Brian Allen PhD

Organizer

I am a mathematics professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and Lehman College who has been a lifelong student of philosophy. I have been an active member of the NYCPPRC for over three years now and started hosting discussions not too long after that. I am energized by the fact that there are so many people in NYC and beyond who are interested in engaging with difficult philosophical texts together every week!

I believe that philosophy should teach us to make peace with the ambiguity of life while doing our best to create constructive models we can use to make sense of the world around us. For me, philosophical ideas are some of the most beautiful human creations that should be cherished and enjoyed just like art, music, and literature. I particularly enjoy sinking my teeth broadly into the areas of analytic philosophy, epistemology, philosophy of logic, philosophy of math, philosophy of science, and existentialism.

You can find out more information about my professional and personal work on my website: https://sites.google.com/view/brian-allen/

Ryan Bohman

Organizer

After spending around 20 years in the tech industry, Ryan decided to change careers to study mental health. He's now completing graduate studies at the University of Rochester. Alongside this, he has been reading and hosting book club events with NYCPPRC, voraciously, since 2019.

More from Ryan here: https://linktr.ee/ryanbohman

Naomi Gold PhD

Organizer

Sheryl Harawitz

Organizer

Brent Mondoskin

Organizer

Brent is a financial technology leader and longtime student of philosophy. By profession, he leads and builds technology teams in the financial services industry; by inclination, he has spent the past two decades studying philosophy and the history of ideas.

His degrees in music shaped his sensitivity to form, interpretation, and meaning, which continue to animate his philosophical interests. His work is especially influenced by American Pragmatism, early Greek philosophy, German Idealism, existentialism, pessimism, and modern critiques of reason, progress, and disembodiment.

This reading group is an extension of his belief that philosophy belongs in shared conversation: serious without being academic, humane without being simplistic, and oriented toward how we want to live.

Zach Stehura

Organizer

Zach is the host of Unpacking Ideas—a philosophy podcast that unpacks the most influential ideas from the past in order to make them more accessible in the present.

He has been hosting events with The NYC Philosophy and Psychology Readers Community since 2023 and is a champion of building community and having intellectual conversations.

Zach is also a long time student of the science of learning. In his free time you can find him applying what he's learned about learning to whatever it is he is learning—whether it be playing the drums, salsa dancing, meditating, doing improv comedy, memorizing hundreds of digits of pi, or reading challenging philosophical texts.

Zita Vasilisinova

Organizer

Zita fell in love with philosophy in high school in Slovakia. She moved to New York City at 19 and, for reasons she still doesn’t fully understand, never left. She earned a double major in philosophy and film from the wonderful Hunter College (CUNY). After graduating, however, she turned away from philosophy, finding it emotionally heavy.

She holds a Master’s degree in Teaching from NYU and is a proud teacher at a progressive high school in Brooklyn. When she’s not reading or attending a meetup, you can find her on a mat teaching kundalini yoga, which she sees as philosophy in practice.