THE PLAN 9 BOOK CLUB FROM OUTER SPACE focus on Pragmatism
Details
The Plan 9 Book Club from Outer Space has been in operation since 2016, studying the most important works in modern western Philosophy. We’ve studied the major works of Hume, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Sartre and Aristotle.
We meet every Tuesday evening, from 7:30 to 9:00 pm, to carry on in-depth discussions of the text. This is a discussion group, not a lecture class, so please read the assignment beforehand.
Starting October 21, we will do a series of ten sessions on two of the American Pragmatists, C.S. Peirce and William James. We will read and discuss one entire paper at each session. The readings are much less obscure than Sartre, Heidegger or Wittgenstein, so reading a whole paper won't be difficult. All readings are out of copyright and freely available online.
All the readings are here: https://tinyurl.com/4amy9rhr
Here is the syllabus:
1. Oct. 21 - Peirce, "The Fixation of Belief"
2. Oct. 28 - Peirce, "How To Make Our Ideas Clear"
3 through 10: James, Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking
3. Nov. 4 - Chapter 1, "The Present Dilemma in Philosophy"
4. Nov. 11 - Chapter 2, "What Pragmatism Means"
5. Nov. 18 - Chapter 3, "Some Metaphysical Problems Pragmatically Considered"
6. Nov. 25 - Chapter 4, "The One and the Many"
7. Dec. 2 - Chapter 5, "Pragmatism and Common Sense"
8. Dec. 9 - Chapter 6, "Pragmatism's Conception of Truth"
9. Dec. 16 - Chapter 7, "Pragmatism and Humanism"
10. Dec. 23 - Chapter 8, 'Pragmatism and Religion"
We hold our meetings IN-PERSON at the Austin Recreation Center, 1301 Shoal Creek Boulevard: https://www.google.com/maps/place/30%C2%B016'41.4%22N+97%C2%B044'56.3%22W/@30.2781667,-97.7511609,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d30.27816!4d-97.74897 .
Most Tuesdays, after discussing our book, several of us will continue the discussion over nachos and beer, down the street at The Tavern. The food and drink are optional, of course, but the conversation is always strong!
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Plan 9 is a group that likes to do deep studies of our book choices. We discuss, in detail, the week's reading assignment, mastering the new concepts and fitting them into the author’s overall thesis. The goal is to gain an understanding of the author’s philosophy. If this sort of work interests you, sign up here and join us. We have about a dozen regular members, and new people have come and gone over the years. Everyone is more than welcome to join in.