CAIRO — "Stop philosophizing" say Egyptians to indicate their irritation and boredom when they are treated to a long didactic monologue. To that end, a group of philosophy professors from the American University in Cairo (AUC) started a project in 2017 that aims to change the common belief that philosophy is didactic, boring, elitist and irrelevant to daily life.

“Philosophy in Arabic” is a series of lectures and workshops on philosophy that are held at AUC and open to students and members of the public. Videos of the lectures are also shared on Facebook. The project aims to simplify philosophical thought and show how philosophy can be applied to the issues of daily life.

The lectures and workshops, which kicked off in July 2017, have celebrated their first anniversary with more than 4,100 followers on Facebook. The professors' attempts to get the students and the public more interested in philosophy also attracted the attention of the local and international media, such as London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper and Cairo 360 website.

The organizers, most of whom are philosophy professors at AUC, said that the starting point of the project was to rekindle the public interest on philosophy through a series of weekly lectures and workshops. These sessions are advertised on Facebook, as there is no budget for publicity.