What we’re about
The Chicago Philosophy Meetup is a community of groups created by and for people interested in engagements with philosophy and the history of such engagements. Our members have a wide variety of backgrounds besides philosophy, including literature, law, physics, theology, music, and more.
We host events suggested by individual members and coordinated by volunteer organizers and offer opportunities for discussion with others who share these interests. If you have an idea for a topic you'd like to discuss, especially if you are from an historically underrepresented group in academic philosophy, let us work with you to make it happen.
Whether you're new to philosophy and looking to get started, or have been doing philosophy for some time and want to dig a bit deeper, we invite you to check us out.
We have basic expectations for how we talk to each other, so:
DO...
Listen to others
Ask for clarification
Get to know people
Help other voices to be heard
Work towards understanding each other
Practice moving past your assumptions about others
DON'T...
Limit others’ performance of items on the DO list
The Chicago Philosophy Meetup opposes any force of exclusion, discrimination, and/or harassment present in its community. Such forces include, but are not limited to, racism, transphobia, misogyny, and antisemitism. The Chicago Philosophy Meetup seeks to be inclusive because only in this way can we fulfill the DOs list above. We are here to help! If you have concerns, questions about a meeting, or need assistance (e.g. accessibility), please contact either the organizers or the event host for the meeting directly.
"Philosophy is not a theory but an activity."
-- from "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus," Wittgenstein
Discourse cheers us to companionable
reflection. Such reflection neither
parades polemical opinions nor does it
tolerate complaisant agreement. The sail
of thinking keeps trimmed hard to the
wind of the matter.
-- from "On the Experience of Thinking," Heidegger
Check out our calendar
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Kant 300: Critique of Pure Reason (Week 18)Link visible for attendees
We will be covering Doctrine of Method Introduction, Chapter I
pp A705 - 794, B733 - 822
pp 627 - 671 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 663 - 727 (Pluhar)Online meeting link: https://meet.jit.si/CPM-Kant-Wednesdays
(links to text at bottom)
(Tentative) Schedule for Critique of Pure Reason:
Week 1:
Preface (A and B editions)
pp Avii - xxii, Bvii - xliv
pp 99 - 124 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 5 - 40 (Pluhar)Week 2:
Introduction (A and B editions)
pp A1 - 16, B1 - 30
pp 127 - 152 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 43 - 68 (Pluhar)Week 3:
Transcendental Aesthetic (A and/or B editions)
pp A19 - 49, B33 - 73
pp 155 - 192 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 71 - 104 (Pluhar)Week 4:
Transcendental Logic Introduction, Book I Chapter I
pp A50 - 83, B74 - 116
pp 193 - 218 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 105 - 140 (Pluhar)Week 5:
Transcendental Logic Chapter II 'Deduction' (A edition)
pp A84 - 130
pp 219 - 244 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 141 - 174 (Pluhar)Week 6:
Transcendental Logic Chapter II 'Deduction' (B Edition)
pp B116 - 169
pp 245 - 266 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 175 - 203 (Pluhar)Week 7:
Transcendental Logic Book II Introduction and Chapter I on the Schematism
pp A130 - 147, B169 - 187
pp 267 - 277 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 204 - 219 (Pluhar)Week 8:
Transcendental Logic Book II Chapter II
pp A148 - 176, B187 - 218
pp 278 - 295 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 220 - 247 (Pluhar)Week 9:
Analogies of Experience up to Transcendental Logic Book II Chapter III 'Phenomena and Noumena'
pp A176 - 235, B218 - 294
pp 295 - 337 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 247 - 302 (Pluhar)Week 10:
Transcendental Logic Book II Chapter III 'Phenomena and Noumena' (A and/or B editions)
pp A235 - 260, B294 - 315
pp 338 - 365 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 303 - 322 (Pluhar)Week 11:
Transcendental Logic Appendix 'Amphiboly'
pp A260 - 292, B316 - 349
pp 366 - 383 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 323 - 345 (Pluhar)Week 12:
Transcendental Dialectic Introduction, Book I
pp A293 - 340, B349 - 398
pp 384 - 410 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 346 - 381 (Pluhar)Week 13:
Transcendental Dialectic Paralogisms (A and/or B editions)
pp A341 - 405, B399 - 332
pp 411 - 458 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 382 - 441 (Pluhar)Week 14:
Transcendental Dialectic Antinomies Section I - IV
pp A405 - 484, B432 - 512
pp 459 - 507 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 442 - 501 (Pluhar)Week 15:
Transcendental Dialectic Antinomies Section V - IX
pp A485 - 567, B513 - 595
pp 508 - 550 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 502 - 559 (Pluhar)Week 16:
Transcendental Dialectic Ideal of Pure Reason
pp A567 - 642, B513 - 670
pp 551 - 589 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 560 - 616 (Pluhar)Week 17:
Appendix to Transcendental Dialectic
pp A642 - 704, B670 - 732
pp 590 - 623 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 617 - 662 (Pluhar)Week 18:
Doctrine of Method Introduction, Chapter I
pp A705 - 794, B733 - 822
pp 627 - 671 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 663 - 727 (Pluhar)Week 19:
Doctrine of Method Chapter II
pp A795 - 830, B823 - 858
pp 672 - 690 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 728 - 755 (Pluhar)Week 20:
Doctrine of Method Chapter III and IV
pp A832 - 856, B860 - 884
pp 691 - 704 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 755 - 774 (Pluhar)Two different translations are recommended - both are good:
Preserves original sentence structure: Guyer/Wood
Updates for readability: PluharLinks to the text:
PDF of Guyer/Wood translation:
https://libgen.li/edition.php?id=136607414EPUB of Guyer/Wood translation:
https://libgen.li/edition.php?id=137975974PDF of Pluhar translation:
https://libgen.li/edition.php?id=136394041Buy the book on Amazon (or find it someplace else if you don't like Amazon):
Guyer/Wood:
https://www.amazon.com/Critique-Reason-Cambridge-Works-Immanuel/dp/0521657296/ref=sr_1_3Pluhar (All three Critiques):
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Critiques-3-Set-Practical/dp/0872206297/ref=sr_1_3Pluhar hardcovers recommended (if available): https://www.amazon.com/Three-Critiques-3-Set-Practical/dp/0872206300/ref=sr_1_2
- Wittgenstein: Philosophical Investigations (Week 10)Oak Park Public Library - Main Library, Oak Park, IL
We are going to read and discuss the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, with an eye to understanding the method he seeks to exemplify in his work.
Wittgenstein refers to his investigations as "grammatical" ones, but it is not clear what he could mean by this. His remarks are not limited to this or that language, not subject to empirical confirmation or refutation, they do not hold in virtue of any semantic stipulation, nor do they purport to describe any thing.
Throughout the series, we will consider some of the most contentious sequences of sections — including those on naming, ostensive definition, following a rule, the (so-called) "private language argument", first-person ascription, the relations between meaning and use, inner and outer, criteria and mental states.
Join us every other Thursday at 6!
**Reading schedule:
- General discussion of Wittgenstein's thought
- Philosophical Investigations, Part 1: §§1–43
- Part 1: §§44–88
- §§89–107
- §§108–133
- §§134–184
- §§185–201
- §§202–242
- §§243–281
- §§282–309
- §§310–387
- §§388–428
- §§429–502
- §§503–570
- §§571–632
- §§633–693
- Philosophical Investigations, Part 2: §§I–X
- Part 2: §§XI–"Schubert's face" (pg. 215 in 3rd edition)
- Remainder of §§XI–XIV
Purchase a copy on Amazon (3rd ed.), or at the Book Table (4th ed.)