“The potency of ideas lies in their ability to influence thinking, motivate action, shape cultures, and alter the course of history.”
Why do we care so much about our ideas? What is an idea? What is power? Three questions that are familiar to human history, but, perhaps, too-little examined today. That ideas are important seems, no doubt, widely accepted in our society today. Were this not the case, few would worry themselves over the president of Harvard, academic honesty, or the endless authoring of op-eds and thinkpieces. No one would have a blog or substack.
But does this mean that ideas have power? What, after all, do we mean by this word, “power”? How can an idea exercise it? Answering these questions requires looking at history. Can we identify how different ideas have shaped societies, cultures?
Bringing Ideas to Light
This conversation can go countless directions—into semiotics, causality, different eras of history, religion, into revolutions and wars—but perhaps we can give some focus through proposing a few guiding questions:
- What do we mean by the power of an idea?
- What are some clear historical instances of an idea exercising power, and how was this accomplished?
- Which ideas today seem to be changing society, the world, and/or your own individual lives? How?
Philosophical Happy Hour
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Come join us for drinks (adult or otherwise) and a meaningful conversation. Open to the public! Held every Wednesday from 5:45–7:15pm ET.
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