Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Network

For the first half of 2025 the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group will take on the philosophical problems of art. We’ll ask questions like: What is a work of art? Where does the impulse toward art come from? What is symbolism? What distinguishes art from craft? What is the role of genius? Is art possible in the capitalist world of modernity?

Up Next: 02/04 Giedion, S. “Art a Fundamental Experience” and “The Symbol in Primeval Art” in The Eternal Present: the Beginnings of Art

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• 02/04 – Giedion, S. “Art a Fundamental Experience” and “The Symbol in Primeval Art” in The Eternal Present: the Beginnings of Art
• 02/11 – Plato. Ion.
• 02/18 – Aristotle. Poetics.
• 02/25 – Kant, Immanuel. Critique of the Power of Judgment, §§46-53.
• 03/ 04 – Hegel, G.W.F. “Religion in the Form of Art” in Phenomenology of Spirit.
• 03/11 – Schopenhauer, Arthur. World as Will and Representation, §§TBD
• 03/18 – Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Illuminations.
• 03/25 – Heidegger, Martin. “The Origin of the Work of Art” in Basic Writings.
• 04/01 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. “What is Writing?” in What is Literature.
• 04/08 – Levinas, Emmanual. “Reality and its Shadow” in Collected Philosophical Papers.
• 04/15 – Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. “Cezanne’s Doubt” in Sense and Nonsense.
• 04/22 – Albers, Anni. “Tactile Sensibility,” “Tapestry,” and “Designing as Visual Organization” in On Weaving.
• 04/29 – Barthes, Roland. “The Death of the Author”
• 05/06 – Adorno, Theodor. “Toward a Theory of the Artwork” in Aesthetic Theory.
• 05/13 – Foucault, Michel. This is Not a Pipe
• 05/20 – Bachelard, Gaston. “Introduction” in The Poetics of Reverie
• 05/27 – Sontag, Susan. “The Image-World” in On Photography.
• 06/03 – Derrida, Jacques. “Passe-Partout” in Truth in Painting.
• 06/10 – Deleuze, Gilles. Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation, Chapter TBD.
• 06/17 – Danto, Arthur. Transformation of the Commonplace
• 06/24 – Henry, Michel. “The Essence of Art” and “All Painting is Abstract” in Seeing the Invisible.
• 07/01 – Henderson, P.L. “Fiber Sculpture” in Unravelling Women’s Art: Creators, Rebels, & Innovators in Textile Arts

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

For the first half of 2025 the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group will take on the philosophical problems of art. We’ll ask questions like: What is a work of art? Where does the impulse toward art come from? What is symbolism? What distinguishes art from craft? What is the role of genius? Is art possible in the capitalist world of modernity?

Up Next: 02/04 Giedion, S. “Art a Fundamental Experience” and “The Symbol in Primeval Art” in The Eternal Present: the Beginnings of Art

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• 02/04 – Giedion, S. “Art a Fundamental Experience” and “The Symbol in Primeval Art” in The Eternal Present: the Beginnings of Art
• 02/11 – Plato. Ion.
• 02/18 – Aristotle. Poetics.
• 02/25 – Kant, Immanuel. Critique of the Power of Judgment, §§46-53.
• 03/ 04 – Hegel, G.W.F. “Religion in the Form of Art” in Phenomenology of Spirit.
• 03/11 – Schopenhauer, Arthur. World as Will and Representation, §§TBD
• 03/18 – Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Illuminations.
• 03/25 – Heidegger, Martin. “The Origin of the Work of Art” in Basic Writings.
• 04/01 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. “What is Writing?” in What is Literature.
• 04/08 – Levinas, Emmanual. “Reality and its Shadow” in Collected Philosophical Papers.
• 04/15 – Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. “Cezanne’s Doubt” in Sense and Nonsense.
• 04/22 – Albers, Anni. “Tactile Sensibility,” “Tapestry,” and “Designing as Visual Organization” in On Weaving.
• 04/29 – Barthes, Roland. “The Death of the Author”
• 05/06 – Adorno, Theodor. “Toward a Theory of the Artwork” in Aesthetic Theory.
• 05/13 – Foucault, Michel. This is Not a Pipe
• 05/20 – Bachelard, Gaston. “Introduction” in The Poetics of Reverie
• 05/27 – Sontag, Susan. “The Image-World” in On Photography.
• 06/03 – Derrida, Jacques. “Passe-Partout” in Truth in Painting.
• 06/10 – Deleuze, Gilles. Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation, Chapter TBD.
• 06/17 – Danto, Arthur. Transformation of the Commonplace
• 06/24 – Henry, Michel. “The Essence of Art” and “All Painting is Abstract” in Seeing the Invisible.
• 07/01 – Henderson, P.L. “Fiber Sculpture” in Unravelling Women’s Art: Creators, Rebels, & Innovators in Textile Arts

