About us
The Chicago Philosophy Meetup is a community of groups created by and for people interested in engagements with philosophy and the history of such engagements. Our members have a wide variety of backgrounds besides philosophy, including literature, law, physics, theology, music, and more.
We host events suggested by individual members and coordinated by volunteer organizers and offer opportunities for discussion with others who share these interests. If you have an idea for a topic you'd like to discuss, especially if you are from an historically underrepresented group in academic philosophy, let us work with you to make it happen.
Whether you're new to philosophy and looking to get started, or have been doing philosophy for some time and want to dig a bit deeper, we invite you to check us out.
We have basic expectations for how we talk to each other, so:
DO...
Listen to others
Ask for clarification
Get to know people
Help other voices to be heard
Work towards understanding each other
Practice moving past your assumptions about others
DON'T...
Limit others’ performance of items on the DO list
The Chicago Philosophy Meetup opposes any force of exclusion, discrimination, and/or harassment present in its community. Such forces include, but are not limited to, racism, transphobia, misogyny, and antisemitism. The Chicago Philosophy Meetup seeks to be inclusive because only in this way can we fulfill the DOs list above. We are here to help! If you have concerns, questions about a meeting, or need assistance (e.g. accessibility), please contact either the organizers or the event host for the meeting directly.
"Philosophy is not a theory but an activity."
-- from "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus," Wittgenstein
Discourse cheers us to companionable
reflection. Such reflection neither
parades polemical opinions nor does it
tolerate complaisant agreement. The sail
of thinking keeps trimmed hard to the
wind of the matter.
-- from "On the Experience of Thinking," Heidegger
Check out our calendar
Upcoming events
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Breaking Off Friendship — Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
·OnlineOnlineApril 19 - We will read chapter 3 of Book IX. Previously, we read (1) beliefs about friendship, (2) objects of love, (3) three kinds of friendship, (4) the best kind, (5) state vs. activity thereof, (6) friending varieties, (7) between unequals, (8) loving vs. being loved, (9) friendships in communities, (10) forms of government, (11) friendships and right & wrong in these forms, (12) in families, (13–14) complaints between friends, (1) friends with dissimilar aims, (2) with conflicting obligations. Now: occasions of breaking off friendship.
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Our main translation from here on will be by Adam Beresford (Penguin Classics, 2020), but we will occasionally dip into other older English translations to get more insights and commentaries.
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We are live-reading and discussing Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, book VIII–IX, which is about friendship, social relations, and love.
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The prerequisite to this book is our answering for ourselves these questions from the prior books, to which we will briefly review:
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1. What is a virtue of character {ēthikē aretē}?
2. How does one come to acquire any of it? (E.g. pride, ambition, bravery, gentlemanliness, generosity, candor, fairness, …)
3. From a first-person perspective in being virtuous, how does one feel and what does one see (differently, discursively) in a given situation of everyday living?
4. How does one formulate right desires?
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The project's cloud drive is here, at which you'll find the reading texts, notes, and slideshows.3 attendees
Designing The Perfect Society – 1on1 philosophical & political WORKSHOP (COH)
·OnlineOnlineIMPORTANT NOTICE:
To be the speaking participant you must RSVP via Calendly.
The link to my Calendly calendar is available in my Egora profile:
http://egora-ilp.org/philosopher/Cezary_JurewiczAll others are welcome to join to listen, use the chat, use the breakout rooms, comment at the end, and be the speaking participant at the next session.
About Citizen Office Hours:
If the Citizen is to be the highest authority in democracy, should we not have office hours to make ourselves available and accountable to our fellow citizens? The answer is YES – yes, we should.Also, in democracy, there is no power without responsibility. If the citizens do not accept the responsibility of being citizens, then we do not really have any power – the power we might think we have is illusory. Therefore, all responsible citizens should make themselves available at their own "Citizen Office Hours" to build our democratic power through collaboration.
This event is a publication of my Citizen Office Hours. I am making myself available to discuss any of my or your ideas published in Egora. Egora is a platform for efficiently developing and effectively sharing our political philosophies with each other. Please be already registered for Egora before our meeting and at least somewhat familiar with my Ideological Profile so we can have a proper and thorough discussion. If you share your Ideological Profile in the comments in advance, i will take some time to study it before our meeting (ideally, the audience will do so too). Here is the link to my profile again:
http://egora-ilp.org/philosopher/Cezary_Jurewicz2 attendees
Aristotle’s Dialectic — Topics I — Live-Reading
·OnlineOnlineApril 21 - We are reviewing chapters 7 and 8 of Topics, Book I, at Bekker lines 103a6–103b19. In these chapters we get three meanings of sameness (in number, in form, and in kind) and two ways (deduction and induction) to justify five predicables (definition, unique property, kind, difference, and coincident).
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We are using the translation by Robin Smith: Topics Books I & VIII (Oxford University Press, 1997). We'll read page 9 and a bit of 10.
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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.
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A new reading adventure beckons you and your willpower. Join us.
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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 ---- 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.
