About us
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
99
Kant: Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (Week 2)
·OnlineOnlineNote: 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.
In this session, we will be covering Section 2: Transition from popular moral philosophy to metaphysics of morals
Online meeting link: https://meet.jit.si/CPM-Kant-Wednesdays
(links to text at bottom)
Schedule for Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals:
Week 1 (21):
Preface and Section 1: Transition from common rational to philosophic moral cognition
pp 43 - 60 (Practical Philosophy, Cambridge; 17 pages)
pp 4:387 - 4:405Week 2 (22):
Section 2: Transition from popular moral philosophy to metaphysics of morals
pp 61 - 93 (Practical Philosophy, Cambridge; 32 pages)
pp 4:406 - 4:445Week 3 (23):
Section 3: Transition from metaphysics of morals to the critique of pure practical reason
pp 94 - 108 (Practical Philosophy, Cambridge; 14 pages)
pp 4:446 - 4:463PDF: https://annas-archive.gl/md5/9c47b527649eb9ebf0761b4bcd7f0654
PDF (Cambridge Practical Philosophy): https://annas-archive.gl/md5/cc039aba3af613584ddbbb620649318f
The reading group will continue with the Critique of Practical Reason and Metaphysics of Morals, so if you plan to continue with the group, I recommend getting the volume 'Practical Philosophy' in the Cambridge editions of Kant's work:
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Philosophy-Cambridge-Works-Immanuel/dp/0521654084/5 attendees
Kant FTΦ: Schiller's Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man (Live Reading)
·OnlineOnlineMeeting link: https://meet.jit.si/CPM-Kant-Wednesdays
We will be starting at Letter XIX, paragraph 1.
In Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment, we see vague suggestions on how aesthetic judgments contribute to culture. In Schiller's letters, we can see a more developed argument on how aesthetic education is required to promote the freedom of the individual as well as transition us between a state of nature and a state ruled by reason.
Hopefully, this reading provides an opportunity to compare Kant's interest in how aesthetic judgments (and moral judgments themselves) contribute to culture with Schiller and expand our interpretation of both.
I've linked the Penguin edition of the book here, but please feel free to use whatever edition you have or want.
PDF: https://annas-archive.org/md5/22dcd586440cfd2d7ada034ca119db79
PDF (with facing German): https://annas-archive.org/md5/005de78cf1a714cc2c155ce569f670cf
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Aesthetic-Education-Man-Friedrich-Schiller/dp/0141396962?sr=8-1
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 the interests of regular attendees. 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.
3 attendees
Nietzsche: The Wanderer and his Shadow (Week 2)
Oak Park Public Library - Main Library, 834 Lake St, Oak Park, IL, USThree texts by Nietzsche, published separately between 1878 and 1880, comprise the work we will read as 'Human, All Too Human':
- "Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits",
- "Assorted Opinions and Maxims”, and
- "The Wanderer and his Shadow”.
These works mark the beginning of Nietzsche's aphoristic style, and a shift in his focus to (what he calls) psychology and human fallibility, frailty—a shift in focus towards what moves us, what we value or esteem in life.
Whether you're new to discussing philosophical texts or can synthesize disparate aphorisms across Nietzsche's corpus, we'd be happy to have you!
Please read ahead and be prepared to discuss Nietzsche's text in detail.
**Reading schedule:
Human All Too Human:- "Preface" & "Of the First and Last Things", §§1–34
- "On the History of Moral Sensations", §§35–107
- "The Religious Life", "From the Souls of Artists and Writers", §§108–223
- "Signs of Higher and Lower Culture", §§224–292
- "In Relations with Others", "Woman and Child", §§293–437
- "A Glance at the State", "By Oneself Alone", "Among Friends", §§438–epilogue.
Assorted Opinions and Maxims:
- "Preface", §§1–7, and §§1–70
- §§71–181
- §§182–408
The Wanderer and his Shadow:
- Untitled prologue and §§1–61
- §§62–169
- §§169–257
- §§258–350, and untitled epilogue.
For a translation, we're recommending Handwerk's: first vol. and second.
7 attendees
Kierkegaard: Either/Or Part I (Live Reading)
·OnlineOnlineOnline meeting link: https://meet.jit.si/Kierkegaard-Friday-CPM
This is the first meeting of Either/Or, and we'll be starting at page 84 (Danish 66). At the last meeting, we started on page 78 (Danish 60).
Kierkegaard’s masterpiece in experimental literature and philosophy, Either/Or, explores themes that permeate his work as a whole. In Part I, Kierkegaard presents his most extensive treatment of the aesthetic worldview, which understands life as governed by fate and seeks to assert itself by taking the reins of existence through imagination.
Text
Part I: pdf, epub
Part II: pdf, epubHere are the plays we read together before beginning Either/Or:
- Sophocles - Antigone
- Scribe - The First Love
- Goethe - Faust
- Video of a production of Faust I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaogjXLdPow
Additional works you could look at while we read Either/Or:
- Goethe - Clavigo
- Mozart/Ponte - Don Giovanni
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQBmLHSXQdg
- Mozart/Schikaneder - The Magic Flute
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om_qtZ-Hm7k
- Mozart/Ponte - The Marriage of Figaro
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55ik-PzAXsQ
On the Friday Meetings:
The Friday meetings began on January 1, 2016, with an initial goal of reading through the first half of Søren Kierkegaard's works. Due to continued interest, we have decided to return to previous works for review, study more background texts, and continue beyond the first half of Kierkegaard's writing.
Works read so far in the series:- The Concept of Irony, With Continual Reference to Socrates (Kierkegaard)
- Notes of Schelling's Berlin Lectures (Kierkegaard)
- Either/Or (Victor Eremita, et al.)
- Two Upbuilding Discourses (Kierkegaard)
- Fear and Trembling (Johannes de Silentio)
- Repetition (Constantin Constantius)
- Three Upbuilding Discourses (Kierkegaard)
- Four Upbuilding Discourses (Kierkegaard)
- Two Upbuilding Discourses (Kierkegaard)
- Three Upbuilding Discourses (Kierkegaard)
- Philosophical Fragments (Johannes Climacus)
- Johannes Climacus or De Omnibus Dubitandum Est (Johannes Climacus)
- Concept of Anxiety (Vigilius Haufniensis)
- Prefaces (Nicolaus Notabene)
- Writing Sampler (A.B.C.D.E.F. Godthaab)
- Four Upbuilding Discourses (Kierkegaard)
- Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions (Kierkegaard)
- Stages on Life's Way (Hilarious Bookbinder)
- Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments (Johannes Climacus)
- The Sickness Unto Death (Anti-Climacus)
- Works of Love
Works read for background:
- The First Love (Scribe)
- The Berlin Lectures (Schelling)
- Clavigo (Goethe)
- Faust Part I (Goethe)
- Antigone (Sophocles)
- Axioms (Lessing)
- The Little Mermaid (Anderson)
Works read inspired (at least in part) by Kierkegaard
- The Escape from God (Tillich)
- You Are Accepted (Tillich)
4 attendees
Past events
5003
