About us
This group is for people that want to meet new people in Kingston AND engage in deep, meaningful conversations about topics in philosophy, ethics, politics, science, etc. "The unexamined life is not worth living" is the motto of our group. If you are interested in living an examined life, please consider joining us for some fun, deep conversations.
“The unexamined life is not worth living”. Those were the words of my intellectual hero Socrates, shortly before the Athenians sentenced him to death for challenging their beliefs. Socrates was considered a bit of a pain in the butt to his contemporaries because he was always asking deep questions like “What is the good life?” and “What is justice?”. Not everyone appreciates having their ideas and beliefs questioned. But the members of The Philosopher’s Club (Kingston) embrace, indeed celebrate!, the inquisitive mindset. We long for substantive conversations about all topics- ethics, politics, art, science, religion, law, evolution, economics, psychology, etc. We believe that the life of the active mind is the good life, and we want to continue to grow, learn and develop by engaging in civil discussion and debate with kindred spirits that live in our fine city.
Who am I? I’m a professor at Queen’s University. I am a secular humanist with a PhD in philosophy and I have had the good fortune to teach thousands of bright students in England, Scotland, Canada and the United States. While not a luddite, I will admit I loath the erosion of real (vs virtual) community and “cognitive presence” I see rampant in the hyper-social-media connectivity of the modern world. Very few people have the time or desire to meet in person and converse any more. A “re-tweet” or FB “like” are inadequate substitutes to meet our desire for substantive connection that is engrained in our evolved, pro-social biology.
People are often too busy texting away with their nose glued to their phone to meet and converse with new people in “real life”. Well, I have opted out of that virtual rat race, and this meetup group is my attempt to help forge an authentic, “conversationally-present” community of like-minded Kingstonians. I hope you will consider joining me!
Why join this group?
Answer #1: To meet new people! You like people, right?
Answer #2: To be happier! You like being happy, right? Science has shown that people are happier when engaging in meaningful conversations vs making small chat.
Format of the Group.
This meetup group is a social experiment. As such, the nature and frequency of our meetings will evolve depending on the size of the group and people’s interest. But at the moment I am planning on running two styles of meetings, what I shall call “informal” meetups, and “formal” meetups.
“Informal meetups” will take place at least once a month, at a pub, coffee shop or (when weather permits) a scenic location for walking. There will be no size limit on these events, or set topic to discuss. Just show up and chat about whatever deep topics or ideas you would like to discuss and debate.
“Formal meetups” will take place once a month. These will be lunch or dinner events, with an attendee limit of only 4 people. A table reservation for 4 people will be booked in advance. And with only space for 3 other people (besides myself), please be sure you attend an event you have booked to attend (or if you have to cancel, update it so someone else can take your place). For these formal events there will be a set “Conversation Starter” topic, to try to get people’s ideas going in advance of the meeting. The topics will be detailed on the event listed.
Hope to see you at an event soon, and we can engage in some substantive conversations together! I accept requests to join the group from people who (1) are local to Ktown and (2) have a clear profile picture of their face. A sense of authentic community is important to the group.
Cheers,
Colin
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Upcoming events
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How to Think More and Better (Summer Reading Group meeting #2)
Lake Ontario Park, 920 King Street West, Kingston, ON, CAThe second meeting for the reading group of this book, we will focus on Parts 4 and 5 of the book covering the following:
PART FOUR: Cognitive Biases
11. Confirmation Bias
12. What Do You Know?
13. Along Comes the Internet
PART FIVE: Intellectual Self-Transformation
14. Mindcare
15. Mindcleaning
16. Mind Expansion
17. Portrait of a Thinker
18. An Invitation to ThinkPlease be sure to bring a lawn chair, as we will be sitting in a circle under a tree just past the sheltered area by the bathrooms. Hope to see some of you there.
Cheers,
Colin**UPDATE: Summary and 6 questions to ponder for the second half of the book
*** please note this event now starts at 10am (not 2pm as it conflicts with Spain vs Argentina finals of World Cup)
Cognitive Biases: A tendency to overgeneralize is one of the mental shortcuts wired into our brains but make us prone to cognitive biases like the following:
Zero-sum bias- thinking that a gain to someone must come at the cost of a loss to another
Planning fallacy- underestimate how long it will take to do something
Confirmation bias- privilege info that affirms our pre-existing beliefs (but we ignore info that conflicts or challenge it).
How can we avoid these biases? Irvine argues we must be selective in how we gather information and evidence. Favour more credible sources (scientific journals) over more suspect ones (social media posts). Approach topics with an open (but not too open) vs closed mind.
Political ideologies
Question #1: There are a plurality of them. What are your favourite, and why? Liberalism? Feminism? Conservatism? Marxism? Environmentalism? Something else? How, if at all, has you allegiance to political ideologies changed over time?
During my twenties I oscillated from an anarchist and libertarian to a Marxist. I now consider myself something of “centrist” and tend to appropriate different political sensibilities depending on the issue in question. I tend to align with classical liberals on many topics (like toleration and free speech), feminist on others, and somewhat conservative on yet others (e.g. like fiscal spending- public policies should cost-effective vs predicated upon noble sentiments alone or dogma). And I remain neutral on many others topics/issues. I agree with Irvine that most political ideologies offer some sage insights (e.g. revealing ignored problems), but also have serious shortcomings (e.g. offering potential solutions that are not feasible or effective or fail to consider the broader range of concerns in the moral/political landscape).Question #2: How do you feel when you converse with a person who holds very different political beliefs to you? Do you enjoy exploring why you disagree, or do you find it frustrating and try to avoid such discussions?
Question #3: Know-it-alls- what are your thoughts on this issue?Belief vs knowledge (p. 174): two conditions must be met for a belief to count as knowledge: (1) the belief is true and (2) we have good reasons for believing it (vs making a guess)
Difference between being ignorant (I am ignorant about most details concerning geography), being mistaken (having a belief about something, but it was false) and being stupid (we have mistaken beliefs but remain confident they are true (despite contrary evidence)).Selective stupidity (p. 179) involves a person who is, in general, eager to learn but goes out of their way to not learn about a particular topic (and gets annoyed by others who attempt to educate them).
Question #4 The Internet: what do you think are the pros and cons of the impact the internet has had on both your own knowledge and beliefs, and on society in general?
Question #5 : AI is also addressed in Chapter 13. What do you think its potential pros and cons might be on our ability to think critically?
Question #6: On the issue of “intellectual self-transformation”, how would you describe your own intellectual life? How have foundational beliefs you hold changed and evolved over time? And what were the main catalysts of such transformations? Engaging with particular people, travelling, the discovering of specific sources/bodies of knowledge?
For me, the 5 biggest catalysts of my intellectual development have been:
(1) formal schooling (from ages 4-29)
(2) exposure to an expanding range of scholarly information, first in philosophy and politics, and then in genetics, psychology and evolutionary biology
(3) teaching and interacting with thousands of students in about 10 different universities
(4) living nearly a decade outside of Canada (in 4 other countries)
(5) experiences from personal and family life.Looking forward to the discussions!
Cheers,
Colin13 attendees
Past events
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