What we’re about
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 "Meetups" 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 continent, 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: Conversation intended to enhance understanding. It employs language of dispassionate objectivity. 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. It requires an appreciation for the other participants' experiences.
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/594932535
Private message me over meetup to get the password.
The attendee limit is 10 to allow easier discussion.
Online Lecture About the History of India | Plus
"Over 5,000 years, India has been home to a rich tapestry of cultures, and the lands east of the Indus River have long been a hub for trade and cultural exchange. Today the subcontinent contains 20% of the world's population and is an economic powerhouse. Go inside this thrilling story with A History of India, a breathtaking survey of South Asia from its earliest societies through the challenges of the 21st century."
At each meeting, we watch / listen to a lecture together, and then discuss lecture together.
Typically, we cover one lecture per week. See the event’s title for what lecture is for that event.
Here is the full list of lectures for the course:
1 Earliest History of the Indian Subcontinent
2 Migration and the Adivasi
3 Indus Valley Civilization
4 Indo-European Vedic Culture
5 Caste: Varna and Jati
6 Epic Literature: Ramayana
7 Epic History: Mahabharata
8 Dharma in the Bhagavad Gita
9 The Origins and Rise of Jainism
10 The Origins and Rise of Buddhism
11 The Mauryan Empire
12 Ashoka's Imperial Buddhism
13 Deccani and Southern States
14 Northwest and North India
15 Brahmanic Synthesis
16 Indian Parsis, Jews, and Christians
17 Islam Comes to India
18 Indian Sultans
19 The Early Mughal Empire
20 The Reign of Emperor Akbar
21 Later Mughal Emperors
22 The Mughals and the Marathas
23 Competing European Empires
24 The British East India Company
25 The Issues and Events of 1857
26 The British Raj and Early Nationalism
27 India and Indians in the World
28 Mahatma Gandhi
29 Nationalists Ambedkar, Bose, and Jinnah
30 The Partition of 1947
31 West and East Pakistan
32 The New Pakistan
33 Independent Bangladesh
34 India under Nehru
35 Modernizing India
36 South Asia into the 21st Century
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Medieval Civilization: Millennia in Microcosm Week 152Link visible for attendees
Join us for an exploration of Kenneth Smith’s analysis of hamartia, the tragic flaw that turns intelligence against itself. In this session, we’ll examine how early Christianity redefined sin—not as mere wrongdoing, but as a profound misjudgment rooted in ego and blindness to the essential. Drawing from Greek tragedy, Smith presents Oedipus as the ultimate case of hamartia in extremis: a man who mistakes his cleverness for insight and brings ruin upon himself despite every warning. Through this lens, sin becomes not just moral failure but a spiritual pathology—a corruption of perception, of self-awareness, of the soul’s capacity to recognize what truly matters. We’ll discuss how this tragic blindness speaks not only to individuals, but to cultures that exalt ego over wisdom and mistake fragmentation for strength.
C: Selfless Love and The Encompassing https://kennethsmithphilosophy.com/end07.php - Big Questions of Philosophy 35 What Makes a Society Fair or Just?Link visible for attendees
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/594932535
Message me over meetup to get the password.
The meeting limit is 10 people, so the discussion is easier.Understanding Philosophy | Online Lectures About Philosophy | Wondrium
"There is no better way to study the big questions in philosophy than to compare how the world's greatest minds have analyzed these questions and reasoned out potential solutions. The final step is always deciding for yourself whether you find an explanation convincing."At each meeting, we watch or listen to a lecture together, have a short break, and then discuss lecture together.
Typically, we cover one lecture every other week. See the event’s title for what lecture is for that event.
Full lecture list for this course:
1 How Do We Do Philosophy?
2 Why Should We Trust Reason?
3 How Do We Reason Carefully?
4 How Do We Find the Best Explanation?
5 What Is Truth?
6 Is Knowledge Possible?
7 What Is the Best Way to Gain Knowledge?
8 Do We Know What Knowledge Is?
9 When Can We Trust Testimony?
10 Can Mystical Experience Justify Belief?
11 Is Faith Ever Rational?
12 Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
13 What Is God Like?
14 How Could God Allow Moral Evil?
15 Why Would God Cause Natural Evil?
16 Are Freedom and Foreknowledge Compatible?
17 Do Our Souls Make Us Free?
18 What Does It Mean to Be Free?
19 What Preserves Personal Identity?
20 Are Persons Mere Minds?
21 Are Persons Just Bodies?
22 Are You Really You?
23 How Does the Brain Produce the Mind?
24 What Do Minds Do, If Anything?
25 Could Machines Think?
26 Does God Define the Good?
27 Does Happiness Define the Good?
28 Does Reason Define the Good?
29 How Ought We to Live?
30 Why Bother Being Good?
31 Should Government Exist?
32 What Justifies a Government?
33 How Big Should Government Be?
34 What Are the Limits of Liberty?
35 What Makes a Society Fair or Just?
36 What Is the Meaning of Life? - Pickleball With New Friends!Pickleland, Pflugerville, TX
I’mIMPORTANT: Please sign up at the Pickleland app or website directly. Be aware that this event is a paid event. You can pay on the app (preferred) or in person.
Join us for a casual, fun way to meet other people and make friends while playing pickleball.
Beginners are welcome! You don’t need a paddle; you can rent one at Pickleland! We will teach you the rules and how to play.
If you are an experienced player, we will have competitive courts also!
Use code “FUNSOCIALEVENTS” for 10% off any social event on the Pickleland website: https://play.pickleland.com/programs?facility_id=970&category=&search=&view=grid
Disclaimer: The host of this event and meetup are not liable for any injuries, loss of funds, or any type of unfortunate event that happens to any attendees of the meetup.
- Aristotle's On Interpretation - Live-Reading--European StyleLink visible for attendees
July 22 - We are going to read chapter 14, the last of *On Interpretation*. I tentatively entitle it (because Aristotle doesn't have a title for it) "Knowing the Knowable through Belief." That is, up until now, Aristotle has been focusing on the relationship between our knowing and the things that are. Now, in the final chapter, he turns his attention toward the relationship between our knowing and the beliefs we craft so as to lasso-grasp the things that are. The bookmark is set at Bekker line 23a27. George will do the initial read-through.
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Join the meeting and participate.
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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
|-- On 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.
