January 21, 2019 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

The King’s Philosophy Club will be hosting a Symposium on January 30, 2019 from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. at Room 105A in Labatt Hall.

The theme of the symposium will be “Time in the Modern Age,” according to Mitch Ross, third-year Honors Specialization in Philosophy student and King’s Philosophy Club President.

The symposium will begin with a period of socializing including free food and beverages, followed by two, 30-minute, philosophical presentations. Each presentation will be followed by a half-hour discussion period. The club chose this model of a 30-minute presentation followed by a half-hour discussion as it has worked well during their club’s meetings.

The first presentation, entitled “Brakhage and the Philosophy of the Untutored Eye”, will be made by Ross and will focus on filmmaker Stan Brakhage. “I find his work very interesting,” Ross says.

“I identify with Brakhage's work because I have seen similar things in my own imagination. I am a synesthete, which means I see images when I listen to music. Some of Brakhage's works remind me of the things I myself have seen,” Ross explains. “Brakhage is also a mystic (he believes the meaning of life to be hidden from us, and can only be accessed through self-contemplation), and an erotist (he concerns himself with the subjects of death, sex, birth, violence, and God. I find such labels describe me well also.”

“It took until I was 22-years-old before I learned about him. More people would identify with him if they knew about him,” Ross says. He hopes to introduce Brakhage and his “moving abstract art” to a wider audience.

The second presentation, entitled “The Gift of Time in the Modern Age,” will be made by Dr. John Heng, Assistant Professor of Department of Philosophy.

“This will be a larger gathering than at a typical club meeting,” Ross says. He says the club hopes that, by holding the event in the evening, it will draw students.

Ross describes the King’s Philosophy Club as “a space to present our ideas and offer peer reviews to each other.” This particular iteration of the club began earlier this year. Ross and co-president Jon Pavey, third-year Honors Specialization in Philosophy student, made the move to start the club after discovering the King’s Philosophy Student Association was no longer running.

The club is currently attempting to grow the number of members it has, using their Facebook page and events such as this. The King’s Philosophy Club had a booth during last fall’s Clubs Week and 60 students signed up for the club’s emails.

For more information, please visit https://www.kings.uwo.ca/about-kings/visitor-info/calendar-of-events/kings-philosophy-symposium/