About us
***NOTICE: Recently, scammers have been dishonestly inviting book authors to present their work during sessions of our group, sending false messages using the names of our group organizers. This is usually followed up by a request for money. The History of Philosophy Book Club does not currently invite external speakers to our discussion sessions, nor do we charge money for anything the group does. Please disregard any such messages.***
In 2026, the History of Philosophy Book Club will continue to study both canonical Western texts as well as philosophy from other cultures. Since 2022 we have explored Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist, Arabic, and classical Chinese philosophy alongside the traditional Western canon. This is an opportunity for those who have read mostly within the Western tradition to learn and assess new and different ideas, and to see how they have influenced varied philosophical schools. The 2026 schedule can be found here.
NOTICE: If you would like to join the History of Philosophy Book Club, we're happy to have you! Please do take a few moments to give thoughtful answers to our registration questions -- expertise in philosophy is not required, but we'd sincerely like to know about you and your interests in philosophy! As our registration form notes, one-word or excessively brief answers to the questions, as well as snarky or scornful replies, will result in an automatic rejection. Additionally, because the group meets in person, membership is currently limited to the Washington, DC metro area. Thank you for your interest and consideration.
WHO WE ARE
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.
Somewhat of a hybrid, it is a combination study group and book club. The backgrounds of our members vary: some have never taken a philosophy course and are essentially self-taught; others have doctorates in the field. Although the majority of writers have been European and American, we have read and are open to texts from other cultures, and starting in 2022 will be making an extra effort to study them. Representative philosophers have included Plato, Averroes, Confucius, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Sartre, Arendt, Rawls, Foucault, and Butler. We often read a single book by a single author, but if their output has been substantial we will consider an anthology or collection of shorter texts. At times we engage with debates between prominent philosophers, such as the Searle-Derrida debate about meaning and interpretation. We also sometimes discuss topics such as theories of metaphor or the philosophy of mathematics, or schools of philosophy such as pragmatism.
We started the group in 2010 with the classical period and finished in 2013 with twentieth century writers, then began the cycle in more depth in 2014 and wrapped up in December 2021, beginning the historical cycle again in January 2022.
Meetings are currently held at the West End Library in DC, located 2301 L St NW, Washington, DC 20037, near the Foggy Bottom-GWU metro station.
Tips in Preparing for Meetings
After you have finished the reading, ask yourself: (1) What are the philosopher’s principal ideas? (2) What arguments are used to support them, and are they strong or weak? (3) Who were the author’s major influences, and whom in turn did he/she influence? (4) What was the historical context in which the author wrote, and did this affect what was said? (5) Are the author’s works still relevant today and, if so, how?
To help in answering these questions, attendees are encouraged to consult the secondary resources posted in each announcement. Wikipedia, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy are especially useful.
Rules of Conduct at Meetings
Avoid monopolizing the conversation. If you've been speaking for several minutes, and sense others want to get in, relinquish the floor.
Stay on topic, and keep your remarks concise and to the point.
Challenging arguments and disputing facts are fine; personal attacks are not. Derogatory, prejudiced, or discriminatory remarks of any kind are grounds for ejection from the session and termination of membership.
If you have not read at least 50% of the recommended selections, consider skipping the meeting to allow other interested people to attend.
Those who violate the rules of conduct repeatedly will be dropped from the group at the discretion of the organizers.
Note:
To remain viable, groups depend on regular attendance. Toward this end, we ask that you only RSVP "Yes" if you know that you are likely to attend. If it turns out that you cannot make it to the meeting, we ask that you cancel your RSVP as soon as possible to make room for others.
Although everyone is welcome to use our resources, our targeted audience consists of people who live in the Maryland, DC, and Virginia area.
Upcoming events
1
David Hume on Politics, Morality, and Religion
West End Neighborhood Library, 2301 L St NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA, Washington, DC, USIn October, we studied Hume’s theory of human understanding and knowledge. There, Hume finds that all our knowledge of matters of fact beyond the barest immediate experience depends on our knowledge of causal connections between types of events. Our vivid belief in the existence of causal connections derives from our repeated experience of the conjunction of certain events. Reason, by itself, cannot determine that an unsupported steel rod will fall or that any future events will conform to our previous experiences. Therefore, our knowledge of the world and of human nature is founded not on reason but on ineradicable animal instinct.
If we stop here, there is a danger that Hume will seem to be, despite his protestations, a total skeptic. This would be a mistake. For November, we will study how Hume claims, on the basis of his science of human cognition, to construct a science of morality and politics, even as he continues to attack the two traditional bases of moral and political thought: religion and reason.
November’s required readings are Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, his Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, and three political essays: “That Politics May Be Reduced to a Science,” “Of the Original Contract,” and “Of the First Principles of Government.”
The Dialogues develop a line of skeptical attack against the possibility of rational knowledge of matters of religion. In particular, Hume attacks the design argument for knowledge of God. Already facing charges of atheism during his lifetime, Hume required that the Dialogues be published posthumously.
The Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, a reworking of the ideas presented in the third book of Hume’s Treatise, contains Hume’s basic moral theory. Hume attempts to found our knowledge of morality on the observable regularities of human psychology and not on either religion or the laws of reason.
The three essays in our selection are taken from Hume’s Essays Moral, Political, and Literary. Our selection shows how the science of politics may be founded on regularities of human nature and on justice, understood as an artificial virtue. “Of the Original Contract” contains an attack on Locke’s contract theory.
In total, our reading should come out to around 250 pages.
Required Readings:
- Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (print, digital)
- Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (print, digital)
- Selection from Essays Moral, Political, and Literary (print, digital)
Supplementary Readings
- SEP article “Hume’s Moral Philosophy”
- SEP article “Hume on Religion”
- James Boswell’s “An Account of my last interview with David Hume, Esq.”
14 attendees
Past events
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