2 attendees
Kant: Critique of Pure Reason (Week 15)
·OnlineOnlineNote: Meetings focus on developing a common language and friendship through studying Kant. The host will provide an interpretation of Kant; other interpretations will not be discussed until later in the meeting. Additional interpretations, topics, and questions can be addressed through the Jitsi chat feature.
In this session, we will be covering the Transcendental Dialectic Ideal of Pure Reason (~38 pages)
Online meeting link: https://meet.jit.si/CPM-Kant-Wednesdays
(links to text at bottom)
Schedule for Critique of Pure Reason:
Week 1 (2):
Preface (A and B editions; ~25 pages)
pp Avii - xxii, Bvii - xliv
pp 99 - 124 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 5 - 40 (Pluhar)Week 2 (3):
Introduction (A and B editions; ~25 pages)
pp A1 - 16, B1 - 30
pp 127 - 152 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 43 - 68 (Pluhar)Week 3 (4):
Transcendental Aesthetic (A and B editions; ~37 pages)
pp A19 - 49, B33 - 73
pp 155 - 192 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 71 - 104 (Pluhar)Week 4 (5):
Transcendental Logic Introduction, Book I Chapter I (~25 pages)
pp A50 - 83, B74 - 116
pp 193 - 218 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 105 - 140 (Pluhar)Week 5 (6):
Transcendental Logic Chapter II 'Deduction' (A and B edition; ~47 pages)
pp A84 - 130, B116 - 169
pp 219 - 266 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 141 - 203 (Pluhar)Week 6 (7):
Transcendental Logic Book II Introduction and Chapter I on the Schematism (~10 pages)
pp A130 - 147, B169 - 187
pp 267 - 277 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 204 - 219 (Pluhar)Week 7 (8):
Transcendental Logic Book II Chapter II (~17 pages)
pp A148 - 176, B187 - 218
pp 278 - 295 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 220 - 247 (Pluhar)Week 8 (9):
Analogies of Experience up to Transcendental Logic Book II Chapter III 'Phenomena and Noumena' (~42 pages)
pp A176 - 235, B218 - 294
pp 295 - 337 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 247 - 302 (Pluhar)Week 9 (10):
Transcendental Logic Book II Chapter III 'Phenomena and Noumena' (A and/or B editions) (~27 pages)
pp A235 - 260, B294 - 315
pp 338 - 365 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 303 - 322 (Pluhar)Week 10 (11):
Transcendental Logic Appendix 'Amphiboly' (~17 pages)
pp A260 - 292, B316 - 349
pp 366 - 383 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 323 - 345 (Pluhar)Week 11 (12):
Transcendental Dialectic Introduction, Book I (~26 pages)
pp A293 - 340, B349 - 398
pp 384 - 410 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 346 - 381 (Pluhar)Week 12 (13):
Transcendental Dialectic Paralogisms (A and B editions; ~47 pages)
pp A341 - 405, B399 - 332
pp 411 - 458 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 382 - 441 (Pluhar)Week 13 (14):
Transcendental Dialectic Antinomies Section I - IV (~48 pages)
pp A405 - 484, B432 - 512
pp 459 - 507 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 442 - 501 (Pluhar)Week 14 (15):
Transcendental Dialectic Antinomies Section V - IX (~42 pages)
pp A485 - 567, B513 - 595
pp 508 - 550 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 502 - 559 (Pluhar)Week 15 (16):
Transcendental Dialectic Ideal of Pure Reason (~38 pages)
pp A567 - 642, B513 - 670
pp 551 - 589 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 560 - 616 (Pluhar)Week 16 (17):
Appendix to Transcendental Dialectic (**~33 pages**)
pp A642 - 704, B670 - 732
pp 590 - 623 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 617 - 662 (Pluhar)Week 17 (18):
Doctrine of Method Introduction, Chapter I (**~43 pages**)
pp A705 - 794, B733 - 822
pp 627 - 671 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 663 - 727 (Pluhar)Week 18 (19):
Doctrine of Method Chapter II (~18 pages)
pp A795 - 830, B823 - 858
pp 672 - 690 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 728 - 755 (Pluhar)Week 19 (20):
Doctrine of Method Chapter III and IV (~13 pages)
pp A832 - 856, B860 - 884
pp 691 - 704 (Guyer/Wood)
pp 755 - 774 (Pluhar)Two different translations are recommended - both are good:
Preserves original sentence structure: Guyer/Wood
Updates for readability: PluharLinks to the text:
PDF of Guyer/Wood translation:
https://libgen.li/edition.php?id=136607414EPUB of Guyer/Wood translation:
https://libgen.li/edition.php?id=137975974PDF of Pluhar translation:
https://libgen.li/edition.php?id=136394041Buy the book on Amazon (or find it somewhere else if you don't like Amazon):
Guyer/Wood:
https://www.amazon.com/Critique-Reason-Cambridge-Works-Immanuel/dp/0521657296/ref=sr_1_3Pluhar (All three Critiques):
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Critiques-3-Set-Practical/dp/0872206297/ref=sr_1_3Pluhar hardcovers recommended (if available): https://www.amazon.com/Three-Critiques-3-Set-Practical/dp/0872206300/ref=sr_1_2
3 attendees
Past events
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