Philosophy Night ⟡ Codes of Honor ⟡ Free 4 Page Reading
Details
Tired of boring book clubs and pointless small talk? Join us for a spirited debate about how to be an honorable person in today's society!
For our first ever Philosophy Night, we'll be discussing several classic codes of honor at Central Market at 7:00 PM on April 20.
The short texts we'll read include: Bertrand Russell's A Liberal Decalogue, The Hippocratic Oath, the moral values of the Samurai way (Bushidō), Adrienne Maree Brown's principles for emergent strategy, the nun Corita Scott Kent's Ten Rules, If by Rudyard Kipling, and excerpts from Epictetus' Enchiridion.
Since this week's reading is so light (4 pages) please come to the group having read it in advance.
You may find the reading linked here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18rlIcVxlM-3I54eMldUVXf6FEOJObqwK2Qvt15nN1Nw/edit?usp=sharing
The rough structure of our discussion club will be as follows:
- Saying hello to each other
- Committing to cultivating healthy debate and spirited disagreement in our discussion
- Small group breakout discussions
- 15-minute writing exercise to try drafting your own hand at a moral code (this is your private writing time for your own personal growth and thinking - no sharing)
- Concluding with closing rituals in a big group and thanks for everybody
Thank you in advance for agreeing to participate in this philosophical discussion and discursive experiment! I'm really looking forward to it.
About Us
This event is a project by Difficult Friends, a community-run arts & humanities club: Website ⟡ Substack ⟡ Instagram
Our events are designed as intellectual challenges & creative experiments. We host workshops and discussions that push regular people to think harder thoughts, make cooler stuff, and connect more deeply across their human differences. This is not an organization for the faint of heart. As our name suggests, we take pride in being Difficult Friends. And we value ideas, projects, and friendships that are Difficult.
Meaning is Difficult. Embrace the Difficult.
Difficult Friends just launched in April 2026! So we're very excited to see all of y'all here. Welcome to this new group!
Statement of Inclusivity: Identity & Politics in Community Discussions
Difficult Friends is an inclusive community space, and we particularly seek to protect and welcome our LGBTQIA+, queer, transgender, and nonbinary members. Event attendees may be asked to share their preferred pronouns and will be asked to respect the preferred pronouns shared by other participants. Immigrants, people of color, religious minorities, people with disabilities, and neurodivergent folks seeking a diverse community are also especially encouraged to attend!
That said, to quote the progressive labor activist Maurice Mitchell, we do not accept “using one’s identity or personal experience as a justification for a political position. You may hear someone argue, ‘As a working-class, first-generation American, Southern woman…I say we have to vote no.’ What’s implied is that one’s identity is a comprehensive validator of one’s political strategy—that identity is evidence of some intrinsic ideological or strategic legitimacy. Marginalized identity is deployed as a conveyor of a strategic truth that must simply be accepted. Likewise, historically privileged identities are essentialized, flattened, and frequently—for better or worse—dismissed.
To be clear, personal identity and individual experience are important. And while it is true that the ‘personal is political,’ the personal cannot trump strategy nor should it overwhelm the collective interest. Identity is too broad a container to predict one’s politics or the validity of a particular position. There are over 40 million Black folk in the US. Some have great politics, some do not. One’s racial or gender identity, sex, or membership in any marginalized community is, in and of itself, insufficient information to position someone in leadership or mandate that their perspective be adopted.
People with marginal identities, as human beings, suffer all the frailties, inconsistencies, and failings of any other human. Genuflecting to individuals solely based on their socialized identities or personal stories deprives them of the conditions that sharpen arguments, develop skills, and win debates. We infantilize members of historically marginalized or oppressed groups by seeking to placate or pander instead of being in a right relationship, which requires struggle, debate, disagreement, and hard work. This type of false solidarity is a form of charity that weakens the individual and the collective. Finding authentic alignment and solidarity among diverse voices is serious labor. After all, ‘steel sharpens steel.’”
For a concise summary of my views re: identitarian politics as this meetup’s lead organizer, feel free to refer to his excellent article Building Resilient Organizations.
About Me
I'm a writer living in Austin with my dog, Cookie. If you're interested in following my thoughts, you can find me at https://substack.com/@rachelsummercheong I love long essays, fiction, and philosophy. I also like to draw and go out dancing.