Philosophy as a Social Enterprise:
An Alternative Assignment
Philosophy, at its best, is something we do with other people.
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In order to help foster a class community (and to give you some space to get started on your midterm paper) you may do the following in lieu of your Weekly Blog Paper next week:
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1.Read Zadie Smith’s “Joy” along with the readings assigned from the classical Utilitarians (Perusall)
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2.Sign Up for a Social Pod on Discord using the links below. Note: 5 people MAX per team. Choose a team color and leave your name to reserve a spot:
Boston In Person Meet-Ups
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Remote/Mixed Meet-Ups
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3. Arrange to have a short meet up with your Pod (In Person or ZOOM/Discord) anytime next week.
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4. Talk organically about Zadie Smith’s “Joy.” Here’s a possible icebreaker, if you need one: What, if anything, is joy? Do you agree with Zadie Smith that joy is both different from and higher in importance than pleasure? You can also take the opportunity to audition paper topics, etc.
5. Build community
“The thing no one ever tells you about joy is that it has very little real pleasure in it. And yet if it hadn’t happened at all, at least once, how would we live?”
Zadie Smith, “Joy”