Philosophy evening with Effective Altruism Amsterdam. Sign-up open now.
On Thursday the 13th of April, from 19.00 to 22.00 at Vrije Universiteit, EA Amsterdam will host a philosophy evening with the theme "Philosophical views on the meaning of life and their relation to Effective Altruism." Freek van der Weij, a recent philosophy graduate, will give a short lecture and facilitate a group discussion on this evening. We would like to invite you to come and join! We will examine the following topics.
‘What gives our lives meaning?’ is one of the philosophical questions that is most fundamental to our daily experiences. If our lives aren’t meaningful, what’s the point of living them? On the one hand, conversations with friends might sometimes go in this direction when seeing new pictures of the James Webb Telescope and realizing how insignificant we seem in relation to the rest of the universe. On the other hand, we generally work hard to create a meaningful life here on Earth, and most are able to enumerate a variety of elements of their lives they believe add meaning to their lives.
This evening, we’ll go over some of the philosophical theories of the meaning of life that can be found in literature. The discussed theories don’t directly lead to recommendations for specific ways of life, but provide means to think about meaning and where it might be found. Freek will advocate for a view on the meaning of life developed by Iddo Landau, among others. Furthermore, he will argue that pursuing a career on the basis of Effective Altruism is a solid way to achieve meaning in one’s life. According to Landau’s theory, very shortly summarized, meaning is dependent on contributing to something greater than oneself in a way that also results in the experience of positive emotions, elements which are frequently part of the conversation within EA.
There will be a short break with some snacks provided. To sign up, please fill in this form!
A few days before the event we will send you an email with further details, including an explanation of the location.