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Regretfully, due to a few extenuating circumstances, reading group will not be meeting this week.

We look forward to seeing you all in the new year for our next unit: Continental Philosophy and the Work of Art! (starting date tba)

Bust out a pipe and your best French accent, as we spend the summer and fall discussing authenticity, freedom, and angst with our next unit on Existential Ethics.

12/10 – Gordon, Lewis. “Sartrean Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• 05/14 – Hegel, G.W.F. Phenomenology of Spirit,  “Spirit that is Certain of Itself. Morality.”
• 05/21 – NO MEETING
• 05/28 – Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling, “Problema 1” and “Problema 2.”
• 06/04 – Stirner, Max. The Ego and Its Own, “The Owner” and “My Power.”
• 06/11 – Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Notes from the Underground, “Part 1: Underground”
• 06/18 – Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy of Morals, “‘Good and Evil,’ ‘Good and Bad’.”
• 06/25 – Cooper, Anna Julia. “The Ethics of the Negro Question.” 
• 07/02 – NO MEETING
• 07/09 – Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk, “Of the Sons of Master and Man.”
• 07/16 – Kafka, Franz. “The Judgment” and Butler, Judith. “Against Ethical Violence” in Giving an Account of Oneself.
• 07/23 – Scheler, Max. Ressentiment, “Ressentiment and Moral Value Judgement” and “Christian Morality and Ressentiment.”
• 07/30 – Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time, “Dasein’s Attestation of an Authentic Potentiality-for-Being, and Resoluteness.”
• 08/06 – Zapffe, Peter Wessel . “The Last Messiah”
• 08/13 – Weil, Simone. “The Iliad, or the Poem of Force.”
• 08/20 – Fromm, Erich. Escape from Freedom, “I: Freedom—A Psychological Problem?” and “II: The Emergence of the Individual and the Ambiguity of Freedom”.
• 08/27 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is a Humanism.”
• 09/03 – Heidegger, Martin. “Letter on Humanism”; [also be sure to check the drive for a bonus essay by reading group member Robert Gall, “Thinking What Is Strange and Dangerous”]
• 09/10 – Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception, “Freedom.”
• 09/17 – de Beauvoir, Simone. The Ethics of Ambiguity, “Ambiguity and Freedom.”
• 09/24 – Camus, Albert, The Rebel, “The Rebel,” “Absolute Negation,” and “Absolute Affirmation.”
• 10/01 – Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man, “Prologue” and Chapter 1; and Eliot J. Wilcox, “The Absurd in the Briar Patch: Ellison’s Invisible Man and Existentialism”
• 10/08 – Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Mask, “The Negro and Psychopathology.”
• 10/15 – Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Sabbath, excerpt.
• 10/22 – Levinas, Emmanuel. “Ethics as First Philosophy”
• 10/29 – Murdoch, Iris. The Sovereignty of the Good, “On God and the Good”
• 11/05 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. Critique of Dialectical Reason, “The Storming of the Bastille.”
• 11/12 – Daly, Mary. Beyond God the Father, “Transvaluation of Values: The End of Phallic Morality”
• 11/19 – Soloveitchik, Joseph. Halakhic Man, excerpt. 
• 11/26 – NO MEETING
• 12/03 – Caputo, John. Against Ethics, excerpt.
• 12/10 – Gordon, Lewis. “Sartrean Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism.”
• 12/17 – Morrison, Roy D. “Self-Transformation in American Blacks” in Existence in Black

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Bust out a pipe and your best French accent, as we spend the summer and fall discussing authenticity, freedom, and angst with our next unit on Existential Ethics.

