About us
We discuss topics of general philosophy and the implications of new technology on the future.
Upcoming events
180
First, a House, a Wife, and a Cow — Aristotle’s Politics
·OnlineOnlineNov. 1 – We will read Politics I.3 and maybe 4. Quoting Hesiod, Aristotle says that a young man begins adulthood qua citizen by founding a household, starting with a house, then a wife, then a cow. (Some translations may conflate wife and cow, but let's not quibble.) What things else constitute a household? That's chapter 3 and maybe chapter 4.
.
In the second half of I.2, we finally learned that the human being is naturally meant to live in the city—that is, man is a city-living being. Properly understood, that is a profound fact.
.
----
.
We are live-reading Aristotle's Politics, the treatise on the practical governance of the city-state for the sake of enabling and promoting its citizens individually to flourish.
.
The prerequisite to this treatise is a familiarity with Aristotelian ethics—whether that be Nicomachean ethics, Eudemian Ethics, or Magna Moralia.
.
The project's cloud drive is here, at which you'll find the reading texts, notes, and slideshows.2 attendees
Aristotle’s Organon — Topics II — Live-Reading
·OnlineOnlineNovember 3 – We are reading the 2nd-half of chapter 3. The last chapter was on grasping an object through its expression and account: [1] use paronyms to identify P as a coincident, [2] have a chain of definables of the S, [3] have an account each for P and S (and recursively) to see if any assumed combo is untrue, [4] set your premise and try to object to it, [5] acknowledge common usage but defer to precise references.
.
----
.
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
|-- Topics Book II ---- 2026.09.29
|-- 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 attendeesAristotle’s Politics
·OnlineOnlineWe are live-reading Aristotle's Politics, the treatise on the practical governance of the city-state for the sake of enabling and promoting its citizens individually to flourish.
.
The prerequisite to this treatise is a familiarity with Aristotelian ethics—whether that be Nicomachean ethics, Eudemian Ethics, or Magna Moralia.
.
The project's cloud drive is here, at which you'll find the reading texts, notes, and slideshows.1 attendee
Past events
1108
