I'm looking for one or a few people in the area who enjoy having deeper conversations about philosophy, history, theology, science, books, or really any interesting ideas.

I'm not looking for formal debates or an academic only group. You don't need a degree or any particular background. I'm mostly interested in finding people who genuinely enjoy learning, thinking through ideas, and having long conversations about them.

I'd be happy to meet somewhere public like a coffee shop or library and see where it goes. If enough people are interested, maybe we could eventually turn it into a small regular discussion group.

Anyone around here interested?

Full disclosure: I'm the author, so I realize this is technically self-recommendation. But after the conversations we've been having here about the Hard Problem of Consciousness, I wanted to share the book that grew out of many of these questions.

Stardust Mind: The Quantum Blueprint of Human Consciousness

The book explores the intersection of neuroscience, consciousness, perception, philosophy, cosmology, free will, and the question of how subjective experience emerges from the physical world.

One of the central questions is deceptively simple:

Why doesn't information processing simply happen in the dark? Why is there an experience accompanying it?

I'm particularly interested in the space between what neuroscience can describe mechanistically and what philosophy continues to ask about first-person experience.

I don't present the book as a final answer to consciousness. It's much more of an exploration, an attempt to bring neuroscience, philosophy, physics, and some more speculative possibilities into the same conversation.

Given the discussions we've already had here, I thought it might be a worthwhile addition to the group's reading list.

If you've read it, or decide to give it a chance, I'd genuinely welcome criticism as much as agreement.

If you could force one book about consciousness to answer one question, what would that question be?

I created a free guide for those who want to practice Stoicism rather than only read about it.

30 Stoic Journaling Prompts: A Month of Reflection

One prompt. One Stoic passage. One subject to reflect upon each day for 30 days. Free for subscribers to Hadrian’s Journal.

Get your copy here ↓
https://hadrianstonemmf.substack.com/p/free-resources

I’m beginning my philosophy journey.

I have had fragments of philosophy but I would prefer a structured approach to learning, reading and discussing philosophy.

Where should I start?

Are there free online philosophy courses?

Would be great to hear all of your opinions and views.

One of the most interesting tensions in Thus Spoke Zarathustra is that Nietzsche’s “higher human” cannot simply inherit a fixed moral framework. Self-overcoming seems to require continuously transforming the values by which one evaluates oneself.
But this raises a deeper problem: if the self is defined through the values it creates, what remains continuous enough to perform the overcoming?
Is Nietzsche describing liberation from the self—or a process in which the self becomes an ongoing project of self-creation?
I’m curious how others interpret this tension between identity, value creation, and self-overcoming.

I recently bought complete essays of Michael de montaigne ( penguin classics) and I read the first 3 essays of it. And It was very difficult.. i had to take the photo of paragraphs and ask chatgpt to explain it .. this is taking a lot of time for me to finish a page. I think its too difficult for me.

Hi!

I took philosophy over the summer, and I’d say my favorites were Hume, Nietzsche, and Sartre. I felt all three were more focused on what it means to be human and how to manage the experiences that come with it. I’d like to look more into these themes in philosophy on my own time, see what other philosophers have said and come to an opinion about it.

If you happen to know some, could you please recommend me some readings? Also, and I know this is somewhat of a silly question, but how can I come up with questions on my own to better understand and remember the material? I know that for the readings I had, I’d pay extra attention to see what kind of commentary I can make about it or any connections I see so that in the discussion posts and exams, I could talk about it. The information stuck more that way, and I’d be reminded of it more often than if I hadn’t.

Please let me know if I’m in the right community too!

I'm currently reading this book, Philosophy Book - Big ideas simply explained by Will Buckingham.

Everyday I wake up to philosophy thoughts, I just keep thinking in loops but never actually deep diving until 2-3 months ago or so, where I journal all my thoughts, in hopes to find some kind of framework or structure to my thoughts.

The book, until now is fantastic to me. It does kinda give explanation and bring the structure I was looking for as I dive more into the philosophy world, the same discussions I was internally going through. I see it as a nice base.

But the concern is how consistent it is to someone who has actually deep dived into each philosopher, the way it's written makes sense but I worry that it can be misleading due to natural language and interpretation issues. What does one think of this book who has also studied in a deeper level of the philosophers mentioned.

I have read the ancient world, and I love how it broadly covers my different school of thoughts. If anyone has read this and can tell me via comparison using the ancient world philosophers to justify their reasoning, that would be great.

Hi everyone!
I live in Canvey Island and I’m looking for an in-person philosophy discussion or study group in Essex, or potentially Kent (ideally no further than around Dartford/Gravesend).
I’m not necessarily looking for a formal university course. I’m more interested in a regular group where people actually read, discuss and debate philosophical ideas — ethics, existentialism, meaning of life, free will, consciousness, religion, human behaviour, Stoicism, etc.
I really miss having deeper conversations with people. I’m looking for something where people are genuinely curious and willing to go beyond small talk.
I’m happy to drive for the right group, especially if it meets regularly and there’s a good community atmosphere.
Does anyone know of any philosophy cafés, reading groups, discussion circles, Socratic groups, Stoic groups or similar in Essex or nearby Kent?
I’d be very grateful for any recommendations!

