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The Philosofur's Panel
10 years ago
I'm considering proposing/hosting a panel/meet-up for Anthrocon 2016 dubbed "The Philosofur's Panel". The premise here is pretty simple: I'll select some short readings (roughly a paragraph) from historical philosophical works (likely Plato, Confucius, or Lao Tzu), select some tea samples (probably classic Chinese tea), and we'll sit around drinking tea and talking philosophy.
In terms of details, copies of the reading would be printed out and provided to everyone, as well as the subsequent readings for the subsequent days (I'd like to have the panel run all three days). The tea would be brewed using hot water from a thermos, assuming of course that Anthrocon wouldn't provide hot water, and that we don't run out of water for tea. I'd like to provide some snacks, though right now my choice would be these dried berries I've had before that were really good with the type of tea I'm going for. Discussion could be guided, though I'd rather it be spontaneous.
The readings I'd be choosing would come from texts that I've had experience with, and I'd make sure to discuss my selection at length with a PHD professor of philosophy to make sure I could confidently lead some interesting discussion or review of the material if the need should be. I'd also likely have a much larger selection than I'd ever need to use in case people wanted to continue discussing, or had exhausted the current topic, and I'd bring the original texts as well as recommendations for translations, etc.
The format would be as casual as possible. We'd set up a single table with chairs around it (again, I assume I won't get many interested folks), and discussion would be mediated by myself to ensure some simple civility was maintained. That is, to make sure people don't talk at the same time, get into arguments, over ride one another, and so on. I do recognize that I'm passionate about the topic, and that I very well might want to dive into the goings on, but I'd take my role as unbiased arbitrator as primary.
Ideally, if this is a success, we'd keep it going year round with say, weekly Skype calls where we operate under the same conditions: readings are provided and discussed for a while. We might even try to work our way through an entire text!
The reason I'm saying all this is because I'm curious what other people think. I know there probably aren't many people reading this, but if anyone who does can drop me a line about whether or not they see problems with this plan, or if they have or do not have an interest, I'd appreciate it.
Oh, and I'm doing much better. I think my parents have come to tolerate my life choices. We'll see this weekend, but it's a huge weight off my chest.
~Velth
In terms of details, copies of the reading would be printed out and provided to everyone, as well as the subsequent readings for the subsequent days (I'd like to have the panel run all three days). The tea would be brewed using hot water from a thermos, assuming of course that Anthrocon wouldn't provide hot water, and that we don't run out of water for tea. I'd like to provide some snacks, though right now my choice would be these dried berries I've had before that were really good with the type of tea I'm going for. Discussion could be guided, though I'd rather it be spontaneous.
The readings I'd be choosing would come from texts that I've had experience with, and I'd make sure to discuss my selection at length with a PHD professor of philosophy to make sure I could confidently lead some interesting discussion or review of the material if the need should be. I'd also likely have a much larger selection than I'd ever need to use in case people wanted to continue discussing, or had exhausted the current topic, and I'd bring the original texts as well as recommendations for translations, etc.
The format would be as casual as possible. We'd set up a single table with chairs around it (again, I assume I won't get many interested folks), and discussion would be mediated by myself to ensure some simple civility was maintained. That is, to make sure people don't talk at the same time, get into arguments, over ride one another, and so on. I do recognize that I'm passionate about the topic, and that I very well might want to dive into the goings on, but I'd take my role as unbiased arbitrator as primary.
Ideally, if this is a success, we'd keep it going year round with say, weekly Skype calls where we operate under the same conditions: readings are provided and discussed for a while. We might even try to work our way through an entire text!
The reason I'm saying all this is because I'm curious what other people think. I know there probably aren't many people reading this, but if anyone who does can drop me a line about whether or not they see problems with this plan, or if they have or do not have an interest, I'd appreciate it.
Oh, and I'm doing much better. I think my parents have come to tolerate my life choices. We'll see this weekend, but it's a huge weight off my chest.
~Velth
