Phase II: 'A First Brush with Philosophy'
The Zoom Series
Goodness. Love. No Anxiety. Maximum Moral Growth.
What’s the problem?
You told us.
We offered a unique opportunity to clarify your thoughts and explore ways to love better, understand anxiety or maximise your moral growth, by talking to an analytic philosopher.
Participants signed up for “A First Brush with Philosophy“, a 15-minutes philosophical discussion session disentangling a thorny issue. For instance, why do we think morality must be impartial when loving someone is so obviously partial? Does that mean love can’t be moral? Do we love beautiful things, or does our love of something make it beautiful? In our secular age, has Love been deified in order to fill a gap? What is Anxiety? Is Anxiety essential for life well-lived? What is moral growth? How may I maximize my moral growth? Should I maximize my moral growth or can I be a little bit naughty sometimes and still be good?
✔︎ Free discussion ✔︎ Free clarity ✔︎ Free brush with philosophy ✔︎ Zoom meeting ✔︎ Range of topics ✔︎ Range of times
How did it work? Participants picked a date, time and topic
We then matched each one to the perfect expert and the meeting took place zoom while a portrait artist captured an ‘a-ha’ moment. Now are organising an exhibition that can run concurrently with phase III - the post-lockdown face to face series. Stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, thank you to our fantastic Phase II participants and here is a preview of your portraits!
Portraits by Vanessa Brassey
Portraits by Alice Wright
Portraits by Charlotte Kearsley
Celebrity First Brush with Philosophy was a live portrait drawing event at King’s College London by the Centre for Philosophy and Art. In two sittings, individuals in the audience drew two people, a philosopher and a celebrity, engaging in a philosophical conversation.
Before the conversations began, artist Robin-Lee Hall gave the audience a crash course in portrait drawing. “We tend to draw what’s in our head and not what we really see,” she said and went on to give some helpful drawing advice such as putting in a centre line, paying close attention to how the eyes are tilted, where the light is on the face, and looking out for proportions on the paper. “A lot of people feel a lot safer working from a photograph,” she explained, “but if you work from a photograph, you work from monocular vision– it’s flat.”
This was her call for us to really look at what we were drawing– look at life in front of us.
The first sitting was with Rings of Power actor Lloyd Owen and Philosophy lecturer Adrian Alsmith. They had a conversation about the nature of dreams, the difference between dreaming versus reality, and lucid dreaming. On the topic of agency and control regarding dreaming, Lloyd reflected on his experience as an actor. He mentioned that much like dreaming, sometimes he does not consciously choose how he engages in movement whilst he is acting.
Having realized that during the first sitting I was so focused on drawing that I had unintentionally missed a lot of what was going on audibly, I switched to a quicker drawing style (blind contour drawing) for the second sitting to have a better grasp of the conversation that was unfolding in front of me.
The second sitting was with author Andy West and Professor Maria Alvarez. Andy has recently published a book called The Life Inside. It is a memoir about his life and work as a philosophy teacher in prisons, lessons and contemplations from interactions with his students and philosophical ruminations of our justice system. He read a passage on love and morality which examines how ethics is supposed to be impartial and yet love seems to be partial. This leads us to question whether or not love is moral. After that, he discussed the difference between two kinds of love; eros and agape. Eros is selfish, possessive and impulsive whilst agape is selfless, devoted and patient. “Lots of people, regardless of their moral virtues, have access to eros…but agape requires a deeper commitment to sustain,” he said and suggested that perhaps agape is what is needed to transform and improve the prison system. “There are many ways love can land you in prison,” Andy also said, as he continued his conversation with Maria about love and morality.
The event was well attended, lively and moving as the audience used drawing to mediate their philosophical questioning and learning. The event welcomed everyone no matter their background or experience in either philosophy or art, allowing them to engage with both all at the same time in a memorable way.
My blind contour drawings of Maria Alvarez and Andy West during the second sitting.