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The Daily Photoist: November 25, 2009
"Socrates was a shit-disturber and Darwin was a super-nerd," says Peter Stevens, working on his "shortlist" of philosophers (and philosophies) to include in his "All the Philosophy" lecture this Thursday. Even if Hegel isn't your homeboy, Stevens claims he can help you find that certain someone—that certain "old, bearded, white dude"—who'll knock your proverbial socks off.
Although Stevens acknowledges that Wikipedia has helped many epistemologically challenged individuals find "their" philosopher, the MEI Academy TA and Second City alum believes that his way of lecturing is the best way for you to find "yours." "I just like to get people pumped up about the ideas," explains Stevens, "and there's really no reason why I shouldn't be able to do this in an unpretentious way."
"Did you know that, as a child, Darwin put a beetle in his mouth...just to investigate the taste? I mean, who does that? Nerds do that. And this is exactly the kind of information that people actually connect with." After sharing another story—this time, about Darwin riding a tortoise ("he actually thought it might be useful mode of transportation")—Stevens reveals he's a self-taught philosophy buff. While he's studied English and creative writing at York and history and politics at the University of Toronto, everything Stevens covers in his lectures, he explains, he picked up on his own.
Even if beetle jokes and smack-talking lecturers aren't for you, who can resist the temptation of a philosophy fantasy draft?
All the Philosophy takes place at 46 Noble Street, Unit 102, on Thursday, December 11, from 8-9:30 p.m. $5 at the door.
Photo by Musical Mint from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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That's not why Darwin put a beetle in his mouth. The real reason is even nerdier. From his autobiography:
But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness or gave me so much pleasure as collecting beetles. It was the mere passion for collecting, for I did not dissect them, and rarely compared their external characters with published descriptions, but got them named anyhow. I will give a proof of my zeal: one day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as was the third one.
Thanks darwinnut,
I got carried away.
If you're interested in the account of Darwin riding giant tortoises it's in Chapter 17 of The Voyage of the Beagle.
"I frequently got on their backs, and then giving a few raps on the hinder part of their shells, they would rise up and walk away; -- but I found it very difficult to keep my balance."