What’s the use  of a philosophy class on Phish? Phish’s music, live performance, and fan engagement are brimming with philosophical ideas; their lyrics, Superball’s storage box jam and exhibit, and public accounts about life and music strike me as imaginative, conceptual explorations. Their work engages concepts that are central to the history of philosophy, such as ab/normality, self/other, ethics, and community.  This class will use Phish’s mythology, live performances, and social media presence in order to introduce key ideas in the history of philosophy in public settings. Specifically, we will explore possibilities publicly engaged scholarship holds for social transformation, community-building, and experiential learning.

Photo by Andrea Z. Nusinov