About us
Welcome to The Free Thinker Institute
[www.FreeThinkerInstitute.org](freethinkerinstitute.org)
Are you interested in a community that values critical thinking, transparency, and open-mindedness? The Free Thinker Institute (FTI) is a group of like-minded individuals who prioritize the following intentions:
- Devotion to using reason and intuition to be the best version of yourself, seek truth, and be fair
- Transparency & Open-Mindedness: Being transparent about who you are and what you believe to the extent that you trust someone, and having an open mind towards new ideas that help you achieve the first intention.
- Commitment to Critical Thinking, so we can better discern fact from fiction and wisdom from folly
- Attempt to Maximize Happiness While Minimizing Harm and empower others who do the same
- Eagerness to Give and Receive Love - Platonic as well as romantic
At FTI, members support each other, stay in touch, and enjoy learning from each other, while also valuing attributes such as sincerity, integrity, wisdom, and fairness. The FTI also values and respects diversity, making it a welcoming space for all opinions and backgrounds. If you're interested in being a part of a positive, growth-focused community, then consider joining the FTI.
In addition to our in-person meetings, you are also invited to join the FTI text chat discussions on Discord (https://discord.gg/fksQBjS).
If you want to speak or nominate a speaker, or have a topic you'd like us to discuss, email Garrett@FreeThinkerInstitute.com.
We'd love to see you in discord and at the next meetup - Join today!
Upcoming events
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Aristotle's Dialectic - Topics I - Live-Reading--European Style
·OnlineOnlineFebruary 10 — We are reading chapter 7 of Topics, Book I, at Bekker lines 103a6–1033a39. Aristotle discusses something ordinary but strangely wonderful there in the second paragraph: water. He bids us to focus on this subject. Generally, when we talk with each other about something, are we sure we are talking about the same one thing?
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We are using the translation by Robin Smith: Topics Books I & VIII (Oxford University Press, 1997), pages 6 and 7.
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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.
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A new reading adventure beckons you and your willpower. Join us.
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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.
6 attendees
FTI: America After the Shock: What Comes Next for Our Democracy
·OnlineOnline# America After the Shock: What Comes Next for Our Democracy—Beyond Left vs. Right
I recently read this article which inspired me to create this event, and it does seem to stand up to a fact check: https://hartmannreport.com/p/americas-new-political-reality-trump-8d4
America is entering a new political era—and pretending it’s just “business as usual” is no longer an option.
This conversation isn’t about cheering for Trump or attacking him. It’s about honestly examining what has changed in the American system, why so many citizens feel unheard or betrayed, and what the rise of strongman-style politics says about our institutions, economy, and culture.
Drawing from recent analysis on America’s shifting political reality, we’ll explore:
- Why traditional political labels are breaking down
- What fuels mass support for outsider and anti-establishment movements
- How power, money, media, and fear shape public behavior—on all sides
- What choices Americans still have, regardless of party affiliation
This is a no-shaming, no-labeling space for Trump supporters, critics, and everyone in between who wants to understand what’s actually happening—and what kind of country we want to live in next.
You don’t have to agree.
You just have to be willing to think.All perspectives welcome. Respect required.
A little about our host:
Garrett is a programmer turned award-winning software inventor turned entrepreneur (http://platerate.com/) is his company. His hobby is writing and discussing practical philosophy, and he does life coaching on request to help people live happy, moral lives. He is also the executive director of The Free Thinker Institute (http://freethinkerinstitute.org/), which aims to create a community that helps members increase happiness and decrease harm for themselves and those they can influence.Format:
Lecture and discussionNote:
social time for our community 15 minutes before the presentation.To get familiar with our past events, feel free to check out our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmixGB9GdrptyEWovEj80zgAfter registering via zoom, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
We publish our event recordings on our Youtube channel to offer our help to anyone who would like to but can’t attend the meeting, so we need to give this clause. If you don’t want to be recorded, just remain on mute and keep your video off.
Here’s our legal notice:
For valuable consideration received, by joining this event I hereby grant Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns, the irrevocable and unrestricted right to use and publish any and all Zoom recordings for trade, advertising and any other commercial purpose, and to alter the same without any restriction. I hereby release Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns from all claims and liability related to said video recordings.39 attendees
Past events
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