“Friendly Philosophers”
As part of Common Ground’s commitment to fostering dialogue, CGO established the Friendly Philosophers group – a weekly discussion where the interworkings of faith, ethics, and science are explored. People from numerous disciplines and schools of thought – teachers, writers, artists, scientists, ministers and secularists- discuss the human situation and the condition of the earth and its myriad life forms. By providing space to table our various perspectives comes empathy (ideally), and an invigorated commitment to social, political, and environmental justice.
Furthermore, the group encourages its members to take tangible actions that promote positive change at whatever level of engagement is possible for them. Making a difference does not often require an arduous level of commitment – we merely ask our fellow philosophers to examine their consumer habits, to be conscious of their impact on a compromised environment, or to lessen the burden wherever possible of those enduring deprivation.
Tuesday, November 28th
Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. – Immanuel Kant
Is there a place for ignorance?
Tuesday, November 21st
Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you’re doing the impossible. – Francis of Assisi
Tuesday, November 14th
Today I choose to feel life / death be damned. Giblet
Tuesday, November 7th
How strong is your inner strength?
Tuesday, October 31st
A discussion about fake news. One famous case >
Liebeck v. McDonalds Restaurants in 1994
(per member Tyler Leonard).
Tuesday, October 24th
What course changes have you made in your belief system recently?
Tuesday, October 17th
What’s the use of sanity?
Tuesday, October 10th
Whose truth do you trust?
Tuesday, October 3rd
The Earth is unraveling due to human-forced warming… true or false?
Tuesday, September 26th
Cast your net far Cast your net wide and be prepared
Tuesday, September 19th
If you could live forever… what would change … what would remain the same?
Tuesday, September 10th
Write what you like; there is no other rule. O. Henry
we continue the discussion about creativity
Tuesday, September 5th
The creation of something new is not accomplished
by the intellect but by the play instinct acting
from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with
the objects it loves. Carl Jung
Tuesday, August 29th
Starting our second 5 years we discuss the scope of “Philosophy” and it’s relevance to our personal mission in a troubled world.
Tuesday, August 22nd
Tuesday, August 15th
Define Life.
Tuesday, August 8th
How relationships affect us.
Tuesday, July 25th
{We} worship self-indulgence and consumption while a balanced approach, demanding a bit of sacrifice from everyone, is abandoned like an orphan without friends. Jimmy Carter
Tuesday, July 18th
“Civil Commitment” / imprisonment for crimes that might be committed.
Tuesday, July 11th
See you next Tuesday!
Tuesday, July 4th
Yo. I’m on the road out West visiting friends in prison and friends who haven’t been caught yet . See you all on the 18th / the 4th of July may be a good time to think about some healthy revolution. Peas and Love / Gib.
Tuesday, June 26th
Prisons and Justice / A Discussion
Tuesday, June 20th
Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus left town. “George Carlin”
Tuesday, June 6th
The Edge… there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Tuesday, May 23rd
Self-delusion is the basis of nearly all the great scenes in nearly all the great plays from Oedipus to Hamlet. – Stephen Sondheim
Tuesday, May 16th
We must be the Renaissance that replaces profit with the reverence for life.
Tuesday, May 2nd
Doing scientific research to fill human needs forces scientists to stop versifying and confront reality. – Steven Weinberg