The Chicago Philosophy Meetup

Meeting link: https://meet.jit.si/CPM-Kant-Wednesdays

We'll be covering Public Right Section II, III, and Appendix (482 - 506; 24 pages)

Note: Meetings focus on developing a common language and fostering friendship through the study of Kant. The host will provide an interpretation of Kant; other interpretations will not be discussed until later in the meeting. Additional interpretations, topics, and questions can be addressed through the Jitsi chat feature.

No prior experience with Kant is necessary.

The Metaphysics of Morals is divided into two halves: the first concerns rights and the second regards virtues. This was one of the earliest works of practical philosophy that Kant envisioned; however, he put it off to write foundational works to support it, such as Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals and even the Critique of Practical Reason. If you find it more helpful to start ethics discussions closer to their practice, the Metaphysics of Morals may be a more useful starting point than the meta-ethical works we have covered up to now.

Reading Schedule (pages are from Cambridge's Practical Philosophy collection):
Week 1:
Preface, Introduction, Introduction to the Doctrine of Right (365 - 397; 32 pages)

Week 2:
Private Right, Chapter I and II (401 - 443; 42 pages)

Week 3:
Chapter III, Public Right Section I (443 - 481; 38 pages)

Week 4:
Public Right Section II, III, and Appendix (482 - 506; 24 pages)

Week 5:
Preface and Introduction (509-540; 31 pages)

Week 6:
Part 1 Introduction and Book 1 on Perfect Duties (543-564; 21 pages)

Week 7:
Book 2 on Imperfect Duties (565-588; 23 pages)

Week 8:
Method of Ethics (591-603; 12 pages)

PDF: https://annas-archive.org/md5/d7be559ff61b09b0a414875261a5ee60

There are numerous editions (and free translations available online), but this collection contains all of Kant's Practical Philosophy in translation:
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Philosophy-Cambridge-Works-Immanuel/dp/0521654084/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445894099&sr=8-1

Meeting link: https://meet.jit.si/CPM-Kant-Wednesdays

We'll be continuing our reading of lecture 3, "Between Author and Text", from the bottom of page 79.

Eco attempts to sail between Scylla and Charybdis: is interpretation completely open-ended, or must we connect things to the "author's intent"?

We'll read at least Eco's lectures in the collection. We may determine later if we want to read some of the other collected responses.

Our surface goal of this meeting is to understand the author (rather than criticize). Our secondary goal is to formulate a rough "theory" of interpretation that can be applied to any other reading we do.

PDF: https://annas-archive.org/md5/5b2a48f56279dfe34078d7ba4ae842a7

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Interpretation-Overinterpretation-Tanner-Lectures-Values/dp/0521402271/

Note: Kant FTΦ (Friends Through Philosophy) is a group of individuals who have connected over reading Kant (and other philosophers).

This meeting will focus on regular attendees' interests. We will frequently reference Kant and other philosophers. Discussions may involve shared notions that have developed over time. If you are not a regular attendee and feel lost in the conversation, it may be a byproduct of being newer to the meetings: don't hesitate to ask for clarification.

August 31 - We are reading NE VII.6, which is about the problem of self-control in regard to emotions. Aristotle in this chapter 6 attempts to outline a description of how we react emotionally to things observed in the environment. Being short in temper, for example, is anger that listens to reason but mishears it. Aristotle likens it to a dog that starts barking when it hears the slightest noise before finding out if the noisemaker is a friend. How to re-calibrate our emotions to be more in tune with reason. That's partly the topic of self-control.
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My summary of chapter 5 on beastliness can be found here to help you catch up to us. https://mega.nz/file/bm52gQaS#K5rfaxD2YXBTPNdSl0h9cBgbSmojKQzAiViwfS_ShWg Bring your own questions about the text if you are interested in joining this Sunday's meeting. We will begin reading at 1149a24.
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We are live-reading and discussing Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, book VII, which is about troubleshooting the virtues.
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The prerequisite to this book is our answering for ourselves these questions from the prior books, to which we will briefly review:
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1. What is a virtue of character {ēthikē aretē}?
2. How does one come to acquire it? (E.g. [Aristotle’s], ambition, bravery, gentlemanliness, generosity, candor, …)
3. From a first-person perspective in being virtuous, how does one feel and what does one see (differently, discursively) in a given situation of everyday living?
4. From a third-person perspective, how is the virtuous person (of a specific virtue) to be characterized?
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The project's cloud drive is here, at which you'll find the reading texts, notes, and slideshows.

(* 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 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 engagements 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.