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What we’re about

Hello, English-speaking, philosophical or intellectually curious folks in Guanajuato,

The Philosophy Club started in Seattle at a local cafe almost a decade ago but went online after the pandemic and is now international. More about the online club. Since I live now in Guanajuato, and as principal organizer, I would love to bring back our old-fashioned in-person discussions again. Anyone interested is invited to join (you are welcome to the ongoing online club, too, of course). It is free, and your level of participation is up to you, but what you get out of it is enhanced if you consult some of there resources we include with each topic.

You do not need to know much about philosophy. We try to do philosophy in plain English and are happy to explain any terms, ideas, or arguments that get tossed about. There are no stupid questions in philosophy. Real philosophy is more about questions than answers. The purpose of an answer is to generate more questions. But open-mindedness and intellectual curiosity and a willingness to navigate around, usually, irresolvable issues are pretty essential.

Philosophy ranges widely over almost any area of human concern, but it is most relevant when dealing with difficult, controversial, and persistent problems. Our topics are designed to provoke discussion. Philosophy has been defined in many ways but one of the simplest is that it is about asking and attempting answers to the most fundamental questions about most anything about which there is concern and disagreement. We are not here to push any one answer or serve any agenda. It’s perfectly ok, even virtuous, to have strong opinions and disagree with those of others, but a willingness to discuss and defend them is important. Philosophy is an activity, not a set of beliefs. Think of it as aerobics for the mind. Without thoughtful resistance, there is little to be gained from doing it.

Although, I can supply an almost endless supply of topics, we are open to anyone in the club leading a topic of special interest to them so long as we can discern a philosophical angle and it is not closed to critical examination. We are happy to entertain proposals. See this list of recent online club topics to get idea of what we have done in the past – any one of which we can redo in an in-person setting. But new topics are being generated everyday and are just waiting for attention...

I have been helping students, in and out of academia, with philosophy for most of my adult life and write extensively on topics in many of its branches.

There is a longer statement about the nature of philosophy and how we do it here at the online club under “What we’re about” at https://www.meetup.com/The-Philosophy-Club/

— Victor Muñoz, organizer

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