Michel Foucault's Clique: The Nietzsche-ists
This group's membership fluctuates but the basic idea always remains the same: they all super love that wacky German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, and his idea of the "genealogy of morality"—what a hoot! The charter for the group is Foucault's essay, "Nietzsche, Genealogy, History" so you'd better get reading if you want in.
Group activities usually involve scones, coconut water, discourses on being and death, mental journeys into the Nietzschean quest, asking the question: "How did I become what I am, and why do I suffer so from being what I am?" Deep stuff. The man who most candidly seeks to answer such questions, this group insists, "tortures himself"—but that's not a bad thing. As you might imagine, meetings are at once depressing and invigorating.
Ludwig Binswanger and Gaston Bachelard
Panel Leaders
This Swiss psychiatrist and French philosopher always bring the "Topic of the Day." Their favorite? "Suicide, Fate, and the Struggle to Die." Sounds like a downer, but it really opens up discussions of why people want to die.
Ellen West
Muse and Model Sufferer
One of Binswanger's most desperate patients, Ellen West, really just wanted to die. Her doc thought that was worth looking into, so he wrote a clinical paper called "The Case of Ellen West." Trust us: you don't want to get into her head.