NYC Philosophy and Psychology Readers Community

How does language come to have meaning and can we trust natural language to be a reliable vehicle for truth? For many in the early analytic tradition, the answer to the meaning of language is intimately related to a correspondence theory of truth where one needs to painstakingly tie words to their reference objects in the world. For these philosophers, logic is the correct tool in order to tame natural language and train it to be a reliable vehicle for truth. For Quine (1908-2000), this is simply not the right approach to language. Quine is known for his blistering critiques of the logical positivists and the early analytic philosophers, calling into question the very idea of a proposition and challenging the analytic/synthetic distinction which had been evolving since Kant. In Word and Object, he tackles philosophy of language, introducing his indeterminacy of translation thesis that there isn't even theoretically a unique way to translate correctly from one language to another. This rattles the very heart of the metaphysical project of tying down language to objects in the world since we can't even seem to tie one language to another in a unique way. He also argues that objects are simply abstract concepts we invent in order to make sense of our experiences, cautioning us against reification. Quine is no anarchist though, he has a deep respect for science and emphasizes an empirical approach to language grounded in the social practices of communities. Maybe we cannot attain absolute certainty but we can certainly design successful social practices to probe and try to understand the world around us. Join us as we explore the nature of language, truth, and knowledge over the course of four weeks with Quine as our guide.

In The Need For Roots Weil diagnoses the malaise at the heart of modern life: uprootedness, from the past and from community. Written towards the end of World War II for the Free French Army, Weil's work is an indispensable and perpetually intriguing text for readers and students of philosophy everywhere. The book discusses the political, cultural and spiritual currents that ought to be nurtured so that people have access to sources of energy which will help them lead fulfilling, joyful and morally good lives.

Join us to discuss this classic book over the course of 4-weeks!
Week 1 Sat 5/23 12:30pm-2:30pm The Seahorse Room @ Pier 57
Week 2 Sat 5/30 12:30pm-2:30pm The Seahorse Room @ Pier 57
Week 3 Sat 6/6 12:30pm-2:30pm @Reading Room in Bryant Park
Week 4 12pm-2pm Sat 6/13 The Oyster Room @ Pier 57

Reading for Week 2
"Industrial Uprootedness" and "Rural Uprootedness" sections (41 pages)

Plotinus isn't just a weak reverberation of Plato, but a very influential philosopher of the soul and its relationship to the divine. He is a deep thinker who lived in the transitional period (204/5 -270) of the human consciousness, moving from polytheistic thinking to monotheistic thinking. He is one of the last, free writers on god and the soul without the christian dogma.
Yet, still he deeply influenced many christian theologising like St. Augustine of Hippo and Pseudo-Dionysius and had direct influence on Islamic thinkers.
His original writings (written in greek) were lost to the West until renaissance.

We will read "The Enneads"
which is collection of his writings assembled by his student Porphyry of Tyre, in 12 sections approx. 40-50 pages every two weeks.

Does truth matter in politics anymore or is it just about power? With so much of our political discourse influenced by social media algorithms and the echo chambers we tend to find ourselves in one starts to wonder what role does, and/or should, some kind of overarching truth play in our public discourse. Michael Patrick Lynch argues that truth is indispensable for democracy and he reminds us that our relationship to truth is never fully determined. The goals of this work are to describe what kind of truth is vital for democracy, the pivotal role it should play in a healthy society, and how we can take steps to correct our misalignment in values.