The rise of grassroots philosophy:

a talk at the British Arts Festivals Association (BAFA) 11/2012

by Jules Evans, www.philosophyforlife.org

Philosophy groups are mushrooming all over the world

850 philosophy groups on

meetup.com, in 384 cities across 25

countries, with a combined

membership of 125,000

London Philosophy Club

2,500 membersTalks, debates, reading groups, socials We’ve done

events at HTLGI,

Voewood, Latitude, Galway

The Skeptics • Started in late 1970s,

committed to scientific and rational thinking

•Now huge grassroots movement

• 41 Skeptics in the Pub around UK

• Events like TAM and Night of 400 Billion Stars

• Transformed sci-com

Lots of grassroots groups across UK

And many in schools and universities too..

Philosophy In Pubs, Liverpool

Philosophy Now magazine, Philosophy For All

Commercial ideas events organizers

• School of Life

• Intelligence Squared

• Idler Academy

• 5X15

• TED

•Wilderness, Port Eliot, Latitude, HTLGI etc

Mainstream philosophy magazines

Helping to organize events like the Month of

Philosophy in Holland, the

Modena philosophy

festival in Italy, Les Nuits de

Philosophie in France

Internet giving talks and events a global reach

Why the rise of grassroots

philosophy?

Rise of the ‘mass intelligentsia’

• 300 book festivals in the UK

• 50,000 people in book clubs in UK

• Museum + gallery attendance up 100% from 2000 to 2010

• Classic FM most popular commercial radio station

• People want to learn and discuss ideas together

Expansion of % going to university in the UK

Decline of traditional religion and desire for new forms of

community

School of Life Sunday Sermon

The crisis has got people thinking and talking...

The New Putney Debates: did inequality cause the recession?

People are hungry for more public and social philosophy

Michael Sandel giving a talk to 5,000 people in South Korea this

year

People are hungry for new ideas, new values, new experiences and forms of

togetherness

Cafe Oto’s 24-

hour Zizek-a-

thon

People are interested in well-being / art of living

Where next for philosophy festivals?

Dream big! Philosophy should blow people’s minds

Akhram Khan’s Desh, complete with animated elephant

Think multi-media

Wanye McGregor’s FAR, a choreography based on Roy Porter’s Flesh In the Age of Reason

Ideas best connect with people in combination with other media, like art / animation (think of the RSA Animate videos); stories and narratives (think of Sophie’s World or Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance); photography (Alain de Botton’s books), comedy (Woody Allen’s films), and music / dance.

Think interactive...and international

Grassroots philosophy is becoming more internationally-connected

And philosophy in general is becoming more interactive. The distance between the ‘intellectual’ and the ‘masses’ has been reduced - the masses have wised up, and don’t want to be spoken down to.

Thank you! Get in touch at

www.philosophyforlife.org and @julesevans77