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Philosophy Classes NYC

Explore the depths of existentialism, ethics, and metaphysics through engaging discussions and debates in philosophy classes in NYC, where participants can gain a deeper understanding of the human condition and the nature of reality.

Unfortunately, no classes in-person in NYC have spots left, but 1 class live online is available.

Dreams and Dreaming: Philosophy, Psychology, and the Unconscious

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ Online Classroom

Explore the realm of dreams through the lenses of philosophy, psychology, and the unconscious in this interdisciplinary course. Discover how dreams have inspired artists, writers, and theorists, shedding light on the nature of reality and our connection to others. Delve into the works of Freud, Benjamin, Coleridge, and more as you unravel the profound connections between dreams and waking life.

(29) All levels 21 and older
$335

4 sessions

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Ancient Chinese Philosophy for a Better Life

92nd Street Y

What can we do to live in a fuller and more inspiring way? Ancient Chinese Philosophy provides some inspiring answers. This one-of-a-kind course introduces important Chinese thinkers and explores what we can use from Ancient Chinese Philosophy in our everyday lives to achieve greater awareness, flourishing, and connection to ourselves and others. Together in class we will meditate and do a close reading of Classical Chinese thinkers in translation,...

(1060) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules

Kant’s Critical Aesthetics

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 75 Broad St, New York, NY

Art was anything but peripheral to Kant’s philosophical project. In judging a thing to be beautiful, Kant maintained, we bridge “the great gulf” of nature and human freedom, and prepare ourselves to “love something, even nature, without interest”—that is, exercise moral judgment. Immensely influential in its time, the so-called “third Critique” inspired and gave energy to both German Idealism, which attempted to provide a rational...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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The Good, the Bad, and the Evil

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: an Introduction to Moral Philosophy Why should we be good? What makes an action moral—and how can we know? If an act is moral here and now, is it necessarily moral there and then? Is goodness in some way connected to happiness? And, what constitutes a moral judgment—is it an exercise of reason, or merely an expression of feeling? In this class, we’ll investigate the nature and scope of morality as it’s been...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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Continuum Movement® Moving Medicine

New York Open Center @ 22 E 30th St, New York, NY

Movement as a mindful exercise is gaining more and more attention as an important part of creating and maintaining health. It is being researched in the psychology field for treatment of trauma and is associated with improvements in psychological well-being, including reducing stress, anxiety, depression and mood disturbance, as well as increased self-esteem. Continuum Movement offers an experience of the human body as an elegant composite of interpenetrating...

(299) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules
$275

2 sessions

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Foundations of Modern Philosophy

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 247 West 37th St, New York, NY

Long before the development of modern academic and scientific disciplines, the early modern scientific revolution was exemplified by “natural philosophers”—polymaths like Rene Descartes, Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, and Thomas Hobbes who saw no clear distinction between philosophical, scientific, social, and other forms of inquiry. The scientific revolution, born partly from the insights they provided, was also a philosophical revolution,...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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Kant: Metaphysics and Morality

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 30 Irving Pl, New York, NY

Kant’s “Critical philosophy,” which begins with the appearance of the Critique of Pure Reason in 1781, is an attempt to understand the total scope and limits of human reason, science, and morality.  Moreover, he argues that the purpose of philosophy is to answer the fundamental questions that emerge from such an attempt: “What can we know? What should we do? What can we hope for?” In other words: Can we really know what reality...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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Lived Experience: An Introduction to Phenomenology

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 75 Broad St, New York, NY

What is phenomenology? Drawing on lived, first-person experience, phenomenology is the attempt to analyze and understand the very structures of human experience and consciousness. What are the elements of perception, and why do different people, different subjects, perceive things differently? What’s universal about consciousness? In what ways do individual identity, circumstance, history, language, and memory condition lived experience—and thus...

(29) Beginner 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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On the Heights of Despair: an Introduction to E.M. Cioran

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 200 East 38th Street, New York, NY

Delve into the mind of philosopher Emil Cioran, as he explores themes of despair, doubt, and skepticism in a world without God. Join this thought-provoking course and discover Cioran's aphoristic style and its connection to his unconventional philosophy. Explore his life, influences, and the meaning of existence in this engaging exploration of a philosopher of unremitting despair.

