It might be the most intense all-nighter ever staged in New York. For 12 hours, starting at 7 p.m. on April 24, the French Embassy on Fifth Avenue and its next-door-neighbor, the Ukrainian Institute of America, will be joint hosts of “A Night of Philosophy,” an event that combines elements of a teach-in, a triathlon and a sweat-lodge ceremony. Only the mentally strong will survive.
More than 60 philosophers will hold forth, in 20-minute bursts, on knotty problems in logic, ethics, metaphysics and religion. Kwame Anthony Appiah will discuss the meaning of honor in the contemporary world.
Is religious faith rational, and do we really want to be equal? Roger Pouivet (University of Lorraine) and Florent Guénard (University of Nantes) will take those on.
Pascal Engel (University of Geneva) will tread on treacherous ground, considering the circumstances, when he asks, Must intellectual life be boring?
While the philosophers philosophize, audience members will be free to wander from room to room, entertained by dozens of artistic performances, videos and film screenings and D.J. sets. The menu includes “Spinoza in Kiev,” a melodrama for two actresses, with piano improvisations, based on Bernard Malamud’s novel “The Fixer,” and a full-text reading (in English) of the Marquis de Sade’s “Philosophy in the Bedroom.”
The nocturnal philosophy slam originated at the philosophy department of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 2010. The Institut Français in London has hosted twice since then, and last year Berlin’s Institut Français put on its own version of the show. The country of Kant, Hegel and Schopenhauer did not disappoint. More than 5,000 people showed up.