Reading Club: Confucius's Analects - How to be a Better Person
What does it mean to be a good person?
More than 2,500 years ago, Confucius developed one of the world's most influential philosophies of the good life.
His central insight? Becoming a good person is something we learn to do, and is crucially dependent on performing your various social roles (parent, child, boss) well.
Through education, friendship, ritual, and practice, we can cultivate the character necessary to live well.
Join us in person for an interactive reading club on Confucius's Analects, where we'll explore three questions:
What makes someone good? Virtue, character, and the exemplary person.
How do we become better? Learning, habit, friendship, and self-cultivation.
How should we treat others? Humaneness, reciprocity, and our responsibilities to one another.
How It Works
This is a discussion-driven, in-person reading club, not a lecture. We'll start with a brief introduction to set the context, then spend most of our time reading the text together and talking it through in small groups.
You won't just listen to philosophy. You'll practice it with others, face to face: reading closely, asking questions, challenging ideas, and testing your interpretations in real conversation.
No prior knowledge required. All readings provided.
About Your Instructor
Cole Whetstone studied ancient philosophy at Harvard and Oxford and founded the New York Philosophical Society, a community of more than 50,000 members dedicated to bringing philosophy into everyday life.
Come ready to read, think, and discuss.