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Online Sessions

Premise’s online sessions offer meaningful conversations with people you might not meet otherwise. With just a few hours of prep, you’ll explore life’s big questions through essays, literature, nonfiction, and film, creating opportunities for intellectual growth, reflection, and connection—all from the comfort of your home.

Join Us in a More Examined Life

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  • What Does Democracy Demand of Us?
    What Does Democracy Demand of Us?
    What Does Democracy Demand of Us?
    Thu, Jan 09
    Online Session
    Jan 09, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM PST
    Jan 09, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM PST
    The Ones Who Stay and Fight by N.K. Jemisin & The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 2 hours
  • Are the Machines Coming to Get Us?
    Are the Machines Coming to Get Us?
    Are the Machines Coming to Get Us?
    Thu, Jan 23
    Online Session
    Jan 23, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM PST
    Jan 23, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM PST
    Her (2013) directed by Spike Jonze Short story: The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster (1909) ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 3 hours
  • Does Thinking About Death Lead To a Good Life?
    Does Thinking About Death Lead To a Good Life?
    Does Thinking About Death Lead To a Good Life?
    Sun, Feb 02
    Online Session
    Feb 02, 2025, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM PST
    Feb 02, 2025, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM PST
    The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy & The Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf ⏱️ Time Commitment: Approx. 2 hours
  • What Is Love? What Should It Be?
    What Is Love? What Should It Be?
    What Is Love? What Should It Be?
    Sun, Feb 09
    Online Session
    Feb 09, 2025, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM PST
    Feb 09, 2025, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM PST
    All About Love by bell hooks (selected chapters) ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 2 hours
  • How Much is Enough?
    How Much is Enough?
    How Much is Enough?
    Thu, Feb 20
    Online
    Feb 20, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM PST
    Feb 20, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM PST
    Erich Fromm's book To Have or To Be? (selected chapters) The Lottery Ticket by Anton Chekhov (short story) ⏱️ Preparation Approx. 2-3 hours
  • Can We Be Free in a World Full of Rules?
    Can We Be Free in a World Full of Rules?
    Can We Be Free in a World Full of Rules?
    Sun, Feb 23
    Online Session
    Feb 23, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM PST
    Feb 23, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM PST
    Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville ⏱️ Preparation time: 2 hours
  • What makes us truly free?
    What makes us truly free?
    What makes us truly free?
    Sun, Mar 16
    Online Session
    Mar 16, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM PDT
    Mar 16, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM PDT
    What is Freedom? Hannah Arendt (essay) & Poems by Langston Hughes: Freedom's Plow, Democracy, Harlem [Dream Deferred] ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 2 hours
  • Are We Who We've Always Been?
    Are We Who We've Always Been?
    Are We Who We've Always Been?
    Sat, Mar 22
    Online Session
    Mar 22, 2025, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM PDT
    Mar 22, 2025, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM PDT
    The Other by Jorge Luis Borges (short story) Speak, Memory by Oliver Sacks (essay) & On Aging poem by Maya Angelou ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 1.5 hours
  • Do We Make Our World, or Does It Make Us?
    Do We Make Our World, or Does It Make Us?
    Do We Make Our World, or Does It Make Us?
    Sun, Mar 30
    Online Session
    Mar 30, 2025, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM PDT
    Mar 30, 2025, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM PDT
    Simone de Beauvoir’s Pyrrhus and Cineas (essay) ⏱️ Reading time approx. 2 hours
  • How Does Our Appearance Shape Us?
    How Does Our Appearance Shape Us?
    How Does Our Appearance Shape Us?
    Sun, Apr 06
    Online Session
    Apr 06, 2025, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM PDT
    Apr 06, 2025, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM PDT
    Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self by Alice Walker The Nose by Nikolai Gogol ⏱️ Total Time to Read Approx. 2 hours
  • Are We Our Work?
    Are We Our Work?
    Are We Our Work?
    Sun, Apr 13
    Online Session
    Apr 13, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM PDT
    Apr 13, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM PDT
    Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber, selected chapters ⏱️Preparation time: Approx. 2 hours
  • What Should We Do With Our Past?
    What Should We Do With Our Past?
    What Should We Do With Our Past?
    Sun, May 11
    Online session
    May 11, 2025, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM PDT
    May 11, 2025, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM PDT
    Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 3 hours
  • Are We Our Bodies?
    Are We Our Bodies?
    Are We Our Bodies?
    Sun, May 25
    Online Session
    May 25, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PDT
    May 25, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PDT
    The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (film) The Evening and the Morning and the Night by Octavia Butler (short story) ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 3 hours
  • Is Friendship Necessary?
    Is Friendship Necessary?
    Is Friendship Necessary?
    Sun, Jun 08
    Online Session
    Jun 08, 2025, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM PDT
    Jun 08, 2025, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM PDT
    Aristotle on Friendship (from Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII & IX) Atlantic Article: What If Friendship, Not Marriage, Was at the Center of Life? ⏱️ 1-2 hours of preparation (~25-30 pages of reading)
  • More Premise Sessions Coming Soon!
    More Premise Sessions Coming Soon!
    More Premise Sessions Coming Soon!
    Date and time is TBD
    Location is TBD
    Date and time is TBD
    Date and time is TBD
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