Philosophical Places

This topic kinda follows the Graduate Schools topic previous to this category.

If you were to choose a Philosophy program based on location, where would you go? New York? Paris? Berlin? I see this as somewhere where there is culture happening, and you might get into a discussion with someone in a coffee shop, and maybe which has good college offerings as well. Maybe a good place to live the intellectual life.

Where are the most philosophical places in the world?

Cambridge is up there. I’m sure Oxford is too, but I haven’t been there. Cambridge was where people like Wittgenstein, Russell and Anscombe all hung out–along with the more artistic types like Virginia Woolfe and E.M. Forster. There are landmarks around town where these people used to mingle over tea and scones. A few miles from Cambridge (and it’s a gorgeous bike ride on a sunny day) there’s a place called Granchester (I think that’s how it’s spelled); it’s kind of a picnic ground where the great minds of the 20th century used to sit together and philosophize and argue and generally share their neurotic lives with one another.

If you’re of a more continental persuasion, you might try Paris. There are a bunch of cafes there that were at one time frequented by the likes of Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. I don’t know Paris nearly as well as Cambridge, but I did go to one of the famous existentialist cafes while I was there. I must say, I was a little disappointed. I thought maybe if I just sat in one of those cafes I’d finally understand what it means to be what I am not and not be what I am. No luck there. The waiter was a class-act though…and the Cappucino was damn good.

So those are my two choices…Cambridge and Paris. If you’re actually interested in STUDYING philosophy, I’d of course pick Cambridge.

i’m not sure where i’d want to study… as far as philosophical hotspots go. probably oxford or universitat leipzig or something cool and european like that.

but i’ve always wanted to go to greece…just to visit… to round out my obsession with ancient philosophy.

And in Cambridge one could visit the taverns where the Inklings met (or were they Oxfordian?) And visiting Greece would be so awesome!

I’m surprised no one said New York. It has many kinds of people, quite a few top universities, The Village for culture,… I’ve not been there myself, but it would seem to be a very cosmopolitan city in which to study.

Himalaya?

I think New York is too intense to do philosophy. it just doesn’t have that relaxed atmosphere that (i think) is crucial for philosophical thinking. hell, i don’t even like to go there for fun. i can’t imagine being locked down in that concrete jungle!

:sunglasses: