Record of food themes and philosophy topics for the weekly Philosophy Dinners

10/23/02: F: "Shaving"
P: "What are, or should be, the obligations of the citizen in protecting/defending the state?"
10/30/02: F: "The Opposite of Dairy"
P: "Neo-Platonism"
11/13/02: F: "Crunchy"
P: "What does it mean to forgive someone?"
11/20/02: F: "Juxtaposition or Contradiction"
P: "To what extent should the outcome of an action affect judgment of that action? Is intent the only factor relevant when judging the action?"
12/4/02: F: "Sauce"
P: "What is the basis of authority?"
12/11/02: F: "Music"
P: "The Marxist view of history"
12/18/02: F: "Gods and Idols"
P: "Lies, damn lies, and statistics" (didn't happen)
1/15/03: F: "Breakfast"
P: "What options exist for the conservation of non-renewable resources (e.g. oil) that are being consumed at a great rate, and what are their benefits? (Let consumers use up oil until low supply makes it prohibitively expensive, at which point they'll have to conserve it? Heavily tax oil products? Mandate fuel efficiency minimums? What other resources are relevant?)"
1/29/03: F: "Time"
P: "Can (or should) love exist independently of need? i.e., does love of a person generally exist only when that person fulfills material and/or emotional needs? (In which case, is love without need a sickness?)"
2/5/03: F: "The movie 'Clue'"
P: "Revenge"
2/19/03: F: "Ethnicity with the first letter in common with your first name"
P: "Why life sucks"
2/26/03: F: "Comfort"
P: "Comfort"
3/5/03: F: "Light (not 'lite') Food"
P: "One wish (or three)"
3/12/03: F: "Astrology"
P: "What is worth dying for?" (Plus, Aja did astrological charts for everyone.)
3/19/03: F: "Nursery rhymes and fairy tales"
P: "Nursery rhymes and fairy tales"
3/26/03: F: "Spring"
P: "Rebirth. This can refer to psychological, religious, spiritual, or physical rebirth. If you are reborn (in any of these senses), in what ways does your former self continue to or cease to exist?"
4/2/03: F: "Beat"
P: "Beat" (we read beat poetry)
4/9/03: F: "Actors and Actresses"
P: "We are who we pretend to be."
4/16/03: F: "Seder"
P: "To what extent does feeling free make a person free? What keeps a person from being (or feeling) free?"
4/30/03: F: "Picnic"
5/7/03: F: "The Letter 'W' and the Number '8'"
P: "Laughter is the sound of connections being made."
5/14/03: F: "Put Your Mind Back in the Gutter Where it Belongs"
P: "It's not a case of not wanting to, it's a case of wanting to and not doing it." - Constable Angua of Feet of Clay by Terry Prachett
5/21/03: F: "Aphrodisiac"
P: "When you are in love with someone, as we speak of it commonly, we are not always in love with them. We speak as though we were, but it is not so. Even for the most vibrant relationships, one is /not/ always conscious of one's love, which is to say one is not always in love." - Adam E. Leeds
5/28/03: F: "Question Mark"
P: "To what extent can one be free of affectation and pretense while still remaining civilized?" (Inspired by Diogenes)
6/4/03: F: "Happy"
6/11/03: F: "Colors"
P: "Where does magic come from?"
6/18/03: F: "Wish I Were There"
P: "Where do our negative associations with parasitism come from? Why do we regard a parasite as different from a predator, when both live off of others?"
6/25/03: F: "Mythical/Imaginary Places"
P: "Riddles"
7/2/03: F: "New Ingredient"
P: "When offered a reward, should one decline because doing a good deed is a reward in itself? Should one offer a reward, or does that imply that money equals doing something good? Does this change for children and adults?"
7/9/03: F: "Wish You Were Here"
8/13/03: F: "World's Worst Puns"
P: "Do we take ourselves too seriously?"
8/20/03: F: "Farewell"
P: "What is the effect of distance on relationships? Does absence make the heart grow fonder, or does absence cause you to grow apart?"
8/27/03: F: "Jeffrey Dahmer"
P: "Catharsis of aggressive tendencies through harmless or vicarious aggression. How real is it? Does exposure to violence encourage violence? Or does it provide an acceptible outlet for a violent nature that would otherwise find more dangerous outlets? Both? Neither? (Consider examples: First-person shooter games, playing football (full contact), Hong Kong action movies, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.)"
9/3/03: F: "Ampersand"
P: "What makes something art? What makes art good?"
9/8/03: F: "Rainforest"
P: "Why do we associate colors with particular emotions and/or attributes? Not just, 'How do "red" and "love," or "blue" and "peace," or "Black" and "Decker" connect,' but also 'Why would one be inclined to connect these at all?'" (didn't happen)
9/15/03: F: "Scooby Doo"
P: "Colors" again
9/22/03: F: "Good Science Fiction"
P: "Awful things that could happen to a person"
9/29/03: F: "Bugs Bunny"
P: "What are the greatest things that can happen to a person?"
10/6/03: F: "Garlic"
P: "Serenity. How does one find it? (And why?)"
10/13/03: F: "Ethnicity whose first letter succeeds that of your first name"
(No discussion; we carved pumpkins instead.)
10/20/03: F: "Salads"
P: ""Serenity, Part II"
10/27/03: F: "Halloween"
11/3/03: F: "Hors d'Oeuvres"
P: "Can we define, in a meaningful way, the difference between goals and pressures?"
11/10/03: F: "Dr. Seuss"
P: "What causes the 'natural' vs. 'artificial' dichotomy? Is there a common sentiment underlying its various applications?"
11/17/03: F: "Weird Al"
P: "What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for something to be qualified as a game?"
