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The Camden Philosophical Society will continue its exploration of existing and alternative societal and economic structures at its next hybrid gathering on Tuesday, February 18, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. EDT in the Picker Room of the Camden Public Library and on Zoom. All are welcome to participate. That goes for visitors, as well as year-rounders in Maine, and friends of the society wherever you may be.
If you wish to participate via Zoom, please email sarahmiller@usa.net. You will receive a Zoom invitation on the morning of the meeting. Click on the “Join Zoom Meeting” link in that invitation at the time of the event.
For our February topic, we are moving from the socio-political constructs of Karl Marx and the socio-religious framework of Martin Buber to the “braided” relationship between ourselves and the land, using the work of contemporary botanist and writer Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass.
We will explore themes from Kimmerer’s book that reflect the “gift economy,” as differentiated from “commodity exchange.” In this way her writings encourage us to re-examine our idea of a “gift” and our exchanges among each other. How does the spirit in which an object is given to another enhance the richness and worth between the giver and the receiver?
Essayist and author of The Gift Lewis Hyde writes: “It is the cardinal difference between gift and commodity exchange that a gift establishes a feeling-bond between two people.” These observations are extended in Kimmerer’s philosophy of the human species in relationship to land — the give and take of that relationship that Kimmerer calls “the equations of reciprocity and responsibility, the whys and wherefores of building sustainable relationships with ecosystems.”
The Society’s meeting will, as usual, be a hybrid gathering from 3:30-5:30 pm EDT on the third Tuesday of the month, in this case Feb. 18. All are welcome to participate, in-person at the Picker Room of the Camden Public Library or by Zoom. That goes for visitors, as well as year-rounders in Maine, and friends of the society wherever you may be. If you wish to participate via Zoom, please let us know by return email (Reply All). You will receive a Zoom invitation on the day of the meeting. Click on the “Join Zoom Meeting” link in that invitation at the time of the event.
In preparation for our February meeting, please read two chapters from Braiding Sweetgrass: “The Gift of Strawberries” and “Epiphany in the Beans.” The PDF of the entire book is available for free online here https://pdfhive.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Braiding-Sweetgrass-Indigenous-Wisdom-Scientific-Knowledge-and-the-Teachings-of-Plants-PDFhive.com-1.pdf and here https://www.are.na/block/11475743. Read more than the assigned chapters if so inspired – easy to do with this beautiful work.