G.K. Chesterton
Few writers of some philosophical background appeal to today’s readers as much as G.K. Chesterton. His corpus extends through hagiography, essays, novels, poetry, and more. Across the four sessions of this Fall 2024 lunch seminar series, Anthony Hejduk (Columbia) and Amogha Sahu (Columbia) will lead participants through eight of his greatest essays, highlighting his work as a critic, social commentator, lay philosopher, and man of wit.
All sessions will be held at 12:00 PM. Lunch will be served.
Schedule
Thursday, October 17 | Critiquing the Critics
On the Book of Job & On Shakespeare
In these essays, we will read as G.K. Chesterton takes on two different critical strains common to his era: biblical criticism and Shakespeare criticism. In “The Book of Job," Chesterton shows with his characteristic wit how biblical criticism, with its focus on authorship and the identity of the writer, misses the point and muddles the genre of scripture by treating it like a work of Shakespeare. In contrast to this, we will also look at Chesterton's criticism of then contemporary Shakespeare criticism in “On Shakespeare," as questions about the Bard's identity or political leanings threatened to obscure enjoying Shakespeare for what it is.
This lunch seminar will be led by Anthony Hejduk (Columbia).
Thursday, October 24 | Private and Public Life
Turning Inside Out and the Drift from Domesticity
In these essays, we will read as Chesterton defends the primacy of private life and the domestic sphere. In “Turning Inside Out," Chesterton argues that public education programs treat home life simultaneously as an object not worthy of serious pursuit and as the single most important aspect of forming citizens--by bringing this contradiction to the forefront, Chesterton makes the case for the primacy of domestic education. In “The Drift from Domesticity," Chesterton addresses the unique positive goods of home life, arguing that despite the claims about the "slavery" of domestic life, it is the only sphere in modern society where a person can be truly free, and efforts to change this in the name of freedom will only lead to greater restriction.
This lunch seminar will be led by Anthony Hejduk (Columbia).
Thursday, October 31 | On Justifying Your Beliefs
The Diabolist and the Revival of Philosophy
When trying to convince someone else, we usually do not start from the ground up. We come to inquiry already believing many different things. What we ask for instead, is justification: which of our beliefs passes a test of reflective scrutiny. We wonder why we believe what we believe and what basis we might have for believing things “for the right reasons." These questions are made especially vivid when we confront someone who shares very few of our commitments, but who is nonetheless sufficiently like us to shake our confidence in them. Does an appeal to logic and reason help here, however we understand these? What about religious faith?
This lunch seminar will be led by Amogha Sahu (Columbia).
Thursday, November 7 | The Vices of Cosmopolitanism
On Certain Modern Writers, the Institution of the Family, and Reflections on a Rotten Apple
We reflexively value being cosmopolitan: traveling, communicating, buying, and selling with anyone, anywhere in the world. This creates greater understanding, making nations and individuals more tolerant. But for G.K. Chesterton, the cosmopolitan position gets things the wrong way around. The cosmopolitan's chosen virtues—open-mindedness, tolerance, flexibility of thought—are best promoted by parochialism, by a narrowing of one's world within the confines of a smaller community, such as one's neighbors or immediate family. Paradoxically, it is in removing ourselves from the world that we become truly open-minded. Is Chesterton right? How can we become truly open to other people?
This lunch seminar will be led by Amogha Sahu (Columbia).