The Saxifrage Institute is an intellectual community that belongs to everyone.

We are a group of college professors based in New York City offering our courses on history, philosophy, literature, and critical thought to any adult who wants to learn. We believe that rigorous thinking is an inherently democratic activity. Everyone is capable of engaging in the kind of critical thinking taught at colleges and universities, and everyone has something valuable to contribute to our shared social, political, and intellectual conversations. We believe that learning in a community ought not be a luxury, but rather a fundamental part of a good life.

Saxifrage Institute offers two forms of programming: the Saxifrage Seminars and the Saxifrage Conversations. Saxifrage Seminars are the same small, intensive, individualized, discussion-based courses we teach at colleges and universities scheduled to suit the lives of working adults. Topics include (but are not limited to) the history of psychological trauma, the philosophy of Blaise Pascal, and the history and philosophy of AI. Saxifrage Conversations are facilitated conversation series which meet for three hours every two months, organized around recurring questions in individual and social life. Conversations are modeled in part on the early modern European salons in which groups gathered to discuss ideas of common concern. Conversations typically end with a shared meal.

Most importantly: as faculty, we hold ourselves and all learners to the highest intellectual standards. Saxifrage is for anyone who wants to learn.

A Sort of a Song

William Carlos Williams, 1944

Let the snake wait under his weed and the writing be of words, slow and quick, sharp to strike, quiet to wait, sleepless. — through metaphor to reconcile the people and the stones. Compose. (No ideas but in things) Invent! Saxifrage is my flower that splits the rocks.