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,
* * *
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.
Featured event
Understanding Cognitive Biases 1 Why We're Blind to Our Own Biases
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 brain’s 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 event’s 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 …
Upcoming events
352
Aristotle’s Organon — Topics II — Live-Reading
·OnlineOnlineOctober 20 - We are still in chapter 2, on how to grasp an object through its expression and definitional account: [1] the error (type 2) of using inflected endings reserved for coincidents to name kinds for predication, [2] the rule to have a chain of definables of the S in the problem, [3] the rule to have an account each for coincident P and subject S (and recursively of each) so as to see if any assumed combo is untrue, [4], [5].
.
----
.
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
|-- Topics Book II ---- 2026.09.29
|-- 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.
1 attendeeUnderstanding Cognitive Biases 1 Why We're Blind to Our Own Biases
·OnlineOnlinehttps://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 brain’s 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 event’s 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 …8 attendees
Cicero and the Fall of the Roman Republic
Austin, Austin, TX, USA, TX, USYou may have heard that there is an organized assault on Democracy. Can we learn from history? Maybe.
Let's look at the fall of the Roman Republic through the life and times of one of its most eloquent citizens, Cicero. He was a toddler when Roman troops were first used to interrupt a vote of the People's Assembly, and he died just as the Republic too died.
On the Republic (De re publica) is a dialogue on Roman politics by Cicero, written 54-51 BC. Cicero uses the work to explain Roman constitutional theory. Written in imitation of Plato's Republic, it takes the form of a Socratic dialogue in which Scipio Aemilianus takes the role of a wise old man.
Unlike Plato, Cicero doesn't believe that any of the 'pure' forms of government are stable. Instead, he uses the Roman Republic as an example of more stable State with a constitution based on a combination of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy.
As far as political philosophy goes, this is the document from which the US founding fathers derived the form of the Federal government. Now, there is obviously not a one-to-one correspondence between the Constitution of the late Roman Republic and that of the US. But, when you read Cicero's On the Republic, you will find the similarities striking.
And, yes, this will be another play. Conveniently, Cicero wrote On the Republic as a dialogue. So converting it to a play is really just editing (my favorite kind of script writing).
Togas are not a must, but are encouraged. ;-)
Here are two sources I'll be using. The first one is by Cicero himself. The second book is a more recent work which gives the background of Cicero's life and the political scene at the Fall of he Roman Republic.
On the Republic (project Gutenberg online)
Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician6 attendees
Past events
5567
