We often hear that "art is just subjective" or "just self-expression." Yet most of us feel that some art is better than others, and believe our preferences are based in the real qualities of the things we enjoy, and not just in arbitrary, subjective feelings.

So what is the relationship between objective quality and subjective experience? how we answer that question affects not just what gets included in our museums, but in how we shape the world in which we live. Who decides what sculptures get put downtown? Are there better and worse ways for buildings and streets to look? Is some art just bad?

Join us to discuss these fascinating questions Saturday, November 23! Sarah Kyle, Chair of the Department of Art and Visual Culture at Iowa State, who is an expert in Italian Renaissance art, will join us, alongside Mark McInroy, professor at the University of Saint Thomas, who specializes in the philosophy of beauty.

Register here.

Exploring Great Ideas: Gardening the Soul

Join us for this series of six sessions, led by the award-winning philosopher Scott Samuelson, on the greatest ideas of ancient Greco-Roman and Chinese philosophy for living a flourishing life. Each session will begin with a brief but comprehensive lecture on one great idea and then move into conversation and exploration of it. No preparation or prior knowledge is required. 

Session Six: Laozi on Harnessing the Power of the Dao

Laozi (a.k.a. Lao Tzu) is the founder of Daoism (a.k.a. Taoism), one of the most mysterious and profound of all philosophies. We’ll explore his understanding of the way of all things and how we can tap into it to harness our powers for success in any walk of life.

Scott Samuelson is a prominent professor of philosophy, with writing in the Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and other major outlets. He is the author of Rome as a Guide to the Good Life, Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering, and The Deepest Human Life.

No prior knowledge or reading required. This is your chance to get to know the thinkers and ideas.

Register here!

Session Five: Mencius on Cultivating the Sprouts of Our Humanity

Second only to Confucius in the history of Confucianism, Mencius (Mengzi) famously argues that humanity is fundamentally good—but that we must cultivate the sprouts of our humanity in the way that a good gardener cultivates a garden. We’ll examine those fundamental potentials of who we are and how we might go about making them blossom.

Register

Exploring Great Ideas: Gardening the Soul

Join us for this series of six sessions, led by the award-winning philosopher Scott Samuelson, on the greatest ideas of ancient Greco-Roman and Chinese philosophy for living a flourishing life. Each session will begin with a brief but comprehensive lecture on one great idea and then move into conversation and exploration of it. No preparation or prior knowledge is required. 

Session Four: Confucius on the Importance of Ritual Propriety

The most influential figure in the long history of Chinese culture, Confucius (Kongzi) put his finger on something often overlooked in Western philosophy: the importance of ritual propriety for living together humanely. We’ll explore how treating others with respect and hospitality is necessary for a humane life and a good community.

Scott Samuelson is a prominent professor of philosophy, with writing in the Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and other major outlets. He is the author of Rome as a Guide to the Good Life, Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering, and The Deepest Human Life.

No prior knowledge or reading required. This is your chance to get to know the thinkers and ideas.

Register here!

Exploring Great Ideas: Gardening the Soul

Join us for this series of six sessions, led by the award-winning philosopher Scott Samuelson, on the greatest ideas of ancient Greco-Roman and Chinese philosophy for living a flourishing life. Each session will begin with a brief but comprehensive lecture on one great idea and then move into conversation and exploration of it. No preparation or prior knowledge is required. 

Session Three: Epictetus on Accepting What We Can’t Control

The philosophy of Stoicism is currently making one of its periodic comebacks, attracting leading figures in business and politics as well as scores of people longing to overcome the anxieties of contemporary life. We’ll explore how the ancient Roman Stoic—and former slave—Epictetus found not only happiness but power and freedom in the acceptance of what we can’t control.

Scott Samuelson is a prominent professor of philosophy, with writing in the Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and other major outlets. He is the author of Rome as a Guide to the Good Life, Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering, and The Deepest Human Life.

No prior knowledge or reading required. This is your chance to get to know the thinkers and ideas.

Register here!

Exploring Great Ideas: Gardening the Soul

Join us for this series of six sessions, led by the award-winning philosopher Scott Samuelson, on the greatest ideas of ancient Greco-Roman and Chinese philosophy for living a flourishing life. Each session will begin with a brief but comprehensive lecture on one great idea and then move into conversation and exploration of it. No preparation or prior knowledge is required. 

