Walking and Philosophy: Thinking in Motion
- All levels
- 21 and older
- $335
- Online Classroom
- 12 hours over 4 sessions
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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.
Apr 14th
2–5pm EDT
Meets 4 Times
How does an activity as simple as walking become emblematic of an age—or a school of philosophy? From the wandering peripatetic of ancient Greece to the paradigmatic urban wanderer of 19th century Europe—the flâneur, a boulevard stroller immersed in the throng of human traffic—philosophers have been walking and thinking, alone or in among the crowd, amidst an asymmetrical organization of gazes, at once observing and being observed. The freedom—of movement, of time—that accrues to the contemplative walker is also theorized as a freedom of thought: the cobblestones traversed by the flâneur parallel the byways that walking opens in the mind. This (specifically male) figure of the thoughtful urban walker also has its bucolic counterpart, where, for Henry David Thoreau, walking in the “absolute freedom and wildness” of the natural environment becomes an occasion to meditate on the nature of civility and, for Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the outskirts of Paris open up exquisite horizons of moving meditation on plants, education, and political philosophy. How, and under what conditions, have the particular pleasures of pedestrianism become attached to specific modes and ways of thinking? How is the practice of walking experienced differently, across time, bodies, and environments? Can walking be done wrongly? And what happens when aimless wandering is transformed into an act of protest?
In this course, we’ll explore the long history of walking as a contemplative practice. Through careful readings of Thoreau, Rousseau, Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project, and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, we’ll ask: what does it mean to walk amidst the public—and to escape it? To walk in solitude or with a companion? Reaching back in time, we’ll consider the modern flâneur as heir to the peripatetic pupils of Aristotle, and, updating the category, we’ll examine Lauren Elkin’s proposal of the flâneuse—a challenge to the distinctly masculine figure of privilege and leisure. Looking to the 20th century and beyond, from Gandhi’s Salt Marches to the March on Washington, we’ll examine walking as political practice and, with Trisha Brown’s “Walking on the Wall,” as performance art. What, in the 21st century, are our modes of walking, and how do they speak to other kinds of social, political, and philosophical practice?
This course is available for "remote" learning and will be available to anyone with access to an internet device with a microphone (this includes most models of computers, tablets). Classes will take place with a "Live" instructor at the date/times listed below.
Upon registration, the instructor will send along additional information about how to log-on and participate in the class.
In any event where a customer wants to cancel their enrollment and is eligible for a full refund, a 5% processing fee will be deducted from the refund amount.
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The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research was established in 2011 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Its mission is to extend liberal arts education and research far beyond the borders of the traditional university, supporting community education needs and opening up new possibilities for scholarship in the...
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