December 18, 2011, 8:00pm


"Vitamins: What are they and can we have too many?" 


by Ethan Kegley




Abstract:

What does the general population know about vitamins? Most people would say that vitamins run though the beginning of the alphabet from A to E. The average person might comment that vitamin A comes from carrots, vitamin B comes from their breakfast cereal, vitamin C comes from oranges, vitamin D comes from milk and that vitamin E is taken in the form of a pill to keep your skin from aging too quickly. The average person does not know a whole lot about vitamins. Why is this? How many vitamins are there actually? Where do they come from and what do they do in our bodies? Is it even possible to take too many vitamin pills?

I hope to give a basic overview of what vitamins are, their similarities, differences, what they do in our bodies and how the general population has come to know so little about them. The term vitamin was made up by a Polish scientist in the early 20th century. One of the first ways to classify vitamins is by their solubility. Some are water soluble, others are fat soluble. We all know the vitamins A-E, but how much do we know about vitamin “K” or vitamin “B9?” There is plenty of information to be had about vitamins, but the information is not always whole or in some cases can be somewhat misleading.

Is it possible that having a better understanding of the way we eat and the way or bodies deal with the intake and processing of vitamins and or lack of vitamins could be a major factor in health? I will deal with these issues and hopefully clear up any misconceptions about vitamins and possibly create an interest in living a healthier life.

December 13, 2011

"Nomadic metaphysics - mobility as resistance narrative and life strategy"

By, Michal Grzegorzewski

World is a motion and social world is in state of flux. Fixed order and hegemony of sedentary states cannot fully compete with nomadic flexibility. Marginal becomes paradigm. Global capitalism creates elites and resistance against its own regime. Mobile subject benefit from the system others oppose it by being elusive. Nomadic modus viventi is more observable and applicable than ever before. Mobility is a win, attachment is passé.

I will divide theorizing on mobility into 4 subtopics:

Social World as a dynamics of Brownian Movements – where I will provide introduction to a general characteristics of modern social dynamics in the contexts of people in the motion and transnationalism based on works of Pries and Bauman.

Complex framework of modern mobilities – will be devoted to more detailed presentation of mobilities of different scale – from everyday small mobilities to big mobilities of immigration with their meanings, politics and practices as proposed by Adley , Urry, Appadurai

Nomad as a thread and liberation – in this section I will draw on Deleuze and Guattari notion of two forms of power and resistance illustrating the case with work of de Certeau to propose and discuss a concept of nomadic state of mind.

Startegic flexible citizenship and power positioning – here I will refer to work of Aihwa Ong and her analysis of strategic spatial management of national and culture belonging in the framework of Chinese elites from Hong Kong.

December 4, 2011

"The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche"

by, Jim Magee

Few if any of the major thinkers since Plato have come close to the intellectual honesty and intensity of Nietzsche. Even fewer have been more misrepresented and misunderstood. Yet the ideas This lecture will serve as an exposition of the life and thought of Nietzsche for the interested beginner who would like a way into Nietzsche and his core concepts and ideas.

November 27, 2011

Sonja Dimoska

JUNG’S PSYCHOLOGY AND THE CONDIOTION OF MAN

Carl Gustav Jung was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20^th century. He is the founder of analytical psychology. Even though his work did not get proper acknowledgement during his life, today Jungian psychology is a legitimate psychological school. In addition, modern western culture is caring the seal of his thought. Terms such as introvert and extravert, complex, archetype, collective unconscious, are just a part of his legacy. 

Jung was a pioneer in the science field to accept and treat man as a being whose mind is not just an expression of the logical reasoning, but it is determined by the unconscious as well and therefore needs to be treated as such.

The presentation will firstly explain Jung’s main concepts, such as five main archetypes, alongside with references to their articulation through human psyche. Jung believed that as the physical body is structured in a certain way to enable people to feel, understand and respond to the world, there is no reason to deny analogous structure of the psychic body. The archetypes give the necessary provisions to our comprehension of the world, inner and outer. The speech will follow with an elaboration on archetypes’ interdependence and interaction in reference to the broader understanding of human psyche and the collective unconscious. This idea led Jung to understanding of the position of human being in broader context that brought completely new reading of myths, fairytales, religion, ethnology. Followed from this, criticism on modern culture seen through personal and collective psychology is even more valid today than in Jung’s time.

To the end, Jungian suggestion on developing a healthier psyche through individuation will be given. Jung strongly believed that if people want to improve the quality of its being in the world first they need to come in terms with their own internal world which finally is no different to the existence as a whole.