Session Two: Epicurus on Finding Joy in Simplicity

No philosopher has given a more penetrating account of the nature of desire than the ancient Greek thinker Epicurus, who cultivated a unique way of simple living that still attracts adherents. We’ll examine his powerful ideas about how our desires can get out of hand and how we can harness them to make the most of the time we have. 

Scott Samuelson is a prominent professor of philosophy, with writing in the Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and other major outlets. He is the author of Rome as a Guide to the Good Life, Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering, and The Deepest Human Life.

No prior knowledge or reading required. This is your chance to get to know the thinkers and ideas Register here!

Exploring Great Ideas: Gardening the Soul

Join us for this series of six sessions, led by the award-winning philosopher Scott Samuelson, on the greatest ideas of ancient Greco-Roman and Chinese philosophy for living a flourishing life. Each session will begin with a brief but comprehensive lecture on one great idea and then move into conversation and exploration of it. No preparation or prior knowledge is required. 

Session One: Aristotle on Virtue as the Golden Mean

One of the most influential thinkers who has ever lived, Aristotle spells out the central idea of Greco-Roman philosophy: the key to the good life lies in cultivating the virtues, the excellences of our character. We’ll examine his timeless ideas about the nature of virtue and how to develop it in ourselves.

Scott Samuelson is a prominent professor of philosophy, with writing in the Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and other major outlets. He is the author of Rome as a Guide to the Good Life, Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering, and The Deepest Human Life.

No prior knowledge or reading required. This is your chance to get to know the thinkers and ideas. Register here!

Renowned author and Iowan Austin Frerick joins the Lyceum to discuss his new book, Barons. Every wonder why grocery prices fluctuate so much, why farms became factories, what’s going on with biofuels? Join Austin to consider these questions here in the heart of America’s food belt.

Register

See here for more!

We've all felt a growing tension in our public life. Name-calling and outrage seem to be the order of the day. In a time with deep disagreements, how can we navigate our life together as a community, state, and nation?

Featuring Iowa Democratic Senator Nate Boulton, and Greene County Attorney and political scientist Tom Laehn.

Join the conversation!

Tickets here.

May event cancelled; we’ll see you in June!

Artificial intelligence is being employed in a myriad of ways. We are familiar with software that will write essays for us or search up information, but it’s also being used to conduct experiments, to create art for television, and many other things besides. Some have even proposed creating AI “companions” for the elderly. What will these new technologies do to us? How should we think about them? How do we make sure we aren’t losing important human values to these new machines?

Buy tickets here! 

Join us at Gravitate Coworking downtown for another great evening of conversation on the question "What do we owe our local environment?" Our livelihoods and communities exist and draw from the land, air, and water among which they were built. What is unique about our local natural environment, what endangers it, what can we do to preserve and enhance it for the next generation?

We're joined by Shane McQuillan, City Forester for Des Moines, who has worked in environments as varied as the Australian outback and Chicago, Illinois, and by Tim Diebel, former Des Moines pastor turned organic farmer at Taproot Garden in Norwalk.

As always, fascinating conversation over beer and wine will ensue!

Register here

Our daily life is shaped by decisions about the physical landscape in which we live. City plans, real estate developers, and designers determine where and how things are built, what they look like, how easy they are to get to, what parts of the city are more important than others. How does the shape of our own city shape our behavior–does it contribute to our wellbeing and that of our family? Does it foster community life and a sense of shared purpose? Does it have a higher purpose than economic success? This month we will hear from decision makers about why our city is the way it is, and we will have the chance to talk about how it could change for the better.

Register here

Will it replace us? Is it conscious? Is it dangerous? Are we all overreacting?What makes us human?

Register here

Almost a hundred years ago, our predecessor, the Public Forum Movement, hosted an event with the title “Are We Done with Democracy?”. It was a historical moment in which many were reassessing the American democratic tradition. Communism, fascism, and other ideologies presented live alternatives to liberal democracy.  It is always a question worth contemplating for Americans. Why democracy? What are the benefits and risks of our system? What kind of culture is necessary for democracy to work well? 

Register here

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/why-democracy-tickets-598362948687

We use the word “Culture” in all kinds of ways. We talk about pop culture, workplace culture, political culture, culture war, and so much more. But what about the stories, artworks, songs, food, and more that make up our daily life? Do we feel like we have a rich local culture and identity? Why or why not? What is it like, what defines it? This will be an opportunity to hear from local cultural producers and for the community to talk among itself about what our own local culture really is.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/553101259757

We are living in a time when so much is documented that we know the foibles and faults of all the people who are in the public eye and many of our historical figures have come under greater scrutiny. Can we still have heroes when we know so much of the faults of human beings? Do we need to have heroes? Why or why not?

