Chicago Analytic Philosophy Meetup

Chicago, IL, US

About us

"Philosophy is the ungainly attempt to tackle questions that come naturally to children, using methods that come naturally to lawyers." - David Hill

I wanted to start a group that specializes in western analytic philosophy starting roughly late 19th century to the preset. Readings will encompass debates around answering questions across the analytic tradition. Some will be dense and complex; I hope I can assist in comprehension.

Readings will be REQUIRED. Unless you are familiar with the literature, coming to the meetup without reading will be OBVIOUS and I will have to manage that. I will give at least two weeks lead time to allow for reading and will try to have multiple reading days if needed.

Featured event

Frege and Kaplan on Reference

Tue, Jul 7 · 5:00 PM CDT

Online

Gotlob Frege is the OG of the philosophy of language. His work Sense and Reference is probably one of the most foundational work in philosophy of Language. We will read the translated work.

David Kaplan's Demonstratives is a seminal paper attempting to formally describe how the metaphysical use of language might work. He outlines important contextual aspects of ostensive definition. The paper is dense but I have read it about 100 times so if you find yourself lost, we can discuss it in detail.
I have taught the paper in grad school.

Frege: https://ia803206.us.archive.org/10/items/OnSenseAndReference/Frege%20-%20On%20Sense%20and%20Reference.pdf

Kaplan: https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/roberts.21/NYU/Kaplan.demonstratives.pdf