About
The Philosophical Research Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1934 for the purpose of providing thoughtful persons rare access to the depth and breadth of the world’s wisdom literature. The Society is entirely free from doctrinal, political, or ecclesiastical control and therefore provides a learning environment sheltered from any interest intending to coerce or convert.
The goal of this institution is to enable the individual to develop a mature philosophy of life in association with a diverse and stimulating community of others, each dedicated to understanding and appreciating their unique possibilities in the unfolding universal pattern.
One Word: Philosophy
At PRS (and UPR) we start with a single word: Philosophy. This one word comes from the ancient Greeks for whom phileo meant “love” and sophia meant “wisdom.”
As elementary and apparent as it may seem, this one word, this “love of wisdom,” raises two profound questions: what is love, and what is wisdom? We are instantly confronted with the challenge of two great mysteries.
The Greeks often might have spoken in diverse ways about the meaning of philosophy: greedy for wisdom, lusting after wisdom, pursuing wisdom as the way of personal glory. But much more did they insist that “love” meant giving affectionate attention and care in an unselfconscious way to wisdom. That is the very cornerstone of PRS and UPR.
Wisdom is insight into the nature of things, a fundamental acquaintance with Reality. All of the great insights of humankind, which history has managed to preserve, are the priceless inheritance of every person. It is the clear goal of PRS and UPR to provide “lovers of wisdom” access to that treasure which is their birthright.
Thus one word reveals our purpose and shapes our method. From this understanding we carefully draw our principles.