We begin Part One: Ancient Philosophy of a new Forum series: A Survey of Western Thought, this Thursday, 6 pm Eastern and 6 pm Pacific.  We’ll be discussing introductory matters, such as what constitutes thought, what is philosophy, and does it matter, among other things.  This will also be a good opportunity, as a group, to begin discussing some of our particular interests and emphases that we may like to, at appropriate points, narrow in on.

This first mini-series is a four week series.  We will initially look at introductory matters (Week 1); then spend two weeks surveying our period chronologically: Pythagoras to Plato (Week 2) and Aristotle to Augustine (week 3); we will then begin to look at our period topically, initially with Logic (week 4).  The next time we pick up (after the completion of other Forum series), if there is still sufficient interest, we will continue to look at our period topically: Epistemology, Physics, and Metaphysics.  We then have one more mini-series topically oriented to complete our survey of Part 1: Ancient Philosophy.  The plan is then to do somewhat the same for Part 2: Medieval Philosophy, Part 3: Early Modern Philosophy, and Part 4: Modern Philosophy.

This Series is formatted as a discussion—material won’t be taught nor presented.  There is no required reading, however, I would highly recommend a supplemental resource(s).  There are many quality resources that would be beneficial; I recommend A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny.  The primary goal of my suggestion is to assist any of us who may be unfamiliar with a particular topic but would like to be a part of the discussion; I think this will apply to all of us at some point.  We can discuss Kenny and other supplemental resources the first Thursday, if desired.  If you are interested yet hesitant, I would recommend trying out Thursday’s discussion and then evaluate. We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information, please contact Jack Foster at info@orchardefc.org.