Did you take a philosophy class in high school or college and wish you had taken more? Do you read philosophy texts independently but have no one to discuss them with? Then this group is for you.

We will read, in chronological order, major works from the history of philosophy. Although the majority will have been written by European and American authors, we will be open to texts from other cultures. Representative philosophers include Plato, Averroes, Descartes, Spinoza, Hobbes, Kant, Hegel, Sartre, and Foucault. Given the importance and large number of 20th century writers, we will focus exclusively on them during 2013, returning in 2014 to the earlier periods.

Most of the time we will read works from a single author. Periodically we may want to read an anthology of their works or focus on a specific subject, such as "ethics", "metaphysics", or "the philosophy of language", and compare the perspectives of different writers.

Meetings are usually held at the Cleveland Park Library in DC, on the third Saturday of each month. Parking in the neighborhood is sometimes difficult, so people are encouraged to use metro, which has a station nearby.

Click here to see the reading schedule for 2010-2013.

Note: To remain viable, groups depend on the active attendance of members. Those who have not attended a meeting for twelve consecutive months will be automatically dropped; those who are repeated no-shows or frequently cancel within a few days of a meeting, will be warned and, if the problem persists, also dropped.