Featuring Lily Okech and JJ Kappur

As the year comes to a close and the holiday season approaches, we reflect on finding hope in the midst of suffering. How do we make sense of suffering, how do we find meaning within it and support others going through it? How can we remember and show solidarity with suffering members of our society and local community? We will be joined by speakers who have found, and been an example of, hope in the midst of struggle.

Registration and further information TBA.

Religion has always played a significant role in our democracy, but today, more people are unaffiliated with a faith than ever. This month we will discuss the role of faith in public life. What new forms are religious impulses taking? What are healthy ways of living in a society with many faiths? How do the great traditions contribute to the common good?

Featuring Rabbi Yossi Jacobson of Chabad Lubavitch of Iowa, Umar Farooq of the Darul Arqum Islamic Center, and Matt Crummy, marketing director of Comment Magazine, a journal of public theology for the common good.

Come join for drinks and good conversation!

REGISTER HERE.

The TV comedy The Office became famous by satirizing the absurdities and dissatisfaction of modern office work. But what does satisfying work look like, and what makes for a good job? This month at the Lyceum we'll be asking what makes work really worthwhile, how do we find work that is satisfying, and how can we approach our own work in a way that is going to be more meaningful and fulfilling. In particular, we'll look at non-office work, that is, at skilled trades, crafts, and other kinds of physical work to learn what lesson they carry about good work.

Joining our panel discussion will be Kathy Leggett of Future Ready Iowa, a state program that works to develop the workforce of the future, and Shane McQuillan, City Forester for Des Moines.

Registration and information here.

Join professor Scott Samuelson's Reading group and enter a timeless conversation about the core ideas of human life and the Universe.

Scott Samuelson is an expert at bringing philosophical ideas outside of the college campus and into all walks of life. He has taught Plato to prisoners, plumbers, and many other non-traditional students. He is also the author of The Deepest Human Life: An Introduction to Philosophy for Everyone. He has written in the Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and more.

In this reading group, Scott will guide participants through some of the great ancient thinkers from philosophy, including Aristotle, Confucius, the Stoics, and the Daoists. These timeless thinkers will be put into conversation with the timeless human questions we all ask.

Sessions will be held Saturdays starting September 17, 2022 at Peace Tree Brewing in Des Moines.

Registration here.

This month’s topic is about what it means to live a good life. Self -transcendence means making our lives about something besides ourselves. How do we find meaningful things to give our lives to, what are the habits that can bring us to a flourishing that is focused on others?

Registration and further details here.

Over 1,800 years ago, Marcus Aurelius, one of the greatest emperors and philosophers of Rome, wrote a classic set of deeply personal reflections on the universal questions of human life. How do I deal with suffering, change, and loss? How can I be happy in an imperfect world. What is life asking of me?

His words have resonated with readers down the ages.

If you are interested in philosophy, if you are a lifelong learner, if you are a human being, there's something in Marcus Aurelius for you.

Two accomplished professors, Susan Laehn, political scientist at Iowa State, and Scott Samuelson, philosopher at Kirkwood College, will guide us in to the thought and lasting relevance of Marcus Aurelius.

Join us for burgers, brats, beer, and wisdom.

Tickets $20 , dinner included, vegetarian options available.

Why does it matter to participate in local government? How can we do it in a fruitful way? This month’s topic will look at the history and philosophy behind our local government system and examine the benefits and possibilities that come from engaging seriously in local concerns.

Featuring 20 year city councilman and President of the Better Business Bureau for Greater Iowa Chris Coleman, and Director of Drake University’s Harking Institute and Windsor Heights City Councilman Joseph Jones.

Tickets here.

What makes a place a home? What do we owe to the places that raised us? This month’s theme will deal with the importance of feeling at home and belonging in a place, what creates the possibility of that feeling, and what our place demands from us in return.

We will be joined by Chad Miller, an architect who contributed to the plans for Water Works Park’s redevelopment, and Courtney Crowder, Iowa Columnist for the Des Moines Register

Tickets here.

The trees and plants that surround us have a major effect on our quality of life, but we rarely give thought to the professionals who plant, care for, manage, plan, and protect the trees that make our lives so much better.

Join us for a happy hour at the Slow Down Coffee Company on Des Moines’ North Side April 27, to ask everything you’ve ever wondered about trees. City forester Shane MacQuillan and State Forest Nursery professional Evan Miller will be there to tell it all.