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$335

4 sessions

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A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing: An Introduction to Marx

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 30 Irving Pl, New York, NY

In the mid-nineteenth century, a young Karl Marx wrote, in the form of a published open letter to Arnold Ruge: “But if the designing of the future and the proclamation of ready-made solutions for all time is not our affair, then we realize all the more clearly what we have to accomplish in the present—I am speaking of a ruthless criticism of everything existing, ruthless in two senses: The criticism must not be afraid of its own conclusions,...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$335

4 sessions

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Roland Barthes: Beyond Interpretation

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 558 St. Johns Place, Brooklyn, NY

This course—an introduction to the thought of the French philosopher, literary theorist, linguist, and semiotician—asks how Barthes, who began his intellectual life as a committed disenchanter, evolved from architect of structuralist demystification to theorist of the scintillant, a field of investigation that encompassed questions of affect including pleasure, pain, bliss, love, and mourning. The rubric of the scintillating spurred Barthes’s...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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An Anatomy of Melancholy

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

What is melancholy? And why does this term of art shadow the activities of literature and philosophy? Historically, “melancholia” referred to a disorder resulting from an imbalance of the body: an excess of black bile thought to cause sustained sadness, sudden and inexplicable anger, sullen fits, and intense imaginative capability. Melancholy could descend on anyone at any time, irrespective of position or gender—though artists, scholars, lovers,...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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French Existentialism: Beauvoir and Sartre

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

For Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, the fundamental philosophical problem of the modern age was answering Friedrich Nietzsche’s dictum: god was dead, and so was, as a consequence, traditional western conceptions of morality, justice, and truth itself.  In the cafes of occupied and post-war Paris, Sartre, Beauvoir, and their cohort of fellow existentialists attempted to meet Nietzsche’s challenge: to reimagine the basis of morality...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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Aristotle: Philosophy, Ethics, and the Order of Nature

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

Introduction to Aristotle: Philosophy, Ethics, and the Order of Nature For much of Western history, Aristotle was known simply as “the philosopher.” Systematic and extraordinarily wide-ranging, Aristotle’s thought encompasses everything from metaphysics to politics to psychology to logic to poetic tragedy—and even plant biology. A student of Plato, Aristotle originated a philosophy very different in orientation from Platonic idealism, one...

(29) Beginner 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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Forgiveness and the Unforgivable: Religion, Literature

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

Forgiveness and the Unforgivable: Religion, Literature, Philosophy What constitutes an apology? Are certain kinds of acts unforgivable—and, if so, why? Who, indeed, has the power to forgive? In this course, we’ll set these questions in historical context, beginning with Bishop Joseph Butler’s eighteenth-century sermons, then exploring discussions of resentment in Nietzsche and guilt in Dostoyevski, before turning to post-Holocaust literature...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

It is difficult to imagine a more ambitious or even hubristic philosophy than that of G.W.F. Hegel. Even Hegel’s most contemptuous critics agreed with his faithful disciples on one count: he simply could not be ignored. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that much of 19th Century European intellectual history is a story about those who were with and against Hegel’s “Absolute Idealism,” grounded in a logic he called “dialectics.” Marxism,...

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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Strangers to Ourselves: an Introduction to Freud

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

In the process of investigating and treating the enigmatic disorder known as “hysteria,” Sigmund Freud established the discipline of psychoanalysis—and by so doing, profoundly altered Western subjectivity. By insisting that the bodily symptoms of hysterics represented unconscious conflict, Freud established a new way of thinking about human experience, motivations, desire, and suffering. The Freudian revolution destabilized long standing social...

(29) Beginner 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$315

4 sessions

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Intro to Kierkegaard: Existentialism, Faith & Death

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

Full Course Name: Introduction to Kierkegaard: Existentialism, Faith, and Death Søren Kierkegaard—Hamlet’s equally melancholic Danish counterpart—is frequently regarded as the father of existentialism for his exploration of concepts such as subjectivity, anxiety, and absurdity. This course will be an introduction to the main ideas of the nineteenth-century philosopher and theologian. How did Kierkegaard—through puzzles, pseudonyms, and...

(29) Beginner 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$335

4 sessions

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The Task of the Critic: an Introduction to Rosalind Krauss

Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ 68 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY

Uncover the transformative power of poststructuralist, feminist, and psychoanalytic methods in art criticism through an exploration of the writings and ideas of Rosalind Krauss, the influential founder of October journal. Analyze representative artworks alongside her essays, as you delve into the ways in which art objects and movements challenge categorization and reshape aesthetic experience. Discover how Krauss's unique theoretical vocabulary redefines the role of the critic in art historical narratives.

(29) All levels 21 and older
No upcoming schedules
$335

4 sessions

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Somatic Techniques to Improve Your Inner Life

New York Open Center @ 22 E 30th St, New York, NY

Discover how empowering self-relating’s somatic techniques can improve your inner life. Caryn has developed ten self-relating principles to resolve unconscious inner conflicts, inhibitions, shame, and trauma. This approach harnesses neuroscience, somatic awareness, heart chakra presence, internal/external movement, and embodied techniques. Through a combination of experiential and embodied exercises, pair explorations, and group work, we tune...

(299) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules
$170

5 sessions

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