12/10 – Gordon, Lewis. “Sartrean Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• 05/14 – Hegel, G.W.F. Phenomenology of Spirit,  “Spirit that is Certain of Itself. Morality.”
• 05/21 – NO MEETING
• 05/28 – Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling, “Problema 1” and “Problema 2.”
• 06/04 – Stirner, Max. The Ego and Its Own, “The Owner” and “My Power.”
• 06/11 – Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Notes from the Underground, “Part 1: Underground”
• 06/18 – Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy of Morals, “‘Good and Evil,’ ‘Good and Bad’.”
• 06/25 – Cooper, Anna Julia. “The Ethics of the Negro Question.” 
• 07/02 – NO MEETING
• 07/09 – Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk, “Of the Sons of Master and Man.”
• 07/16 – Kafka, Franz. “The Judgment” and Butler, Judith. “Against Ethical Violence” in Giving an Account of Oneself.
• 07/23 – Scheler, Max. Ressentiment, “Ressentiment and Moral Value Judgement” and “Christian Morality and Ressentiment.”
• 07/30 – Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time, “Dasein’s Attestation of an Authentic Potentiality-for-Being, and Resoluteness.”
• 08/06 – Zapffe, Peter Wessel . “The Last Messiah”
• 08/13 – Weil, Simone. “The Iliad, or the Poem of Force.”
• 08/20 – Fromm, Erich. Escape from Freedom, “I: Freedom—A Psychological Problem?” and “II: The Emergence of the Individual and the Ambiguity of Freedom”.
• 08/27 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is a Humanism.”
• 09/03 – Heidegger, Martin. “Letter on Humanism”; [also be sure to check the drive for a bonus essay by reading group member Robert Gall, “Thinking What Is Strange and Dangerous”]
• 09/10 – Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception, “Freedom.”
• 09/17 – de Beauvoir, Simone. The Ethics of Ambiguity, “Ambiguity and Freedom.”
• 09/24 – Camus, Albert, The Rebel, “The Rebel,” “Absolute Negation,” and “Absolute Affirmation.”
• 10/01 – Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man, “Prologue” and Chapter 1; and Eliot J. Wilcox, “The Absurd in the Briar Patch: Ellison’s Invisible Man and Existentialism”
• 10/08 – Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Mask, “The Negro and Psychopathology.”
• 10/15 – Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Sabbath, excerpt.
• 10/22 – Levinas, Emmanuel. “Ethics as First Philosophy”
• 10/29 – Murdoch, Iris. The Sovereignty of the Good, “On God and the Good”
• 11/05 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. Critique of Dialectical Reason, “The Storming of the Bastille.”
• 11/12 – Daly, Mary. Beyond God the Father, “Transvaluation of Values: The End of Phallic Morality”
• 11/19 – Soloveitchik, Joseph. Halakhic Man, excerpt. 
• 11/26 – NO MEETING
• 12/03 – Caputo, John. Against Ethics, excerpt.
• 12/10 – Gordon, Lewis. “Sartrean Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism.”
• 12/17 – Morrison, Roy D. “Self-Transformation in American Blacks” in Existence in Black

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Bust out a pipe and your best French accent, as we spend the summer and fall discussing authenticity, freedom, and angst with our next unit on Existential Ethics.

12/03 – Caputo, John. Against Ethics, excerpt.

