The Free Thinker Institute

Please join us to discuss the book "How to be Good" by Massimo Pigliucci.
What Socrates Can Teach Us About the Art of Living Well.
The author draws on stories about Socrates, examples from Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius and Machiavelli, and modern interpretations to explore what philosophy can teach us about the quest for virtue today.
Is it possible to teach ourselves and others to become better people? Can we make ourselves into better human beings? Can we help others do the same? Can we get our leaders to care that humanity prospers, not just economically, but also spiritually?
Our fourth session will focus on Chapter 4 reflecting on "The Gadfly of Athens" so please read those pages if you can beforehand. This reading group will be facilitated by Vince Giuca, Akiva Quinn and Leslie Allan.
How to Be Good can be purchased from Readings for AUD 24.99
https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781399804950/how-to-be-good--massimo-pigliucci--2023--9781399804950
This event is free. Your donation to help keep these events going is greatly appreciated. Please make your donation at https://www.humanistsaustralia.org/donate

Another enjoyable free flowing discussion after the regular
Saturday Melbourne Existentialist Society Meeting. Please feel free to join the Melbourne Existentialst Society meeting from 2 pm AEST
https://www.meetup.com/existentialist-society/?eventOrigin=event_home_page
Life the Universe Street Philosophy commences at cessation of
The Melbourne Existentialist Society meeting.
Some of the many topics we have discussed previously,
some of which I could almost follow, are-
The Id, Super Ego and Ego
Where did the laws of physics come from?
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Does Truth exist independent of consciousness?
Hard problem of consciousness.
Conspiracy theories - is there a psychological profile of a habitual conspiracy Theorist.
Is it possible to have ojective Morality without a concept of God?
Definition of "Information"
How do we know how a particle behaves in an unobserved state if "unobserved" by definition means we don't blinking well see it?
Meaning of meaning in "what is the meaning of life?"
Definition of Language
Ship of Thesis - is the "thing" just a construct?
Tranendentalism
Determinism
Observer effect in quantum physics
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Is there a why to human existence?
Definition of experience.
Method of applying reason.
What does it mean to be "your authentic self?"
Idealism v Realism - ABSOLUTE TRUTH - What does that mean ? does it exist ? Ontology, how equipped are we to fathom the nature of things? HARD PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS: WHERE DOES CONSCIOUSNESS ARISE?: DOES DNA TRANSLATE TO BEHAVIOUR?, IF SO HOW - definition of rationality - origins of "value" - precision of mathematics - concept of infinity.
Definition of Information
- where is the information in an un opened book, does it exist when unobserved?
Reason
- what is the definition of reason
does it exist in physical laws, i.e. if we can we say "the reason the rock fell is because of gravity"?, how is this different to "what is the reason she chose Pepsi max instead of Coke Zero?"
Validity of evolutionary psychology:
- what evidence is there for evolutionarily selected behaviour, given that we cannot observe the history of the emergence of neurological structures as we can observe evolutionarily selected anatomical changes?

August 17 - We continue reading NE VII.5, which is about being beastly. This chapter 5 attempts to draw a sharp boundary between being humanly bad and being humanly animalistic with respect to the sort of unnatural pleasurable things someone can pursue. A boundary on this dimension of measurement enables Aristotle to troubleshoot the problem of lacking self-control. A lack of self-control about something humanly bad can be remediated. By contrast, it may not be possible to do anything about the humanly animalistic or beastliness.
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So what is being beastly, according to Aristotle? I have questions about applicability. What sexual deviancies (if any) may be considered beastly? What about food? Is eating dog meat being beastly? What about eating insect larvae or insects themselves? What about the extremes of being a vegan or a cannibal?
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My summary of chapter 4 can be found here to help you catch up to us. https://mega.nz/file/fih1SKKJ#d64NUslCeZQRRmlNvnWjBGuCsdWXhi2eSVkxWpqq4PA Bring your own questions about the text if you are interested in joining this Sunday's meeting.
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We are live-reading and discussing Aristotle's ~Nicomachean Ethics~, book VII, which is about troubleshooting the virtues.
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The prerequisite to this book is our answering for ourselves these questions from the prior books, to which we will briefly review:
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1. What is a virtue of character {ēthikē aretē}?
2. How does one come to acquire it? (E.g. [Aristotle’s], ambition, bravery, gentlemanliness, generosity, candor, …)
3. From a first-person perspective in being virtuous, how does one feel and what does one see (differently, discursively) in a given situation of everyday living?
4. From a third-person perspective, how is the virtuous person (of a specific virtue) to be characterized?
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The project's cloud drive is here, at which you'll find the reading texts, notes, and slideshows.