About us
The Austin Philosophy Discussion Group (APDG) offers many opportunities for discussions of philosophy and philosophical issues. No advance preparation or knowledge is required, unless stated in the meeting description. All our meetings are free of charge.
Click on "Events" just under the picture, above, to see details about upcoming meetups. The types of meetups that we have are:
- Weekly Lecture/Discussion groups, which offer free DVD lectures and discussions covering a wide range of philosophical topics.
- Special Events and Lectures covering topics of interest to our membership.
We are always open to new ideas, so come and share your thoughts at one of our meetings.
This group is a member of the Virtual Philosophy Network, a consortium of philosophy groups like ours in the U.S. and Canada. Now that Meetup events are virtual, we can discuss ideas with folks from all over the world, and we have a broader range of topics to choose from. Go to https://sites.google.com/view/virtualphilosophynetwork to see all the Meetup groups in the network,
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Our web site also features lively discussions, within a culture that values civil discourse.
Here's what civil discourse is: Ā Conversation intended to enhance understanding.Ā It employsĀ language of dispassionate objectivity.Ā Civil discourse requires mutual respect of the participants. It neither diminishes the other's moral worth, nor questions their good judgment; it avoids hostility and direct antagonism.Ā It requires an appreciation for the other participants' experiences.
Featured event
Understanding Cognitive Biases 2 Things We Want to Be True: Confirmation Bias
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/594932535
Private message me over meetup to get the password.
The attendee limit is 10 to allow easier discussion.
Understanding Cognitive Biases
"Understand how your brainās efficiency shortcuts can leave you with a biased view of the world and learn how to combat these tendencies in your everyday life."
At each meeting, we watch / listen to a lecture together and then discuss it together.
Typically, we cover one lecture per week. See the eventās title for what lecture is for that event.
Here is the full list of lectures for the course:
1 Why We're Blind to Our Own Biases
2 Things We Want to Be True: Confirmation Bias
3 We See People In and Behind Everything
4 We Love It Because We Built It
5 Why We Think Differently in Groups
6 Learn Better with Cognitive Biases
7 Expectations Change Results: Observer Bias
8 Bias Boot Camp for Better Decisions
9 We Think Others' Behaviors Are Their Fault
10 How Memory Is Biased toward Misinformation
11 How Fast Thinking Leads to a Great Fall
12 I Knew It All Along: Hindsight Bias
13 Even Random Outcomes Lead to Bias
14 How Con Artists Exploit Our Biases
15 Stereotypes: See the Person, Not the Group
16 Biases from Knowing Too Much or Too Little
17 Is That Memory Mine or Someone Else's?
18 I Believe, Therefore I Think: Belief Bias
19 Why Emotional Peaks and Endings Matter
20 We Lie to Be Socially Desirable
21 Why Emotional Gaps Cause Trouble
22 Only Survivors Tell the Story
23 Reactance: You Can't Watch This Lecture!
24 Status Quo: The More Things Change ā¦
Upcoming events
350
SDIS: Do We Really Need Political Parties?
Ā·OnlineOnlineOur speaker, Christopher Baylor, PhD, previews his talk: āDemocrats and Republicans disagree about a great deal, but they tend to agree on one thing: The other party is a major part of what is wrong with American politics. What if the problem goes deeper than either party?
āI ask whether political parties are really as necessary to democracy as other political scientists say. Political parties provide informational shortcuts for voters and mobilize turnout, but doing so at the cost of undermining political checks and balances as well as encouraging a form of motivated reasoning toward the in-group and against the out-group. What would we gain, and what might we lose, if parties as such played a much smaller role in American political life?ā
This lecture is sponsored by the San Diego Independent Scholars. The location is at the North University Community Library, 8820 Judicial Drive, San Diego, CA 92122. Attendance is free to the public. The lecture will be Zoomcast.
Speaker's Bio: Christopher Baylor is a political scientist and author of The Case Against Political Parties (2026, Palgrave Macmillan) and First to the Party: The Group Origins of Political TransĀformĀation (2018, Univ. of Pennsylvania Press). His research focuses on American political parties, interest groups, and political reform. His writings have been published by Studies in American Political Development, Political Science Quarterly, the Washington Post, and Fortune. He received his doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles and received his masterās degree from Brown University. He was also a Congressional Fellow in Washington, D.C., where he worked in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has taught at Wellesley College, the College of the Holy Cross, and currently as a lecturer at UCLA.
3 attendees
Past events
5573
