The classical philosophy seminar in the modern university: an insider’s perspective

Abstract

The article explores the ontological, gnoseological, and ethical aspects of the classical and contemporary philosophical seminar. The primary focus of the research is on a comparison between the ancient and the modern philosophical seminar, highlighting the questions of whether the old tradition of philosophising in the academy and the university has lost its relevance today, and how the principles of the philosophical seminar have evolved in the course of more than two thousand years. In addition, the article addresses many of the identities, contexts, and fates of the contemporary philosophical seminar and the university in our day. The research demonstrates that the classical philosophical seminar remains relevant and has a future in academic institutions, despite numerous social, political, business, and cultural interferences. As long as the seminar continues to be a rigorous, insightful examination of philosophical texts and other related issues, philosophising about many phenomena of reality will remain a small and silent alternative in a world where the importance of the written source is gradually diminishing, the development of screen culture is reaching its apogee, and no longer questions arise about where we have come from and for what we are living. The philosophical seminar is a time capsule of sorts, containing the foundations of Western civilisation and their potential relevance to the current fate of the planet.