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• 05/14 – Hegel, G.W.F. Phenomenology of Spirit,  “Spirit that is Certain of Itself. Morality.”
• 05/21 – NO MEETING
• 05/28 – Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling, “Problema 1” and “Problema 2.”
• 06/04 – Stirner, Max. The Ego and Its Own, “The Owner” and “My Power.”
• 06/11 – Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Notes from the Underground, “Part 1: Underground”
• 06/18 – Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy of Morals, “‘Good and Evil,’ ‘Good and Bad’.”
• 06/25 – Cooper, Anna Julia. “The Ethics of the Negro Question.” 
• 07/02 – NO MEETING
• 07/09 – Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk, “Of the Sons of Master and Man.”
• 07/16 – Kafka, Franz. “The Judgment” and Butler, Judith. “Against Ethical Violence” in Giving an Account of Oneself.
• 07/23 – Scheler, Max. Ressentiment, “Ressentiment and Moral Value Judgement” and “Christian Morality and Ressentiment.”
• 07/30 – Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time, “Dasein’s Attestation of an Authentic Potentiality-for-Being, and Resoluteness.”
• 08/06 – Zapffe, Peter Wessel . “The Last Messiah”
• 08/13 – Weil, Simone. “The Iliad, or the Poem of Force.”
• 08/20 – Fromm, Erich. Escape from Freedom, “I: Freedom—A Psychological Problem?” and “II: The Emergence of the Individual and the Ambiguity of Freedom”.
• 08/27 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is a Humanism.”
• 09/03 – Heidegger, Martin. “Letter on Humanism”; [also be sure to check the drive for a bonus essay by reading group member Robert Gall, “Thinking What Is Strange and Dangerous”]
• 09/10 – Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception, “Freedom.”
• 09/17 – de Beauvoir, Simone. The Ethics of Ambiguity, “Ambiguity and Freedom.”
• 09/24 – Camus, Albert, The Rebel, “The Rebel,” “Absolute Negation,” and “Absolute Affirmation.”
• 10/01 – Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man, “Prologue” and Chapter 1; and Eliot J. Wilcox, “The Absurd in the Briar Patch: Ellison’s Invisible Man and Existentialism”
• 10/08 – Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Mask, “The Negro and Psychopathology.”
• 10/15 – Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Sabbath, excerpt.
• 10/22 – Levinas, Emmanuel. “Ethics as First Philosophy”
• 10/29 – Murdoch, Iris. The Sovereignty of the Good, “On God and the Good”
• 11/05 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. Critique of Dialectical Reason, “The Storming of the Bastille.”
• 11/12 – Daly, Mary. Beyond God the Father, “Transvaluation of Values: The End of Phallic Morality”
• 11/19 – Soloveitchik, Joseph. Halakhic Man, excerpt. 
• 11/26 – NO MEETING
• 12/03 – Caputo, John. Against Ethics, excerpt.
• 12/10 – Gordon, Lewis. “Sartrean Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism.”
• 12/17 – Morrison, Roy D. “Self-Transformation in American Blacks” in Existence in Black

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Bust out a pipe and your best French accent, as we spend the summer and fall discussing authenticity, freedom, and angst with our next unit on Existential Ethics.

11/19 – Soloveitchik, Joseph. Halakhic Man, excerpt. 

