Posted on Tuesday, September 11, 2018

The Nature of Good and Daily Life

One-Sheet Document for SOPHIA Conversations

Printable, Adobe PDF version of the one-sheet.

The Shining Network SOPHIA Chapter at Kamala Nehru College at the University of Delhi launched their inaugural chapter meeting on the topic of “The Nature of Good and Daily Life.“ They created a SOPHIA One-Sheet Document for their meeting that they have kindly shared with SOPHIA’s central office to offer for other chapters’ meetings and conversations. We are grateful to the Shining Network, to Professor Balaganapathi Devarakonda, head of the department of Philosophy at the University of Delhi and Dr. Geetesh Nirban. The One-Sheet Document is available by clicking here or on the thumbnail photo of the one-sheet on the right hand side.

Dr. Geetesh Nirban and two members of the Shining Network SOPHIA Chapter at Kamala Nehru College in August 2018.

SOPHIA’s abbreviated name comes from a loose shortening of “The Society of Philosophers in America.” The “in America” is historical and identifies the nation of origin of the national non-profit organization. It is not, however, meant to limit our members or our friends to the borders of the United States. SOPHIA may be a national nonprofit founded and run in the United States, but we encourage philosophical discourse everywhere and are grateful and excited about our work together with the Shining Network SOPHIA Chapter in New Delhi.

Posted on Friday, September 7, 2018

Clutter

One-sheet for SOPHIA Conversations

Click on the image here for a printable, Adobe PDF of our One-Sheet on “Clutter.”

SOPHIA has created our journal, Civil American, and our radio show and podcast, Philosophy Bakes Bread, in part to offer content for conversations among our local chapters. The Chairman of SOPHIA’s Board of Trustees John Lachs published his short essay, “Clutter,” in the 2017 edition of Civil American not very long after his wife passed away. The objects in our lives can seem mundane, but they can also bear great emotional weight for us. The leaders of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter selected his essay as the focus of one of our “One-Sheet” documents, which will serve as the topic and guiding document for an upcoming chapter meeting. You can click on the thumbnail image of the one-sheet on the right hand side or you can open it by clicking here for a printable version of the “One Sheet” document on “Clutter.”

SOPHIA is grateful both to Dr. Lachs for his essay a well as to the leaders of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter for drafting the questions that groups can use to jump easily into fun philosophical conversation. Thanks to Caroline A. Buchanan, Derek Daskalakes, Erik Jarvis, James William Lincoln, and Eric Thomas Weber. If any groups choose to make use of this one-sheet also, we encourage them to let us know how the conversation went as well as what thoughts their group has for possible improvement of this one-sheet or for future pieces.

John Lachs facilitating a SOPHIA symposium in Oxford, MS.

John Lachs of Vanderbilt University

This piece includes the full content of Lachs’s short essay, thanks to Civil American Editor Shane Courtland. The author, John Lachs, is Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

Posted on Thursday, August 9, 2018

The Philosopher Within You

One-sheet for SOPHIA Conversations

One-Sheet in Adobe PDF.

SOPHIA is grateful for permission from Dr. Andrew Pessin to share with you the following excerpt, “The Philosopher Within You,” from his book The 60-Second Philosopher. Leaders of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter got together to prepare for our next chapter meeting, read over Pessin’s essay, and drafted some guiding questions for our newest one-sheet document. These documents are meant to make the facilitation of fun, meaningful conversations easy.

The authors of the questions include Caroline A. Buchanan, Erik Jarvis, James William Lincoln, and Eric Thomas Weber. Click on the adobe logo on right or on the image of the one-sheet here to open a printable, Adobe PDF version of the one-sheet, which we plan to print front and back (keeping it on one sheet…).

For a printable Adobe PDF of the One-Sheet, click on this image or on the Adobe logo above.

Thanks to Dr. Pessin for permission to use this excerpt! We plan on prepare a number of one-sheets based on short essays from his book.

SOPHIA chapters interested in a copy of Pessin’s book can request one from SOPHIA by emailing Eric Thomas Weber at etweber@gmail.com. Anyone interested is encouraged to get a copy of the book too: Andrew Pessin, The 60-Second Philosopher (London: One-World Publications, 2013).

Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Ways of Knowing in Nature

One-sheet for SOPHIA Conversations

Printable version in Adobe PDF.

Here is the revised one-sheet document that we updated after using the original as guiding conversation starter to talk about “Ways of Knowing in Nature” in our July 2018 online SOPHIA symposium. This document was originally crafted by Drs. Andrea Christelle and Robin Weeks, who work together in Sedona Philosophy. The following is the content of the one-sheet document. You can also open and print a downloadable Adobe PDF version of this one-sheet here or by clicking on the Adobe Acrobat logo on this page.

Ways of Knowing in Nature:

The Effects of Place on Knowledge & Intuition

By Dr. Andrea Christelle and Dr. Robin Weeks of SedonaPhilosophy.com

This conversation-starter is written as a follow-up to the one-sheet about “The Molemen and Plato’s Cave Today,” on Episode 1 of Philosophy Bakes Bread.

This topic is an invitation to explore what it means to know, and how the way we attend to the world affects both the way we know things as well as what we know.

Beautiful places inspire us. People often visit beautiful natural settings to experience a connection to the world and to spend time outdoors. Some people say they come to seek understanding, or to develop a deeper relationship with nature. In this conversation, we will explore how being in nature may affect not just what we know, but how we know, and how this knowledge is connected to science and intuition.

Questions:

1) What do we mean by nature?

2) What does it mean to have a relationship to nature?

3) What is the difference between knowledge and intuition related to nature?

4) What are different ways of understanding and relating to the world when we are in less modified environments?

5) How does a greater connection with nature help us to know ourselves?

6) Is experiencing beauty a way of knowing, and if so, how does it differ from knowledge in the physical sciences?

7) What obligations does the public have to make beautiful environments accessible to all?

Posted on Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Kneeling and Civil Protest

One-sheet for SOPHIA Conversations

Recent protests calling attention to police brutality have taken the form of kneeling during the playing of the national anthem at football games and other sporting events. Episode 53 of Philosophy Bakes Bread, on “Kneeling and Civil Protest,” with Dr. Arnold Farr, focused on the criticisms and defenses of players for their protests, as well as the message that protesters have tried to convey. SOPHIA member and UKY graduate student James William Lincoln created a SOPHIA One-Sheet document about the episode for use in local or online discussions about the topic.

In July of 2018, Dr. Farr kindly joined leaders of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter to hold a meeting testing out the one-sheet document that Lincoln created, and the meeting was a great success. We encourage other chapters to try out a meeting on the basis of this document. Those who wish can also listen to the radio and podcast episode on which the sheet was based. The idea behind the one-sheet, however, is that people don’t have to have heard the episode in order to join in a rich discussion about current and important matters for people to consider today. You can download a printable Adobe PDF version of the one-sheet document here, or by clicking on the image of the one-sheet above.