A symposium for original ideas by members of the University of Chicago, presented quarterly.
On a specific night every quarter, six students give lightning talks on an original idea, philosophical or otherwise, after weeks of workshopping with our reviewing team. Packed audiences and catered dinner is guaranteed.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Nicodemus Visiting Jesus, 1899
Below are six works from recent Nights: Drag the frames, use the arrows, or choose from the catalogue below. Each frame opens external slides.
1. Pryma Reilly
A reply to Scott Alexander’s essay on Moloch, the god of races to the bottom, by way of Ginsberg’s Howl, Socrates and Wittgenstein, and ending on Nietzsche’s charge that the will to a system is a lack of honesty.
View the slides for Meditations on Meditations on Moloch (new tab)2. Lopez Molina Violeta
Against the solitary Cartesian thinker, and the self-care influencer who may be his heir, a case from Sloterdijk’s Spheres: subjectivity as two or more parties open to each other.
View the slides for Relational Space(s): Thinking with Bubbles (new tab)3. Rodriguez Cece
Heidegger’s history of Being read as a history of nihilism: from Plato’s two worlds, through Nietzsche and the death of God, to what there is left to do.
View the slides for Being After God (new tab)4. Quek Shawn
Fraternal community and masculine performativity, read through Judith Butler, followed by the offended, the critics and the validated, ending on a puzzle.
View the slides for Frats and Butlerian Brotherhood (new tab)5. Lee Noah
“I started the largest direct democracy in Minecraft history.” Its rise, coup, and collapse, and what the simulation suggests about the state of nature, hyper-online politics, and our own world.
View the slides for Minecraft Democracy (new tab)6. Miele Ben
If our tastes haven’t changed since 1870, why did poetry lose its readers and grow strange? The phonograph: once recorded music could satisfy the appetite for structured language, poetry made itself unsingable, much as painting stopped imitating reality once photography arrived.
View the slides for Poetry and Recorded Music (new tab)Hors concours. A Night often features a faculty speaker. Past faculty speakers include Professor of Philosophy, Agnes Callard (University of Chicago) and Professor of Economics, Robin Hanson (George Mason University).
Near the beginning of each quarter, members of the University apply (opens the application form in a new tab) with an original idea, philosophical or otherwise. It can be a rough sketch of an idea. No philosophy background is required.
After a few weeks of deliberation as proposals come in, the hosts read the applications and select six winning applications to move forward
For several weeks, the hosts work with each presenter to workshop their idea and edit their talk until it is ready for the Night of Ideas.
The Night itself takes place late in the quarter, featuring six lightning talks before sixty or more listeners from across the university. Catered food is provided and attendance is capped.
Applications for this quarter are open to any and all members of the University community. For the application, only a rough sketch of your idea is necessary.
Apply for fall 2026 (opens the application form in a new tab)Not presenting this time around? Come listen. This quarter’s date will be posted soon.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Annunciation, 1898