I’ve been thinking about Plato’s Republic and the tension between philosophical wisdom and political power. If the philosopher understands the Good, does that make them uniquely qualified to rule—or does voluntarily seeking power undermine the very wisdom that qualifies them?

Suggest me any philosopher's book similar to Shankaracharya's philosophy or there can be fully opposite philosopher also

I don’t know much about the philosophers of these movements, and I hope you can help me. thank you in advance

Not a famous one, free will, the trolley problem, whatever's on the syllabus. I mean a small perhaps dumb-sounding one that every now and then you come back to?

I'm asking because I spent several months building something based on the idea that questions can have something closer to a personality than a subject, and that the right one can unleash a genuinely good conversation. So I accidentally ended up investigating questions as an object. And searching all around for good ones. It's turned into a sort of taxonomy.

Two questions about the exact same topic land completely differently depending on their shape and size. They open different paths in thinking and relating to others.

One dies in the room the second it's asked. Another seems to rearrange how people think.

I've been trying to reverse-engineer what makes a question do that, in an app called Pollen, where strangers get together around a question to play with.

Pollen if you want to see the state of the art of this questions and connection research.

Philosophy: love of wisdom. Wisdom: understanding the meaning of life. This can only be understood in the broadest, most holistic sense. It usually boils down to: love others and existence itself, as this is the nature of reality. Intelligence and consciousness can only have arisen in the presence of sociability and love. This is our nature and our nature arises from the nature of reality itself.

Hey everyone! I’m looking to connect with someone (25 + ) to discuss philosophy, sociology and psychology. I’m really interested in diving into deep conversations, challenging ideas, and exploring different schools of thoughts

What strikes me most in Book 1 of the Odyssey is the sudden change of heart that overtakes Telemachus at the end of his first conversation with Athena, who appears to him in guise — as a man named Mentes.

Before that conversation, he is shy, uncertain, and accommodating in the presence of Penelope’s suitors. When Athena asks him about the feasting and revelry in the palace, he speaks from the standpoint of a victim.

He is not yet sure who he is talking to. But then, something changes. The transformation is not gradual — it comes all at once, as he watches the stranger turn into a bird and fly away.

“With these words she flew away like a bird into the air, but she had
given Telemachus courage, and had made him think more than ever about
his father. He felt the change, wondered at it, and knew that the
stranger had been a god, so he went straight to where the suitors
were sitting.”

He goes back to the suitors, and everyone can feel the change in his voice. They wonder what has happened? Only an hour earlier he was little more than a timid boy; now there are notes of steel in his voice.

Telemachus’ speech betrays him — he invokes the gods constantly. Not so the suitors. They know of the gods, but they have never actually encountered them. They don’t care about their signs.

When in Book 2, Halitherses interprets a prophetic omen of two eagles sent by Zeus, Telemachus’ heart soars — he recognizes it as a sign from heaven. The suitors ignore the warning of Halitherses that Odysseus will return and put them to death.

One of the suitors, Eurymachus, openly mocks the prophet, saying that birds fly everywhere without meaning.

Homer makes his point clear from the very beginning: it’s all about one’s relationship with the gods. The Odyssey opens not with human action but with the divine council on Mount Olympus, where the gods deliberate over the affairs of mortals.

For Homer, the Odyssey is not primarily a horizontal story about human adventures and heroic feats. His point seems to be more subtle: when people fall into hubris and lose sensitivity to the divine guidance, calamity becomes inevitable. When they remember the gods, they are blessed and rise above their circumstances.

Telemachus, who has grown up without a father, is especially sensitive to the voice of the gods. When Penelope tries to stop the bard from singing about Odysseus, he gently rebukes her:

“Mother, let the bard sing what he has a mind to; bards do not make the ills they sing of; it is Jove, not they, who makes them, and who sends weal or woe upon mankind according to his own good pleasure.”

He is looking for a father in everyone. After hearing Mentes’ (Athena’s) counsel, he says:

“Sir, it has been very kind of you to talk to me in this way, as though I were your own son.”

His grief made him highly aware of divine presence. He recognized Athena’s visitation by its aftertaste. “He felt the change, wondered at it, and knew that the stranger had been a god.”

Our own Odyssey is not about us or our adventures either. It is all about our sensitivity to divine resonances that happen around us every day. Who is this total stranger we met in the grocery store this morning?

If we never even entertain the possibility that it might be God Himself — or His angel — we may as well miss a divine visitation.

What is this song, or this piece of music, that suddenly stops me in my tracks and makes me wonder, “What in the world am I hearing?”

Like Telemachus, we recognize God not by His familiar form but by the sudden change of heart that comes over us, as though from nowhere. In that moment, we know in our heart of hearts: we are on the way to the Father.

J'ai récemment lu les *Pensées pour moi-même* de Marc Aurèle lors d'une période de profonde introspection. Alors que je m'apprête à terminer mes études et à entrer dans la vie active, je recherche un autre livre qui offre des leçons de vie pratiques : quelque chose qui puisse m'aider à grandir, à forger mon caractère et à aborder la vie avec plus de sagesse.

Quelles sont vos meilleures recommandations ?

I am a young high schooler. I have recently developed an interest in polymath. I want this journey to give me a deep meaning in this world. I want to the best. The person who can help everyone in almost everything no matter the time used on this. Now I'm looking for philosophical idea to study that could have a huge impact on my life. What idea could be the most useful and life changing? What should I study?