We've been thinking...

One day this Fall - three years into running wine women and philosophy and pondering the question of where to take this adventure next - we found ourselves drafting the declaration that follows. We liked the idea of the declaration as a literary form: at once describing a course of action, at once compelling the writer to turn lofty words into concrete action. And we liked the idea that, having learned something from all of you about how to go about putting on good educational experiences designed specifically for women, we felt fired up enough to want to shout that learning from the rooftops. Think of this declaration as both a testament to where we are today and a springboard to where we are going next. As always, we welcome your feedback.

wine women and philosophy's
declaration for a new day

Wine women and philosophy is a philosophy school with a difference. What makes us different? In a nutshell, we turn living rooms, wine bars, and country retreats into classrooms. We cater solely to women. And we find ways to make philosophy pertinent to women's lives.

We don't promise that philosophy will save your life...But we are convinced that it will make your life a lot more interesting. This is how we do it.

As educational entrepreneurs we put women first.

  • we admire women who have the courage to walk through the door and who are prepared to take the risk of learning something new
  • we treat every woman as a person who thinks unlike any other person, and who has thoughts, ideas and sensibilities that can enrich learning for others
  • we ask ourselves constantly how we can meet women's educational aspirations and give them a learning experience that they value
  • we believe that every woman who challenges herself to learn something new opens the door to a new way of engaging with the world.

As committed professionals we design unique educational experiences that take seriously each woman's creative and reflective side.

  • we create friendly teaching and learning environments in convivial locales
  • we provide a safe place for women to find their voice around the issues they care about and to be opened to issues that they might care about in the future
  • we are developing a challenging, rigorous and fun way to learn which encourages everyone's contribution
  • we embrace a feminist pedagogy that challenges authoritative 'expertise' ; that values and builds on women's individual life experiences and backgrounds; and that seeks to broaden the idea of what education is and who gets to participate in it.

As hands-on philosophers we are dedicated to adventurous thinking.

  • we bring the word 'excitement' into the teaching and learning of philosophy
  • we employ innovative teaching methods that breathe a breath of fresh air into your life
  • we speak from the heart and work hard to make sure that our words aren't empty, or overly laden with jargon
  • we champion more imaginative futures for ourselves and for those with whom we teach and learn.

As dynamic animators we are proud to offer a philosophy program that is accessible, vibrant and well thought through.

  • we start with a topic: past topics have ranged from Funny girls in film to the trope of the Invisible Matron ; from How we look at photographs to Finding your body in your favourite poem
  • we then link a theme to that topic: for example, our look at family photographs becomes a way to explore the place of nostalgia and memory in our lives; our dip into your favourite poem opens the door to discussing the difference between reading poetry for what it says (the realm of representation) and discovering within that poem the traces of a living, breathing body (the workings of affect)
  • we introduce, next, some philosophical concepts to highlight connections between topic and theme, and to build a shared language that helps to prompt our collective working of ideas and individual understandings: Roland Barthes' notion of punctum, for example, builds a bridge between the piercing effect that a detail in a photograph can have on us and its triggering of a memory pang; Julia Kristeva's interpretation of the rhythmic and womb-like chora, for example, enables us to better grasp how certain styles of writing are more bodily than others
  • we use props!...drawing on a variety of conversational forms, playful exercises and artifacts we turn abstract concepts into grounded insights, taken-for-granted assumptions into interesting questions. In this way, a cookie cutter and a piece of dough become a way to understand how 'the male gaze' works ; sifting through a box of seemingly random objects illuminates a post-structuralist line of flight.

As a passionate team dedicated to enriching women's lives through philosophy, we love those things that make us feel alive.

  • aha! moments
  • questions, questions, questions...
  • messy thinking, u-turns and loose ends
  • friendships blossoming out of shared learning experiences
  • an individual woman suddenly discovering her 'inner philosopher'
  • a growing number of women realizing that philosophy is for them.