Today intellectual life seems to end with college graduation. Political discussion in the ‘real’ world is pragmatic and focused on narrow policy questions. When debate touches on matters of value and principle, it tends to degenerate into name-calling and mutual vilification. The NY Salon aims to provide a distinct environment where ideas are robustly debated. It welcomes disagreement rather than trying to sweep it under the rug. At the NY Salon, participants have a right to hold an opinion but they also have a duty to express and defend it. It is only through open debate that we come to know and develop our own opinions and become able to draw conclusions about the pressing issues of our time. To quote John Stuart Mill, mankind is ‘capable of being improved by free and equal discussion.’ This is the spirit that animates the NY Salon.

Our approach is to draw in participants from a wide range of backgrounds. People attending the NY Salon come from the media, business, the arts and academia, and critically minded people from a variety of backgrounds. The Salon discusses both fiction and non-fiction, from authors as diverse as Jonathan Safran Foer and Thomas Szasz.

The NY Salon aims to raise the level of discussion of our culture – from politics and business to science and the arts. We seek to provide environments in which ideas can be robustly debated among critically-minded people from a variety of backgrounds. Whatever the forum – discussing a novel, arguing the merits of a museum exhibition, or organizing a public debate – our goal is the same: to ensure that the assumptions underlying the pressing issues of the day are thoroughly examined.

Membership

• Annual Individual Membership: $100 (Allows Free entrance for One to Salons)
• Annual Student Membership: $75
• Annual Founder Membership: $1000
• Annual Corporate Membership: $5000

For details of further Sponsorship and Affiliations please contact Jean Smith.