Power to the People – Philosophical Societies and Societal Change

The London Philosophy Club Presents.; Jonathan Rée: Power to the People – Philosophical Societies and Societal Change; Philosophy is often dismissed as an elitist indulgence but it can also be seen as an element of genuine democracy and a motor of radical social change. In this talk Jonathan Rée will explore these issues with reference to the life and work of an unsung nineteenth-century hero: the transatlantic vagrant Tommy Davidson – philosopher educator and entrepreneur .; Jonathan is a British freelance historian and philosopher from Bradford. He is the author of Proletarian Philosophers: Problems in Socialist Culture in Britain as well as books on Heidegger and Descartes. Educated at Oxford University Rée was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Middlesex University but gave up a teaching career in order to “have more time to think”. He has written for the Evening Standard Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung London Review of Books Prospect The Independent and Times Literary Supplement. He is frequently a guest in radio programmes such as Journeys In Thought and In Our Time. In the early 1990s he presented a seven-part Channel 4 TV series (produced and broadcast in the UK) Talking Liberties which featured Rée in conversation with a number of thinkers including Jacques Derrida Paul Ricoeur and Helene Cixous ( you can watch some of the interview with Cixous here). Rée was a founding member of the British journal and group Radical Philosophy.; Photo credit: Brian Hillegas