Camden Philosophical Society: Costica Bradatan’s “Dying for Ideas” – In Person & On Zoom

Continuing its exploration of philosophy as “an art of living,” the Camden Philosophical Society will at this month’s regularly scheduled hybrid gathering — at 3:30 pm on Tuesday, March 19 — discuss portions of the 2015 book Dying for Ideas: The Dangerous Lives of the Philosophers, by Costica Bradatan. All are welcome to participate, either in-person at the Picker Room of the Camden Public Library or by Zoom.

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.

Contemporary philosopher Costica Bradatan, a native of Romania, is currently a Professor of Philosophy at Texas Tech University. The work that we are reading addresses the complex nature of the relation of philosophy (and philosophers) to death. As he discusses in the book, many philosophers have died for ideas, from Socrates to Czech phenomenologist Jan Patocke, who died in 1977 after being interrogated by the Czech secret police about his involvement in the Chapter 77 human rights movement. Simone Weil, whose work the society discussed last year, is another example. Bradatan also points out that philosophers have developed ideas about the meaning of death.

Greg Fahy, who selected the reading, notes: “In a culture that appears to be allergic to talking about death, it might be helpful to understand different philosophical approaches to death as part of an overall practical philosophy, as part of living an examined life.” The reading proposed by Greg is the first 57 pages of Dying for Ideas. A link to an online version of the PDF is below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13j1SWSJeqoN5DWwDTvmR9GmEZy1HwzDG/view