Real Philosophy: Overcoming the Divide Between Thought & Action with Christoph Schuringa

Tuesday January 13th
Doors & drinks at 6.30pm; Talks starts 7pm

Philosophy was, for much of its history, synonymous with the rational investigation of the nature of the world and of how to live. As such, its defining characteristics were its complete generality, and its pursuit of vital human concerns.

Today, philosophy has been reduced to a specialised discipline and its role has become unclear. It used to be thought that philosophy could have the special task of clarifying what is said in other disciplines, or providing a foundation for those disciplines, but no one seriously believes in such justifications for its existence any longer.

In this talk, Christoph Schuringa will advocate for the revival of an ancient conception of philosophy – one that gives philosophy the scope of rational enquiry – as put through a radical transformation by Karl Marx. Philosophy, as Marx argued, does not stand apart from the world. It is our human living thinking in action.

Recovering this idea, Christoph will claim, has profound implications for human action and activism today. Rather than relegating the role of philosophy to the working out of theories that then await ‘application’ to the ‘real’ world, to do philosophy is to actualise the power of thinking that we all possess as humans acting in the world. Our embrace of ‘real philosophy’ in turn brings the complex challenges of today's world, in particular the crises of capital and climate, into the heart of philosophy.

Christoph is a philosopher and author of A Social History of Analytic Philosophy and Karl Marx and the Actualization of Philosophy.

His talk will be followed by a one-pot vegan supper and discussion.

Kairos, 84 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4TG

Doors open at 6.30pm for drinks. Talk starts at 7pm.

£8 Frequent Visitor and Supporter Members; £15 Standard (includes Community Members); £10 Struggling financially; £8 Under 30s; £20 Supporter. Food complimentary. (To find out more about membership, visit our Membership page.)

Before requesting a discounted ticket, please consider sincerely: Are you struggling to meet your basic needs? Would you have to make a genuine sacrifice to buy a full priced ticket? Do you have reduced earnings through a lifestyle choice or rather because you're dedicating your time to unpaid work relating to the climate and nature crises or as a result of structural inequality? If you're struggling to pay even the reduced price please contact us on events@kairos.london.

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