I will be offering this 10-week seminar starting in the last week of September. It’s the first time I’m running something like this outside of an institution, and I think I’ll only be able to do it once a year. During this course, we’ll be addressing some of the foundational questions in general psychology as a domain and as a field of knowledge.
We’ll be meeting on Wednesday evenings at 7 PM (Eastern Time), with each session running for about 90 minutes. All meetings will be held on Zoom so people can join from anywhere. We’ll also be recording the sessions, and the recordings will be shared with everyone enrolled in the seminar.
Enrollment
- First session will be on Wednesday, September 24th
- Enrollment is limited to 12 participants to ensure an interactive learning environment.
Primary Text
Our primary text for this year’s seminar is: Catching Up with Aristotle: A Journey in Quest of General Psychology by Niels Engelsted
Participants are expected to obtain their copy of the book in advance of the seminar – I can assist you if needed. Weekly discussions will follow the structure of the text, with time set aside for commentary, questions, and relevance to contemporary issues.
Format
- Sessions will be conducted live over Zoom on Wednesday evenings at 7 PM (Eastern Time). Each meeting will last about 90 minutes, with a short break at the halfway point.
- The first 30 to 40 minutes of each session will be a presentation, followed by a group discussion. Our discussions will bring together a close reading of the text and open dialogue.
- All sessions will be recorded and made available to people enrolled in the seminar.
Fee
- The fee for enrolling in the 2025 seminar is $225 USD.
Expectations
- Preparation: Complete the assigned reading before each session.
- Respect: Honour the diversity of perspectives and help maintain a respectful, collaborative learning environment.
- Optional: Each participant may choose to give a 20-minute presentation at the end of our course to receive feedback from me and others. I encourage you to do this if you’re interested in writing a paper based on the course.
Hi Davood, This seminar sounds great. I just need to move some of my Wednesday students to other spots to make it work.
Is the format like the Saturday group? Assigned readings, discussion, or will there be some writing involved?
Thanks for the opportunity,
Patrick
Thank you, Patrick! It’s great to hear that you’re interested. The format will share some similarities, except that each session will begin with a presentation by me. Regarding writing, I added a note about the option to present a paper to the group toward the end of the course – Thanks for taking note of that. Otherwise, let me follow up via email.
This is a wonderful service to the field. Please let me know if I can do anything to help.
Thank you very much, Jeremy! I appreciate your encouraging comment. Sharing the announcement with others who may be interested would be a great help. And if you later have any ideas, suggestions, criticisms for me I’m always open to receiving them. Hope all is well with you.
I’m quite interested, Davood. I just need to think about whether I can really carve out the time for that this fall. How long do you think I have before all the slots are likely to fill up? This is a pleasant surprise to see you returning to psychology after leaving your own (terrific) critical work behind these past few years.
Thank you, Chris! It would be great to have you in the seminar. By around September 20, we’ll know if we have enough people to run it. The minimum enrollment is five, and once that’s met, we can also accommodate “maybe” participants (similar to the Reading Group). The maximum enrollment is twelve, but in all honesty, I don’t anticipate reaching that number this year.
Hello Davood. Thanks for offering this opportunity. I am interested in joining the class to learn from you and engage in the discussions with other co-learners. My time zone is GMT+8, so that would fit my schedule (7am-8:30am) before I head out to work:)! Hope to start the learning soon.