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
145
Ivan Phillips - Probability and Purpose (meet the author)
Pro Musica, 713 W Wrightwood, Chicago, IL, USJoin us for a discussion on naturalism, probability, evolution, and design!
Ivan will kick off the discussion with a summary of the arguments in his book before handing off the discussion to the group.
Overview
Darwin's theory of evolution is one of the most successful scientific theories ever devised. Darwin's theory eliminated the need for God to explain the natural history of life on Earth. Yet most believers hold that evolution is compatible with their theology. Indeed, even the Catholic Church approves of the teaching of evolution in schools. After all, what if evolution were merely God's method of constructing human beings?
In his new book, Probability and Purpose, Ivan Phillips argues that the import of Darwin's theory has been misunderstood. Using probability theory, Philips shows that evolutionary biology doesn't merely neutralize the argument from design; it turns it upside down. Evolution effectively proves that God did not intend the existence of human beings.
What do you think? Can this argument be correct?
Get the book: https://books2read.com/probabilityandpurpose8 attendees
•OnlineAristotle's Dialectic - Book I - Live-Reading--European Style
OnlineNovember 18 - We will read Topics, Book I Chapter 2, at Bekker line 101a25.
.
We are using the translation by Robin Smith: Topics Books I & VIII (Oxford University Press, 1997), page 2.
.
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.
.
A new reading adventure beckons you and your willpower. Join us.
.
----
.
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.2 attendees
•OnlineKant: Critique of the Power of Judgment (Week 8)
OnlineMeeting link: https://meet.jit.si/CPM-Kant-Wednesdays
We'll be covering the Analytic of the Teleological Power of Judgment (§61 - 69) (233 - 255, 22 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 knowledge of Kant is necessary!
We continue with Kant's Critiques, now onto the third which examines the beautiful, sublime, and teleology as occasions where our senses are originally related to our understanding (judgment of taste), as well as how the understanding originally relates to reason (teleological judgment).
PDF: https://annas-archive.org/md5/b697b96b3dd98970c44942d6686e3a20
Amazon Link:
https://www.amazon.com/Critique-Power-Judgment-Cambridge-Immanuel/dp/0521348927/ref=sr_1_1
(Note - page numbers are from Cambridge edition)
Week 1:
First Introduction (3 - 51, 48 pages)
(NOTE: this is not an editor or translator introduction, it is by Kant. It is sometimes at the end of the book.)
Week 2:
Preface and Introduction (55 - 83, 28 pages)
Week 3:
Book I - Analytic of the Beautiful (§1 - 23) (89 - 127, 38 pages)
Week 4:
Book II - Analytic of the Sublime (§23 - 30) (128 - 159, 31 pages)
Week 5:
§30 - 43 (160 - 182, 22 pages)
Week 6:
§43 - 55 (182 - 212, 30 pages)
Week 7:
The Dialectic of the Aesthetic Power of Judgment (§55 - 61) (213 - 230, 17 pages)
Week 8:
Analytic of the Teleological Power of Judgment (§61 - 69) (233 - 255, 22 pages)
Week 9:
Dialectic of the Teleological Power of Judgment (§69 - 79) (257 - 284, 27 pages)
Week 10:
Appendix §79 - 87 (285 - 313, 28 pages)
Week 11:
Appendix §87 - END (313 - 346, 33 pages)3 attendees
•OnlineRationalism Befalling Objectivist Stance about Trump - A Case Study
OnlineNovember 19 - The specific topic will be the tariff policy the Trump administration is imposing on countries doing business with America. What do the leaders of Objectivist organization think of it? How should someone think about it objectively? What do you think of it?
----
Methods for comprehending the world can be classified generally into
- (1) inferring from universal principles--rationalism,
- (2) gathering reports from sense-data--empiricism, or
- (3) inducing ever-higher generalizations from perception--objectivism.
This classification on methodology contextualizes the epistemology of Objectivism, the philosophy as outlined by 20th-century novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand.
Yet intellectual leaders of organized Objectivism--i.e., those institutions setup after her death, such as the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI)--don't practice what they preach in the sphere of politics.
We argue that, specifically, on the question of whether or not to endorse the Trump 45/47 administrations, Objectivists of organized Objectivism fall back on the method of rationalism to answer the political question.
Meeting Outline:
- Reviewing Objectivism as Ayn Rand's philosophy
- Reviewing the MDI methodological hypothesis: misintegration, disintegration, and integration, mapping them to rationalism, empiricism, and objectivism
- Presenting organized Objectivism's position about the current federal administration and the leaders' reasoning
- Presenting the facts about the administration
- On why the leadership's position is a case of rationalism
- Replying to objections and counterarguments against our view
- Q & A
Speakers' Briefs:
- Sherwin Newman: Objectivist and intellectual activist with a mission to advance truth in the American culture war; addressing the current state of the Objectivist community; writing actively on Facebook, Substack, and Instagram. Sherwin is a graduate from the University of South Africa and currently lives in New Hampshire.
- Ed Mazlish: Objectivist since 1993 and podcaster of late, Ed has been a practicing attorney for 30 years, with a practice that has primarily focused on business and constitutional litigation. You can connect with him on Facebook.
Join in for a discussion on applied philosophy.
----
Image source: WSJ video-image5 attendees
Past events
4767
