The garden is the new café: Vegetal metaphysics and community philosophy

Abstract

In this paper I introduce my new project in philosophical practice and community philosophy called garden philosophy or philosophy in the garden. In many senses, this is very similar to the usual philosophical café, but organized in a community garden, in this case at downtown Budapest. The garden, and especially an urban community garden, as a complex multispecies community, provides not only a good environment for philosophical conversations, but a strong philosophical foundation, a metaphysics of community philosophy practices, a model and a metaphor, based on the interconnectedness of minds. The garden philosophy, a modern version of Epicurus’ philosophical practice, thus connects new insights on the world of plants, the entanglements of various life forms, community philosophy and the long tradition of philosophy as a way of life.