"A Few Days In Athens" Zoom Book Club Meeting #1: Who Was Frances Wright, Introduction, and Chapter One (Jan 30 8:00 PM EST) (Sun, Jan 30th 2022, 8:00 pm-9:00 pm)

Cassius started a new event:

Event

"A Few Days In Athens" Zoom Book Club Meeting #1: Who Was Frances Wright, Introduction, and Chapter One (Jan 30 8:00 PM EST)

This will be the first session on "A Few Days In Athens.' We will talk about (1) Who was Frances Wright? (2) The Introduction, and (3) Chapter One. The plan will be to move on to Chapter Two next week.

The rough agenda for our one hour session is:

1 - Twenty Minute or so overview of Frances Wright, the Introduction, and Chapter One by led Cassius and any other volunteer regular forum participants who have read the whole book.

2 - Brief introduction of everyone on the call. (We will go around…

Sun, Jan 30th 2022, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Cassius

January 24, 2022 at 7:37 PM

Quote

This will be the first session on "A Few Days In Athens.' We will talk about (1) Who was Frances Wright? (2) The Introduction, and (3) Chapter One. The plan will be to move on to Chapter Two next week.

The rough agenda for our one hour session is:

1 - Twenty Minute or so overview of Frances Wright, the Introduction, and Chapter One by led Cassius and any other volunteer regular forum participants who have read the whole book.

2 - Brief introduction of everyone on the call. (We will go around the zoom list and ask everyone to say their first names (real or otherwise) and tell us about their background and interest in Epicurus. For example: "My name is Joshua, I am from (country), and I have been interested in Epicurus ever since _______________. I have read (describe how many books on Epicurus you have read) and I have / have not read the entire "A Few Days In Athens."

3 - After we do the introductions, we will then open the floor for open discussion of Chapter one from all participants. Depending on how many people we have we will probably use the "raise your hand" method of going around the table. with Cassius or other moderator calling on people to keep the conversation organized. We will monitor the text chat also and people can use that to indicate that they want to speak, and what about.

We will see how his format works and make adjustments in future meetings.

Note: The use of video is strictly optional. We anticipate many of our friends will choose to use audio only.

A ZOOM LINK WILL BE ADDED HERE SHORTLY BEFORE THE MEETING.

Cassius Amicus is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: A Few Days In Athens Zoom Meeting

Time: Jan 30, 2022 08:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81405787401?…2FCYTE2TnNDZz09

Meeting ID: 814 0578 7401

Passcode: 203583

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,81405787401#,,,,*203583# US (Washington DC)

+13126266799,,81405787401#,,,,*203583# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)

+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)

Meeting ID: 814 0578 7401

Passcode: 203583

Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kdRzXZ4CDP

Link to Book: http://www.afewdaysinathens.com/   

https://archive.org/.../fewdaysinathe.../page/n5/mode/2up...

Link to Ongoing Discussion of Chapter One (the place to discuss Chapter One into the future). AFDIA - Chapter One

Links:

"A Few Days In Athens" Zoom Book Club Meeting #1

https://www.facebook.com/events/332030028928098

https://www.facebook.com/groups/EpicureanPhilosophy/posts/4715137858535137/

Display More

Gosh this is the first time I have used the "Schedule Event" feature and I hope I have not created a monster. I have listed everyone here who has level 3 status, plus others who have indicated interest. i have no idea what kind of emails or notifications you are going to get - I hope it is not too much.

Also i think we are probably better off with an 8:00 PM eastern time to start, so my apologies to anyone for whom this start time won't work. Let's see what happens with this first one and perhaps we can adjust.

I should be able to handle a twenty-minute summary on Frances Wright and Chapter One for the opening of this Zoom meeting, but if any of our regulars here would like to volunteer to stand ready in case I fall short I would certainly appreciate it.

I have no clue how many people we will have, but I expect a significant number of totally new people, so if would probably be best if we have some regulars ready to help lead the discussion in case things go too far off beam.

No need to commit to anything now but I will appreciate the help from anyone who has either (1) already read the book, or (2) is just a good talker!

Reminder - our first meeting of the A Few Days In Athens Book Review is tonight at 8:00 PM Eastern USA Time. Zoom link will be posted about a half hour prior to the meeting!

Thank you thank you thank you! That will take the pressure off my stream of consciousness approach.

Joshua's outline was so good we need a copy here. It's not well formatted like the PDF, but good enough:

Chapter 1 Outline

I. Begins In Media Res, in the middle of things

A. Theon’s Soliloquoy

i. Appeal to the gods

ii. "Corrupting the youth"

iii. "Forsaking the Portico

B. Characteristics of the "Gargettian", per Timocrates

i. Blasphemer, Seducer, Deceiver

ii. Master of "cursed cermonies of riot and impiety"

iii. "nocturnal horrors"

II. Meeting the Stranger

A. Theon leaves the noisy crowded city, for the restful peace of nature

i. Seats himself by the Cephisus

ii. Interrupted by the gentle sound of footsteps

iii. Extensive description of the (evident) sage

III. Their Conversation

A. On Zeno

i. "a school of real virtue"

ii. "I had rather be the companion than the master"

iii. Theon; "I have looked upon Zeno with admiration and despair"

iv. "He who but admires virtue, yields her but half her due"

v. Can we rival Zeno? Yes: with;

1. Innocence

2. Sensibility

3. Enthusiasm

4. Ambition

5. Courage

6. Will

vi. All men cannot be poets and philosophers, but can be virtuous

Cephisus-A river god. Father

of Eteocles, first mortal to

worship the three Graces,

attendants of Aphrodite (and

sometimes Apollo)
B. On Epicurus

i. "What a loss for man that you are not teacher in the garden"

ii. "...I shall never be seduced by the advocate of vice"

iii. "I (Epicurus) would have you attend all the schools, with a willing ear"

iv. Even the garden itself

C. On Timocrates

i. "To hear virtue denied? Vice advocated? Atheism professed? Nocturnal Orgies!?"

ii. "I (Epicurus) should apprehend Timocrates to be a little mistaken"

iii. And quite possibly a liar

1. It is easy to get away with lies when you tell absurdities

iv. The first and last thing is to think for yourself

D. "I am Epicurus

The question has been raised about whether it is a good idea to make this into a continuing podcast, or to flatly state that it is not being recorded, which might be conducive to more frank conversation. When we started this I got several questions from people who wanted to hear it even if they could not attend live, so I do think there is an audience for this.

On the other hand, recording and posting is going to cause some degree of reluctance on the part of some people to speak freely.

There's a significant tradeoff of benefits and I am not sure which is best so I would like opinions.

Check out how I have edited this first one as a prototype. I definitely think that (as here) we will not post any of the cameras that were live, and we can make the video just slides (as we did here).

What do you think? Let's try to decide before this Sunday night. We'll definitely tell everyone who signs on our intention, one way or the other.

Right now this is posted on my page but it is not announced anywhere but here. If anyone whose voice is recorded would like it removed just let me know and I can edit them out.

Take a look at the "disclaimer" that I put at the front of the video as well. I am thinking that people will come and go and won't be in every episode, so we need to be clear that this is more free-wheeling discussion and less and official statement of Epicurean viewpoints --- we have the Lucretius Today podcast to serve more that function.

I see we're going to end up with two threads for each episode; (1) The thread associated with the calendar event, and (2) the thread associated with the chapter in the section on the book.

Until i figure out a way to deal with that, here's a crosslink where it's likely a majority of the discussion over time will take place: AFDIA - Chapter One