Libraries, stereotypically, are not the place to talk, but the Philosophy Club hosted a Night of Philosophy in the school library on Feb. 15 to discuss various ideas and viewpoints.

“The idea is to give students time to think about ideas and develop them fully rather than in a very short 10-minute discussion,” club sponsor Michelle Crane said. “You can really explore an idea at length.”

The Night of Philosophy was the club’s first event to host. However, it is not the first of its kind since the club takes inspiration from an event held in Europe of a similar caliber.

“It’s a big activity at libraries all across France, and it’s kind of taken root in the Northeast too,” Crane said. “Generally, what they do is meet in a library all night so that [they] can have really long discussions. But, for obvious reasons, we can’t [go all night] here.”

The discussion began with a general question, statement or idea that would be discussed at two independent tables. Each table would approach the overall theme with its own spin or angle. One table discussed the topic from a classical standpoint and one using pop culture as a starting point.

“We’re really going to be exploring concepts like the nature of reality [and] good and evil,” Crane said. “Some of them are going to be focusing on how pop culture deals with those concepts, and some of us will be dealing with more classical and French philosophy.”

Students were able to come together to talk about things not typically discussed in school. Some participants were not formally in the club, while others were very active members.

“I thought it was a lot of fun getting to socialize with others, especially with a lot of the conversations we ended up having,” junior Dre Springfield said. “It ended up being a lot more fun than I expected, and I look forward to the future events held by the club.”