Open Discussion: Can philosophy make progress?

This meeting will be a live discussion of the title topic. This sort of discussion can't be settled in any particular way, but remains relevant for beginners and initiates to philosophy.

(Note: after meetings, attendees are all welcome to join for dinner. We typically go to one of a few local restaurants within walking distance of the meetup location.)

Here are some questions and comments that may help guide the conversation (feel free to bring questions of your own, as well):

What is progress? Is progress detectable without a particular understanding of where you're going? If I make progress in a race, that's because I approach the goal, and I know perfectly well what that is. What is the goal of philosophy, and what does it look like?

In physics, I also don't know what the goal looks like, but we can suggest that progress could be recognized in our relative mastery over nature. Is there anything like this with philosophy?

Is advancing the same as progress? Can one make progress by going backwards? What if going back is the only way to go forward again?

Sometimes you can only see progress looking back at where you came from, like taking a boat out to sea. Is philosophy like this? In that case, where do we start?

"But this science is metaphysics, and that completely alters the situation. This is a shoreless sea, in which progress leaves no trace behind, and whose horizon contains no visible goal by which one might perceive how nearly it has been approached." - Kant, What real progress has metaphysics made in Germany since the time of Leibniz and Wolff?, 20:259