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• 05/14 – Hegel, G.W.F. Phenomenology of Spirit,  “Spirit that is Certain of Itself. Morality.”
• 05/21 – NO MEETING
• 05/28 – Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling, “Problema 1” and “Problema 2.”
• 06/04 – Stirner, Max. The Ego and Its Own, “The Owner” and “My Power.”
• 06/11 – Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Notes from the Underground, “Part 1: Underground”
• 06/18 – Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy of Morals, “‘Good and Evil,’ ‘Good and Bad’.”
• 06/25 – Cooper, Anna Julia. “The Ethics of the Negro Question.” 
• 07/02 – NO MEETING
• 07/09 – Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk, “Of the Sons of Master and Man.”
• 07/16 – Kafka, Franz. “The Judgment” and Butler, Judith. “Against Ethical Violence” in Giving an Account of Oneself.
• 07/23 – Scheler, Max. Ressentiment, “Ressentiment and Moral Value Judgement” and “Christian Morality and Ressentiment.”
• 07/30 – Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time, “Dasein’s Attestation of an Authentic Potentiality-for-Being, and Resoluteness.”
• 08/06 – Zapffe, Peter Wessel . “The Last Messiah”
• 08/13 – Weil, Simone. “The Iliad, or the Poem of Force.”
• 08/20 – Fromm, Erich. Escape from Freedom, “I: Freedom—A Psychological Problem?” and “II: The Emergence of the Individual and the Ambiguity of Freedom”.
• 08/27 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is a Humanism.”
• 09/03 – Heidegger, Martin. “Letter on Humanism”; [also be sure to check the drive for a bonus essay by reading group member Robert Gall, “Thinking What Is Strange and Dangerous”]
• 09/10 – Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception, “Freedom.”
• 09/17 – de Beauvoir, Simone. The Ethics of Ambiguity, “Ambiguity and Freedom.”
• 09/24 – Camus, Albert, The Rebel, “The Rebel,” “Absolute Negation,” and “Absolute Affirmation.”
• 10/01 – Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man, “Prologue” and Chapter 1; and Eliot J. Wilcox, “The Absurd in the Briar Patch: Ellison’s Invisible Man and Existentialism”
• 10/08 – Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Mask, “The Negro and Psychopathology.”
• 10/15 – Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Sabbath, excerpt.
• 10/22 – Levinas, Emmanuel. “Ethics as First Philosophy”
• 10/29 – Murdoch, Iris. The Sovereignty of the Good, “On God and the Good”
• 11/05 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. Critique of Dialectical Reason, “The Storming of the Bastille.”
• 11/12 – Daly, Mary. Beyond God the Father, “Transvaluation of Values: The End of Phallic Morality”
• 11/19 – Soloveitchik, Joseph. Halakhic Man, excerpt. 
• 11/26 – NO MEETING
• 12/03 – Caputo, John. Against Ethics, excerpt.
• 12/10 – Gordon, Lewis. “Sartrean Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism.”
• 12/17 – Morrison, Roy D. “Self-Transformation in American Blacks” in Existence in Black

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Bust out a pipe and your best French accent, as we spend the summer and fall discussing authenticity, freedom, and angst with our next unit on Existential Ethics.

11/19 – Soloveitchik, Joseph. Halakhic Man, excerpt. 

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• 05/14 – Hegel, G.W.F. Phenomenology of Spirit,  “Spirit that is Certain of Itself. Morality.”
• 05/21 – NO MEETING
• 05/28 – Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling, “Problema 1” and “Problema 2.”
• 06/04 – Stirner, Max. The Ego and Its Own, “The Owner” and “My Power.”
• 06/11 – Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Notes from the Underground, “Part 1: Underground”
• 06/18 – Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy of Morals, “‘Good and Evil,’ ‘Good and Bad’.”
• 06/25 – Cooper, Anna Julia. “The Ethics of the Negro Question.” 
• 07/02 – NO MEETING
• 07/09 – Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk, “Of the Sons of Master and Man.”
• 07/16 – Kafka, Franz. “The Judgment” and Butler, Judith. “Against Ethical Violence” in Giving an Account of Oneself.
• 07/23 – Scheler, Max. Ressentiment, “Ressentiment and Moral Value Judgement” and “Christian Morality and Ressentiment.”
• 07/30 – Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time, “Dasein’s Attestation of an Authentic Potentiality-for-Being, and Resoluteness.”
• 08/06 – Zapffe, Peter Wessel . “The Last Messiah”
• 08/13 – Weil, Simone. “The Iliad, or the Poem of Force.”
• 08/20 – Fromm, Erich. Escape from Freedom, “I: Freedom—A Psychological Problem?” and “II: The Emergence of the Individual and the Ambiguity of Freedom”.
• 08/27 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is a Humanism.”
• 09/03 – Heidegger, Martin. “Letter on Humanism”; [also be sure to check the drive for a bonus essay by reading group member Robert Gall, “Thinking What Is Strange and Dangerous”]
• 09/10 – Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception, “Freedom.”
• 09/17 – de Beauvoir, Simone. The Ethics of Ambiguity, “Ambiguity and Freedom.”
• 09/24 – Camus, Albert, The Rebel, “The Rebel,” “Absolute Negation,” and “Absolute Affirmation.”
• 10/01 – Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man, “Prologue” and Chapter 1; and Eliot J. Wilcox, “The Absurd in the Briar Patch: Ellison’s Invisible Man and Existentialism”
• 10/08 – Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Mask, “The Negro and Psychopathology.”
• 10/15 – Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Sabbath, excerpt.
• 10/22 – Levinas, Emmanuel. “Ethics as First Philosophy”
• 10/29 – Murdoch, Iris. The Sovereignty of the Good, “On God and the Good”
• 11/05 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. Critique of Dialectical Reason, “The Storming of the Bastille.”
• 11/12 – Daly, Mary. Beyond God the Father, “Transvaluation of Values: The End of Phallic Morality”
• 11/19 – Soloveitchik, Joseph. Halakhic Man, excerpt. 
• 11/26 – NO MEETING
• 12/03 – Caputo, John. Against Ethics, excerpt.
• 12/10 – Gordon, Lewis. “Sartrean Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism.”
• 12/17 – Morrison, Roy D. “Self-Transformation in American Blacks” in Existence in Black

