17吃瓜

The 17吃瓜 Philosophy Reading Group is starting up again for the 2025鈥�2026 academic year. The group meets monthly at various downtown locations and is open to faculty, staff, students, and members of the general public.

This year, the group will focus on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, beginning with his book Nietzsche and Philosophy.

If you would like to be added to the mailing list for future meetings, please contact Dr. Max Schaefer at mschaefer@upei.ca.

For those looking for a window into the spirit of philosophy and the group鈥檚 upcoming activities, the following passages may do the trick:

鈥淭he most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.鈥�-Heidegger

鈥淭hings which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.鈥�-Goethe

鈥淭he most useful is the useless. But to experience the useless is the most difficult undertaking for contemporary man. Thereby, what is 鈥榰seful鈥� is understood as what can be applied practically, as what serves an immediate technical purpose, as what produces some effect, and as that with which I can operate economically and productively. Yet one must look upon the useful as 鈥榳hat makes someone whole鈥� [das Heilsame], that is, what makes the human being at home with himself.鈥�-Heidegger

鈥淧hilosophy does not serve the State or the Church, who have other concerns. It serves no established power. The use of philosophy is to sadden. A philosophy that saddens no one, that annoys no one, is not a philosophy. It is useful for harming stupidity, for turning stupidity into something shameful.鈥�-Deleuze

鈥淭o affirm is not to bear, carry, or harness oneself to that which exists, but on the contrary to unburden, unharness, and set free that which lives.鈥�-Deleuze

鈥淲e have gained reality and lost dreams. No more lounging under a tree and peering at the sky between one's big and second toes; there鈥檚 work to be done. To be efficient, one cannot be hungry and dreamy but must eat steak and keep moving.鈥�-Robert Musil