On January 21, 2018, immediately after the Christmas vacation, the meetings of our Philosophical Cafe again resumed. How? Do not you know that there is a Philosophical Cafe in Chelyabinsk? A year since we meet in the restaurant “Provence” at ul. Truda 78 (Business Center “Newton”, 2 floor). Our philosophical interaction is based on the method of “philosophical companionship” by Ran Lahav. Philosophical companionship is a group of interlocutors who together reflect on one or another of life’s problems, acquiring a meaningful philosophical experience, expanding the boundaries of their understanding.
Instead of arguing and defending one’s own opinion, the interlocutors, abandoning their habitual thinking styles, tend to find a response from each other, like musicians improvising together, creating an inspiring “music” of understanding that gives a sense of depth and fullness of meanings.
Philosophical companionship is based on the belief that philosophical reflection is capable of touching and awakening the hidden depths of self-awareness and leading our life to fullness through mutual understanding between the interlocutors. However, for this to happen, philosophical reflection should be greater than an intellectual conversation, more than a declaration of one’s own views, more than a logical analysis or a logical solution to problems. Deep levels of self-awareness must be affected against the background of wider horizons of life through a real connection with companions.