REGISTER BELOW
Meets Bi-Weekly on Wednesdays: Jan. 14, Jan. 28, Feb. 11, Feb. 25
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org).
The question of ‘thinking’ attracts Arendt’s attention in her later works. Though Arendt claims that thinking is utterly without purpose and leaves no trace behind, she also proposes that it can provide a protective effect against certain forms of evil-doing in our time. What is the practical relevance of thinking, today? Given the destructive, resultless nature of this activity, why bother? In short: Why think? In this seminar we will investigate what it means to ‘think’ in an Arendtian sense through close readings of key excerpts from Hannah Arendt’s final work, The Life of the Mind, as well as several short essays.
Copies of The Life of the Mind will be provided to all participants. Weekly meetings are held over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 30 pages.
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.
Schedule:
- Jan. 14: “Thinking and Moral Considerations”
- Jan. 28: Life of the Mind Vol I (p. 69–98)
- Feb. 11: Life of the Mind Vol I (p. 141–151, 166–182, 187–193)
- Feb. 25: Life of the Mind Vol. I (p. 197–216), and “Karl Jaspers: A Laudatio”