What we’re about
Serious Learning for Serious Atheists
Atheist Scholars Meetup is a monthly book club for Atheists who are serious about learning from a free-thinking, post-religious, and atheistic perspective, while building long-term friendships.
We don't admit people who don't self-identify as Atheists. Our group is for those who have already completed their journey to atheism and are building upon it as an intellectual foundation.
If you self-identify as an Atheist, you are invited to apply for membership by clicking on the link below. Meetings are now held online on the 4th Tuesday of every month, from 7:00 to 9:30 pm. The required membership dues are $25 every six months to cover the Meetup.com subscription cost.
Our meeting format consists of a review and discussion of a selected book that has a strong appeal to Atheists in a rich context of science, philosophy, sociology, history, and/or psychology. All books will have a distinct atheistic or free-thinking perspective, i.e., they were written by and for Atheists or “Nones”. This is not a science or philosophy book club. A book based solely on a scientific or philosophical topic might be very interesting but does not serve the purpose of our Atheist Scholar Meetup.
In fairness to everyone attending who expects to have a meaningful discussion and productive learning experience, you must have read the chosen book prior to attending each meeting. We want active participants who can add to our discussion. Most books chosen are also available as audiobooks.
The next book we read is chosen by consensus among those members attending the prior meeting.
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Calling oneself an Atheist is just the beginning, not the end, of a life-long journey of learning, dialog, and discovery. The Atheist Scholars Meetup group raises the standard among local Atheist groups by building a private membership focused on serious learning in a harmonious environment. By “Scholars”, we mean serious students of Atheism. Maybe you have been reluctant to join an Atheist group in the past or maybe you are just not interested in what the other groups in our area have to offer.
Atheist Scholars is for those who appreciate the value of exchanging ideas with a like-minded group and who enjoy asking “why” more than claiming to know “because.” It’s for committed lifelong learners looking for an impressive group of smart friends to share in intellectual discussions in a supportive atmosphere.
If you call yourself an Atheist, are a lifelong learner who is not gullible enough to believe in conspiracy theories, and you see the benefits of a Meetup group that offers serious book discussions with order and civility, please apply for membership in Atheist Scholars.
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If you wish to apply to join the Atheist Scholars Meetup group, click on the button below or click here. If you have questions about our group, please visit our FAQ page.
Norm Cohen
Founder and Organizer
If you are interested in learning more about the many topics related to Atheism, ***[www.AtheistScholar.org ](http://www.atheistscholar.org/)***is an excellent resource for you!
Upcoming events
1
•OnlineReview and Discuss Part 1 of 2: "The Ethics of Identity"
OnlineReview and discuss chapters 1 through 4 of:
The Ethics of Identity
2005
by Kwame Anthony Appiah
Princeton University Press
272 pages plus endnotes
https://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Identity-Princeton-Classics-131/dp/0691254079/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0
book preview:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Ethics_of_Identity/853T-hj-TKMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=The+Ethics+of+Identity
"Race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexuality: in the past couple of decades, a great deal of attention has been paid to such collective identities. They clamor for recognition and respect, sometimes at the expense of other things we value. But to what extent do "identities" constrain our freedom, our ability to make an individual life, and to what extent do they enable our individuality? In this beautifully written work, renowned philosopher and African Studies scholar Kwame Anthony Appiah draws on thinkers through the ages and across the globe to explore such questions.
The Ethics of Identity takes seriously both the claims of individuality--the task of making a life---and the claims of identity, these large and often abstract social categories through which we define ourselves.
What sort of life one should lead is a subject that has preoccupied moral and political thinkers from Aristotle to Mill. Here, Appiah develops an account of ethics, in just this venerable sense--but an account that connects moral obligations with collective allegiances, our individuality with our identities. As he observes, the question who we are has always been linked to the question what we are.
Adopting a broadly interdisciplinary perspective, Appiah takes aim at the clichés and received ideas amid which talk of identity so often founders. Is "culture" a good? For that matter, does the concept of culture really explain anything? Is diversity of value in itself? Are moral obligations the only kind there are? Has the rhetoric of "human rights" been overstretched? In the end, Appiah's arguments make it harder to think of the world as divided between the West and the Rest; between locals and cosmopolitans; between Us and Them. The result is a new vision of liberal humanism--one that can accommodate the vagaries and variety that make us human."
-- from the Publisher
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NOTE:
In fairness to everyone attending who expects a meaningful discussion and a productive learning experience, you must have read Chapters 1 through 4 (to page 154) in order to attend this meeting.
NOTE:
For this video conference, you must have a computer with a camera, microphone, and speakers, or a headset. We are using Microsoft Teams to host this meeting.
Download and install Microsoft Teams here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/download-app
A free Microsoft account is required if you don't already have one:
https://signup.live.com/signup
YOU MUST RSVP TO SEE THE LINK that is required to join our online meeting.
Find answers about Microsoft Teams here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/introducing-microsoft-teams-free-bba89850-d946-43f8-a9ea-e742cdc0128c
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About the Author
Kwame Anthony Appiah is the author of “The Ethics of Identity,” “Thinking It Through: An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy,” “The Honor Code,” and the prize-winning “Cosmopolitanism.” Raised in Ghana and educated in England, he taught philosophy on three continents and is currently Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University. Professor Appiah writes the “Ethicist” column in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. He maintains a website at www.appiah.net.
Book Reviews
"Kwame Anthony Appiah's The Ethics of Identity is a wonderful book. It is as rigorous as one expects the best philosophy to be, yet it is witty, humane, and engaging in ways that academic philosophy is only rarely. It is the best account of the ethics of liberal society that we possess."
---Daniel Weinstock
Ethics
"Appiah, . . . an elegant writer, observes that we are not simply members of groups or products of culture. Individuality and autonomy, he argues, are fundamental to personhood in all social and cultural contexts."
---David Moshman
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
"[This is] a book that does [a] thorough and original a job of exposing the deep paradoxes within identity and confronting the serious ethical dilemmas to which they give rise."
---John E. Joseph
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development3 attendees
Past events
159
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