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Bust out a pipe and your best French accent, as we spend the summer and fall discussing authenticity, freedom, and angst with our next unit on Existential Ethics.

11/12 – Daly, Mary. Beyond God the Father, “Transvaluation of Values: The End of Phallic Morality”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• 05/14 – Hegel, G.W.F. Phenomenology of Spirit,  “Spirit that is Certain of Itself. Morality.”
• 05/21 – NO MEETING
• 05/28 – Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling, “Problema 1” and “Problema 2.”
• 06/04 – Stirner, Max. The Ego and Its Own, “The Owner” and “My Power.”
• 06/11 – Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Notes from the Underground, “Part 1: Underground”
• 06/18 – Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy of Morals, “‘Good and Evil,’ ‘Good and Bad’.”
• 06/25 – Cooper, Anna Julia. “The Ethics of the Negro Question.” 
• 07/02 – NO MEETING
• 07/09 – Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk, “Of the Sons of Master and Man.”
• 07/16 – Kafka, Franz. “The Judgment” and Butler, Judith. “Against Ethical Violence” in Giving an Account of Oneself.
• 07/23 – Scheler, Max. Ressentiment, “Ressentiment and Moral Value Judgement” and “Christian Morality and Ressentiment.”
• 07/30 – Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time, “Dasein’s Attestation of an Authentic Potentiality-for-Being, and Resoluteness.”
• 08/06 – Zapffe, Peter Wessel . “The Last Messiah”
• 08/13 – Weil, Simone. “The Iliad, or the Poem of Force.”
• 08/20 – Fromm, Erich. Escape from Freedom, “I: Freedom—A Psychological Problem?” and “II: The Emergence of the Individual and the Ambiguity of Freedom”.
• 08/27 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is a Humanism.”
• 09/03 – Heidegger, Martin. “Letter on Humanism”; [also be sure to check the drive for a bonus essay by reading group member Robert Gall, “Thinking What Is Strange and Dangerous”]
• 09/10 – Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception, “Freedom.”
• 09/17 – de Beauvoir, Simone. The Ethics of Ambiguity, “Ambiguity and Freedom.”
• 09/24 – Camus, Albert, The Rebel, “The Rebel,” “Absolute Negation,” and “Absolute Affirmation.”
• 10/01 – Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man, “Prologue” and Chapter 1; and Eliot J. Wilcox, “The Absurd in the Briar Patch: Ellison’s Invisible Man and Existentialism”
• 10/08 – Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Mask, “The Negro and Psychopathology.”
• 10/15 – Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Sabbath, excerpt.
• 10/22 – Levinas, Emmanuel. “Ethics as First Philosophy”
• 10/29 – Murdoch, Iris. The Sovereignty of the Good, “On God and the Good”
• 11/05 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. Critique of Dialectical Reason, “The Storming of the Bastille.”
• 11/12 – Daly, Mary. Beyond God the Father, “Transvaluation of Values: The End of Phallic Morality”
• 11/19 – Soloveitchik, Joseph. Halakhic Man, excerpt. 
• 11/26 – NO MEETING
• 12/03 – Caputo, John. Against Ethics, excerpt.
• 12/10 – Gordon, Lewis. “Sartrean Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism.”
• 12/17 – Morrison, Roy D. “Self-Transformation in American Blacks” in Existence in Black