11/24/03: ("Snacks and games" night.)
12/1/03: F: "Leftovers"
P: "How do we feel about religious charities proselytizing while doing good?" (didn't happen)
12/8/03: F: "Soft Foods"
P: "What is the difference between "gaudy" and "beautiful"? And is grandeur without tradition gaudy?"
12/15/03: F: "Legends"
P: "Religious charities" again
12/22/03: F: "'Tis the season"
1/5/04: F: "Perihelion"
P: "Resolutions"
1/12/04: F: "Alice in Wonderland"
P: "Your home is invaded by assassins from a ruthless organization. Are you prepared?"
1/19/04: F: "You mean that place actually has its own cuisine?!?"
P: "Stoicism"
1/26/04: F: "Spotted"
P: "The 'right' of media ownership vs. the 'right' of free speech"
2/9/04: F: "It Goes With Bread"
P: "In what contexts is it morally okay to violate the spirit of the rules while adhering to the letter? How about ethically okay?"
2/23/04: F: "The Color Orange"
P: "When is it best not to tell someone something truthful? (Not meaning lying; just not saying something presumably relevant.)"
3/1/04: F: "Thinly Sliced"
P: "Manipulation"
3/15/04: F: "Covered"
P: "Nonviolence as a form of resistance"
3/22/04: F: "Arcade Games"
P: "How can people best imagine four-dimensional space? How about five-dimensional? Six?"
3/29/04: F: "Pirates"
P: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - Shakespeare's Hamlet
4/5/04: F: "Passover"
4/12/04: F: "Creative Anachronism"
(No discussion; we watched a movie instead.)
4/19/04: F: "The Wild West"
P: "Trial by fire. Not meant in the sense of judging someone via a 'trial by ordeal,' but rather: In what ways are suffering and hardship good for people? What do they gain, how do they grow, what do they lose? How much suffering is enough? How much is too much?"
4/26/04: D: "A New Herb"
5/3/04: D: "Fake Ethnic"
P: "Drama. As in: The psychodramas that cause former friends to not want to see each other, and all the other friends caught somewhere in between."
5/10/04: D: "Your Favorite Fantasy Series/Book"
P: "How productive is daydreaming?"
5/17/04: D: "Art"
5/24/04: D: "Medieval"
P: "John Stuart Mill's definition of personal rights, which he describes by the condition of their violation: A right has been violated when there is an assignable person (or persons) to whom harm has been done, and when there is a general wish to see the perpetrator punished for the action (regardless of whether said punishment is in fact practical to carry out)."
5/31/04: D: "Memorial Day"
P: "Getting away from it all. In what ways can this happen, and what exactly does it do for a person?" (Didn't happen; we got away from it all.)
6/7/04: D: "Outer Space!"
P: "Getting away from it all" (again)
6/14/04: D: "Cuisine That You Wish You Ate More Of"
P: "Definitions of a god/God. What definition(s) do you have? Which do you find palatable?"
6/21/04: D: "Contradiction"
P: "Is there such a thing as a healthy addiction?"
6/28/04: D: "Football"
P: "What are the more overlooked elements in comedy?"
7/5/04: D: "Use All Four Food Groups"
P: "Evil will always triumph because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet, "Spaceballs"
7/19/04: D: "Something Good"
P: "Why do we enjoy puzzles?"
7/26/04: D: "Lightning"
8/9/04: D: "African"
P: "How artificial is the perceived boundary between one's self and the rest of the universe? Does this matter?"
8/23/04: D: "Red"
P: "Is there an absolute moral right and wrong? If so, is there blame to be placed on someone who disagrees with what is Right?"
8/30/04: D: "Rhymes"
P: "I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it." - Jack Handey ("Deep Thoughts")
"How can an idyllic utopia (if created) survive the interference/agression of the rest of the world?"
9/6/04: D: "The Spice of Life"
P: "What are the responsibilities of friendship?"
9/27/04: D: "Breakage"
P: "Sometimes, a person has to metaphorically 'break' before they can continue to grow. Sometimes, they just have to come close."
10/4/04: D: "Different strokes. (Bring something with ingredients of very different textures.)"
P: "How 'conscious' are you in dreams?"
10/25/04: D: "Asian"
P: "Marriage: What aspects are most essential to its success?"
11/29/04: D: "Quick and easy"
P: "What makes the best thanks? Or even a good thanks? Are thanks just a recognition that something was nice (or convenient), or is there more to it then that?"
12/6/04: D: "Fantasy-ethnic"
P: "What relationship do we have with the concept of 'hero'? What relationship should we have? How does the concept of 'hero' shape the reality of our culture (and vice versa)?"
12/27/04: D: "These five ingredients"
P: "What are the smallest things that make the biggest difference?"
2/21/05: D: "Presidents"
P: "Corrupting young minds."
4/18/05: D: "Betting"
P: "Is laziness a prime influence in decision making (influencing or acting alongside emotional or psychological causes), or is it itself influenced by more basic emotional causes?"
7/20/05: D: "Paper thin"
P: "Will can affect emotions. The decision to be happy can help a person to be happy. A refusal to allow misfortune to make one unhappy can diminish the effect of the misfortune. But how much of this effect is real, and how much of it is merely fooling one's self? Since this probably varies by the person and by situation, the real question is, how does one figure out how much of it is a real achievement, and how much is illusory? Also, is it possible for a person (such as yours truly) who can genuinely do this to teach the skill to others?"
8/24/05: D: "An ethnicity (or region) whose first letter is two letters after the first letter of your first name."
P: (Courtesy of Erin) "What is the line between coercion and offering a choice? Or, if coercion is a subset of choice, when does it start being coercion?" (We discussed other stuff instead.)