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Practical Wisdom Seminar
Wisdom, Folly, and Coping with the World
What is wisdom? And what is its supposed opposite, folly? How are we to act in the world when the world does not behave as we expect? Are we fundamentally rational creatures? Or, do we fool ourselves and ignore our irrationality?
In this study we will proceed chronologically through a dozen classic texts, ancient through modern, that invite a deep exploration of these questions. Heraclitus, Ecclesiastes, Job, the Bacchae, Apology, Hamlet, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, and more. . .
12-week seminar
Weekly Mondays at 7:00pm Central
June 2 to August 18, 2025
Seminar leader: Jesse Peterson
Cost: $150 for GBGD Seminar Program members; $300 for non members
SPECIAL OFFER FOR NON-PROGRAM MEMBERS: $150
See below for full seminar description.
In this four-week discussion-based seminar, we will read from one ancient and two modern texts that think critically about technology and its role in human society.
We start with Plato’s dialogue Phaedrus, where Socrates examines the effect of a technology (writing!) on the human mind and soul. In the following weeks will read from two 20th century classics turn a piercing eye on technology and society: Jacques Ellul’s The Technological Society (1954), and Albert Borgmann’s Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life: A Philosophical Inquiry (1984).
These three texts, while all predating the advent of AI (artificial intelligence) as we now know it, will expose us to the kind of crucial philosophical and historical reflection on technology that is often missing from current conversations.
SEMINAR BOOK LIST
Plato, Phaedrus
found in
Plato: Complete Works
Edited by John M. Cooper
Hackett Publishing, 1997
ISBN-13: 978-0872203495
available on Amazon
Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society
Vintage, 1964
ISBN-13: 978-0394703909
available on Amazon
Albert Borgmann, Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life: A Philosophical Inquiry
University of Chicago Press, 1984
ISBN-13: 978-0226066295
available on Amazon
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