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Bust out a pipe and your best French accent, as we spend the summer and fall discussing authenticity, freedom, and angst with our next unit on Existential Ethics.

11/12 – Daly, Mary. Beyond God the Father, “Transvaluation of Values: The End of Phallic Morality”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• 05/14 – Hegel, G.W.F. Phenomenology of Spirit,  “Spirit that is Certain of Itself. Morality.”
• 05/21 – NO MEETING
• 05/28 – Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling, “Problema 1” and “Problema 2.”
• 06/04 – Stirner, Max. The Ego and Its Own, “The Owner” and “My Power.”
• 06/11 – Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Notes from the Underground, “Part 1: Underground”
• 06/18 – Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy of Morals, “‘Good and Evil,’ ‘Good and Bad’.”
• 06/25 – Cooper, Anna Julia. “The Ethics of the Negro Question.” 
• 07/02 – NO MEETING
• 07/09 – Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk, “Of the Sons of Master and Man.”
• 07/16 – Kafka, Franz. “The Judgment” and Butler, Judith. “Against Ethical Violence” in Giving an Account of Oneself.
• 07/23 – Scheler, Max. Ressentiment, “Ressentiment and Moral Value Judgement” and “Christian Morality and Ressentiment.”
• 07/30 – Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time, “Dasein’s Attestation of an Authentic Potentiality-for-Being, and Resoluteness.”
• 08/06 – Zapffe, Peter Wessel . “The Last Messiah”
• 08/13 – Weil, Simone. “The Iliad, or the Poem of Force.”
• 08/20 – Fromm, Erich. Escape from Freedom, “I: Freedom—A Psychological Problem?” and “II: The Emergence of the Individual and the Ambiguity of Freedom”.
• 08/27 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is a Humanism.”
• 09/03 – Heidegger, Martin. “Letter on Humanism”; [also be sure to check the drive for a bonus essay by reading group member Robert Gall, “Thinking What Is Strange and Dangerous”]
• 09/10 – Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception, “Freedom.”
• 09/17 – de Beauvoir, Simone. The Ethics of Ambiguity, “Ambiguity and Freedom.”
• 09/24 – Camus, Albert, The Rebel, “The Rebel,” “Absolute Negation,” and “Absolute Affirmation.”
• 10/01 – Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man, “Prologue” and Chapter 1; and Eliot J. Wilcox, “The Absurd in the Briar Patch: Ellison’s Invisible Man and Existentialism”
• 10/08 – Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Mask, “The Negro and Psychopathology.”
• 10/15 – Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Sabbath, excerpt.
• 10/22 – Levinas, Emmanuel. “Ethics as First Philosophy”
• 10/29 – Murdoch, Iris. The Sovereignty of the Good, “On God and the Good”
• 11/05 – Sartre, Jean-Paul. Critique of Dialectical Reason, “The Storming of the Bastille.”
• 11/12 – Daly, Mary. Beyond God the Father, “Transvaluation of Values: The End of Phallic Morality”
• 11/19 – Soloveitchik, Joseph. Halakhic Man, excerpt. 
• 11/26 – NO MEETING
• 12/03 – Caputo, John. Against Ethics, excerpt.
• 12/10 – Gordon, Lewis. “Sartrean Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism.”
• 12/17 – Morrison, Roy D. “Self-Transformation in American Blacks” in Existence in Black

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

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