy has kept me healthy philosophy of health, not been sick in 45 years, check my picture obvious. They make it too complex, arrogance of Only thinking!Philosophy has endless shades in endless dimensions, therefore never ending and never beginning. EASTERN PHILOSOPHY CONFUCIUS LAO TZU MENCIUS ALL THESE ARE MISSING FROM HERE!. What is missing Swami Muktinanda, RUMI. Their scope is very narrow they get stuck in language, There is a field, beyond competition beyond right and wrong, I WILL MEET YOU THERE: RUMI! Meditation is active philosophy that the west has yet to experience. All Religions think they have philosophy on their side, science says the same and its all good, Simon is full of it, and this conversation loses the focus. Death is another form of thinking, "Death to death I SAY" "For thou are not So", Donne. "Hitch your wagon on a star". Technology is also rooted in intention which is philosophy. "The creator merged with His creation and the creation has an attraction forever more" Henry James, these folks nice but too young in the mind of experience!Philosophy is not just a thought, reflection of who you are. Ghandi, "My life is my example". Be someone your children can see!Communist China has their fingers in everything except western philosophy. Communist China Like Hitler´s Nazi is a philosophy, that soft power and hard power good guy bad guy philosophy, Communist China will excuse the Americans no past no future, Philosophy. Communist China is about force, next time I slap you, you take it, and like it! Philosophy of fear RULES THE WORLD TODAY!Western idea of happiness is very shallow,stuck on Happiness. is fantasy! comics TV playstation! Screen culture has no philosophy.
Excellent have to listen again, then I will Comment, I live my life
Philosophy Religion Science, in equal measure. Truth Accuracy, Knowledge in action is wisdom, Truth acted upon is wisdom! Philosophy is the root of all knowledge because it includes Intention. Transparent truth that has energy enough to be acted upon.
Philosophy has a face that looks upon the whole and the parts all at once.
Philosophy is energy driven and bio-chemical responses become thoughts that get acted upon!
Philosophy has principle before money, people before profits, very different from main stream thinking.
Philosophy not acted upon does not become lifestyle Philosophy is a lifestyle.
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