Seattle Philosophy Club

Kenneth Smith argues that Christianity was transformed into a system of psychological conditioning that appeals to humanity’s lowest motives—fear of punishment and hunger for reward—thereby corrupting intrinsic values like love, awe, and moral intelligence into an amoral, mechanical obedience. He contends that the doctrines of Heaven and Hell represent one of the most catastrophic turns in Church history, debasing spirituality itself by replacing inner judgment and intrinsic goodness with intimidation, conformity, and emotional manipulation.

D. Divine Teleology, Heaven and Hell

https://kennethsmithphilosophy.com/end08.php

PLEASE JOIN ORLANDO STOICS VIA LINK BELOW FOR FULL WEEKLY EVENT SCHEDULE

https://www.meetup.com/orlando-stoics/

Welcome to Orlando Stoics! We are a very active group, with over 3,800 members and five meetings a week. Some meetings are held online, while others are in-person. All classes are free.

What is Stoicism? It's an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded in Athens about 300 BC. The first teacher was Zeno of Citium. The school taught that virtue (the highest good) is based on knowledge, and that wise people live in harmony with nature. The school also taught tolerance and self-control. Famous Stoics were Seneca the Younger, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. We also study modern Stoics.

Why Stoicism? In our world of instant gratification, constant stimulation, and endless distractions, Stoicism offers a novel perspective on life. Interested in developing an unconquerable mind? Stoicism has the answers. We also link ideas to Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Existentialism, Minimalism, and other "lived philosophy" systems. We love in-depth discussions!

If you join our group, feel free to adjust the email and notification settings to suit your preferences. Since we have new meetings every week, those emails might be too much for your inbox. Feel free to turn them off (go to our meetup page, click "You're a Member", and then click group notifications). You can still check our meetup page for upcoming events whenever you want.

The goals of our group:
1. We read the ancient books, plus the modern books on Stoicism.
2. We discuss Stoicism in the media, pop culture, and arts & literature.
3. We compare recurring themes in Stoicism to history, religion, and psychology.

There have always been people attracted to Stoicism. It was a significant influence on Shakespeare, JD Salinger, Tom Wolfe, and Nelson Mandela. It has also attracted political and military leaders, such as Frederick the Great, President Bill Clinton, and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who stated that he has read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations over 100 times.

We hope you will join us. The group is open to the public and has no subscription fee. Stoicism can help you cope with life's stresses, while retaining your ethics & character.

We hope to see you soon!

January 6 - We are in chapter 6 of Topics, Book I, currently at Bekker lines 102b27–103a5. Aristotle just defined horos, idion, genos, sumbebēkos. He now relates them together.
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We are using the translation by Robin Smith: Topics Books I & VIII (Oxford University Press, 1997), page 6.
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Smith in his helpful "Introduction" forewarns us that because we don't know what we are ignorant of, we barbarians don't know yet what dialectic is or why we need it. So there will be learning pain involved as we bootstrap ourselves toward knowing and practicing what we will learn. The payoff will be tremendous and will be commensurate with personal effort.
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A new reading adventure beckons you and your willpower. Join us.
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Organon means "instrument," as in, instrument for thought and speech. The term was given by ancient commentators to a group of Aristotle's treatises comprising his logical works.

Organon
|-- Categories ---- 2023.02.28
|-- On Interpretation ---- 2023.12.12
|-- Topics ---- 2025.10.21
|-- Sophistical Refutations
|-- Rhetoric*
|-- Prior Analytics
|-- Posterior Analytics

(* Robin Smith, author of SEP's 2022 entry "Aristotle's Logic," argues that Rhetoric should be part of the Organon.)

Whenever we do any human thing, we can either do it well or do it poorly. With instruments, we can do things either better, faster, and more; or worse, slower, and less. That is, with instruments they either augment or diminish our doings.

Do thinking and speaking (and writing and listening) require instruments? Yes. We do need physical instruments like microphones, megaphones, pens, papers, computers. But we also need mental instruments: grammar, vocabulary words, evidence-gathering techniques, big-picture integration methods, persuasion strategies. Thinking while sitting meditatively all day in a lotus position doesn't require much instrumentation of any kind, but thinking and speaking well in the sense of project planning, problem-solving, negotiating, arguing, deliberating--that is, the active doings in the world (whether romantic, social, commercial, or political)--do require well-honed mental instruments. That's the Organon in a nutshell.

Are you an up-and-coming human being, a doer, go-getter, achiever, or at least you're choosing to become one? You need to wield the Organon.

Join us.

Whether you’re curious, skeptical, or simply seeking clarity, this conversation is designed to welcome diverse perspectives while encouraging shared insight and constructive engagement. Join us as we explore how influence works—and how it could work better for a more collaborative, equitable world.

Peter will do a presentation about Lobbying, after which Garrett will make a short presentation about a proposal to make lobbying good for everyone: Absolute transparency. Garrett is the first to propose this form of radical transparency in lobbying: All communications between lobbyists and government officials should be fully visible to the public at large.

The hope is this transparency will prevent unethical laws from being put into law because of the paid influence of lobbyists, and lobbying can go back to its original intent: To help guide government to make decisions that will be good for citizens by treating businesses fairly.

A little about our host:
Garrett is a programmer turned award-winning software inventor turned entrepreneur (http://platerate.com/) is his company. His hobby is writing and discussing practical philosophy, and he does life coaching on request to help people live happy, moral lives. He is also the executive director of The Free Thinker Institute (http://freethinkerinstitute.org/), which aims to create a community that helps members increase happiness and decrease harm for themselves and those they can influence.
Format: Lecture and discussion

Note: social time for our community 15 minutes before the presentation.

To get familiar with our past events, feel free to check out our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmixGB9GdrptyEWovEj80zg

After registering via zoom, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

We publish our event recordings on our Youtube channel to offer our help to anyone who would like to but can’t attend the meeting, so we need to give this clause. If you don’t want to be recorded, just remain on mute and keep your video off.

Here’s our legal notice:
For valuable consideration received, by joining this event I hereby grant Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns, the irrevocable and unrestricted right to use and publish any and all Zoom recordings for trade, advertising and any other commercial purpose, and to alter the same without any restriction. I hereby release Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns from all claims and liability related to said video recordings.