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 "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
Lost Worlds of South America 20 The Inca-Gifts of the Empire
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/594932535
Private message me over meetup to get the password.
The attendee limit is 10 to allow easier discussion.
Lost Worlds of South America
"Take an adventurous trek to these wilds of South America and the great civilizations of the ancients."
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 South America's Lost Cradle of Civilization
2 Discovering Peru's Earliest Cities
3 South America's First People
4 Ceramics, Textiles, and Organized States
5 Chavin and the Rise of Religious Authority
6 Cupisnique to Salinar-Elite Rulers and War
7 Paracas-Mummies, Shamans, and Severed Heads
8 The Nazca Lines and Underground Channels
9 The Moche-Pyramids, Gold, and Warriors
10 The Moche-Richest Tombs in the New World
11 The Moche-Drugs, Sex, Music, and Puppies
12 Enigmatic Tiwanaku by Lake Titicaca
13 The Amazon-Civilization Lost in the Jungle
14 The Wari-Foundations of the Inca Empire?
15 The Chimu-Empire of the Northern Coast
16 The Sican-Goldsmiths of the Northern Coast
17 The Inca Origins-Mythology v. Archaeology
18 Cuzco and the Tawantinsuyu Empire
19 The Inca-From Raiders to Empire
20 The Inca-Gifts of the Empire
21 The Khipu-Language Hidden in Knots
22 Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley
23 Spanish Contact-Pizarro Conquers the Inca
24 Remnants of the Past-Andean Culture Today
Upcoming events
338
•OnlineExistentialism & the Authentic Life 11 Camus on Authenticity amid Chaos
Onlinehttps://us04web.zoom.us/j/594932535
Message me over meetup to get the password.
The meeting limit is 10 people, so the discussion is easier.
Existentialism and the Authentic Life | Plus
"These thinkers guide you toward living an authentic and meaningful life in a world that often seems absurd."
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 to Think like an Existentialist
2 Søren Kierkegaard on Existential Crises
3 Kierkegaard’s Leap to Faith
4 Friedrich Nietzsche on Authentic Greatness
5 Nietzsche on Creating Super-Relationships
6 Martin Heidegger on Authentic Being
7 José Ortega y Gasset on Authentic Destiny
8 Karl Jaspers on Authentic Communication
9 Albert Camus on Authentic Happiness
10 Camus on Absurdity
11 Camus on Authenticity amid Chaos
12 Camus on Authentic Rebellion
13 Frantz Fanon on Restoring Human Dignity
14 Jean-Paul Sartre on Why Hell Is Other People
15 Sartre on Sex and Sadomasochism
16 Sartre on Authentic Work
17 Richard Wright on Overcoming Alienation
18 Simone de Beauvoir on Authentic Love
19 Beauvoir on Authentic Friendships
20 Beauvoir on Raising Children Authentically
21 Beauvoir on Authentic Aging
22 Beauvoir on Loving Your Mortality
23 Toni Morrison and the Sources of Self-Regard
24 Everyday Existentialism9 attendees
•OnlineAristotle's Dialectic - Topics I - Live-Reading--European Style
OnlineJanuary 6 - We are in chapter 6 of Topics, Book I, currently at Bekker lines 102b27–103a5. Aristotle just defined horos, idion, genos, sumbebēkos. He now relates them together.
.
We are using the translation by Robin Smith: Topics Books I & VIII (Oxford University Press, 1997), page 6.
.
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.
.
A new reading adventure beckons you and your willpower. Join us.
.
----
.
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.1 attendee
Past events
5056
