About us
The Symposium is a community dedicated to exploring life’s questions with use of various guiding texts. Since Plato, philosophy has been a devotional activity—emerging from the mythic age among lovers and inspired poets, casting light into their world with the aid of reason. Let us familiarize ourselves with the wisdom tradition, uncover new shapes of thought, and find the great freedom that comes from seeing the lifeworld of our connected selves.
By sharing together we create an open space for fresh insights, whether through ourselves or from others. It is through the light of our questions that we stay connected to the true, even as the depth of our ignorance is continually revealed. Yet as we cleanse the mirror, we find a unique harmony between what is thought and spoken, allowing wisdom to usher in and the spirit of philosophical friendship to take hold.
Let us honor that space together.
Upcoming events
6
Consciousness: Ghosts and Ghouls
Kapéj Coffee, 1447 N Sedgwick St, Chicago, IL, US"A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous and then dismissed as trivial, until finally, it becomes what everybody knows." - William James
I thought it might be fun to look at two works from different philosophers on a similar topic. I also especially chose these for our discussion before Halloween, as William James is heavily associated with ghosts, and David Chalmers is quite famous for the undead. Both of these works will focus on the concept of consciousness, and what exactly is entailed by that word. The first work will focus on defining the concept, the second hopes to tackle the idea of how to spot it in others. The central idea focuses on "what is consciousness?" with fun theming for the holiday.
The first work is "Does 'Consciousness' exist?" by William James, From his broader work, "Essays in Radical Empiricism" in which James lays out the various common arguments for consciousness, settling in a surprising location by questioning the nature of its existence?
The second work by Chalmers, "Zombies and The Explanatory Gap" wants to focus on a very simplistic idea: if everything is just a process of logic or chemical, why do we experience anything at all? Why is it that we are not just robotic machines of flesh?
Could it be these two are asking the same question?
In this Meetup, we will discuss both essays as well as the central question. Links to the respective texts can be found below:
William James, Essays in Radical Empiricism, by William James [ ~39 pages] - Please read the first Essay, "Does 'consciousness' exist?"
David Chalmers, Zombies and the Explanatory Gap [2 pages]20 attendees
Plato's Cave, The Sun, & Divided Line
Kapéj Coffee, 1447 N Sedgwick St, Chicago, IL, USWhat does it mean to turn from appearances toward understanding? And what allows us to recognize the true or good?
In The Republic, Socrates hesitates to explain the Good itself. Instead, he offers an image of its “child”: the sun. From there, three connected images invite us to consider how we see, how we know, and how education might transform us.
The Sun: Just as sunlight allows us to see visible things, Socrates proposes that the Good allows us to understand what is intelligible. What might this analogy reveal—and where does it leave us puzzled?
The Divided Line: Socrates divides a line to distinguish imagination, belief, mathematical thinking, and understanding. How do these ways of knowing differ? What does it take to move from one to another?
The Cave: Prisoners take shadows for reality until one is freed and begins a difficult ascent toward the light. What does this story suggest about education, resistance to unfamiliar truths, and the responsibility to return to others?
Join us as we explore three of Plato’s most famous passages. We’ll read closely, follow the images, and consider what they ask us to experience and question.Required Reading—or Listen to the Audio
For convenience, the following archived pages collect the relevant passages and include links to audio readings:
• The Sun—“The Child of the Good”
• The Divided Line
• The Allegory of the CaveYou may also read directly from The Republic, in any translation you prefer. Our selections are Book VI, 507b–511e, and Book VII, 514a–521b.
Full text with Stephanus numbers: Select Book VI or Book VII from the contents. The reference numbers appear in the right margin, or within the text on smaller screens.Alternative Audio
These free recordings provide another way to listen:
• The Sun and Divided Line—Book VI, Part 4, including some introductory discussion before the analogies.
• The Cave—Book VII, Part 1, beginning at the opening of Book VII.
These audio tracks extend beyond the assigned selections.Join us straight to the peak of the Republic. No prior experience with Plato is necessary. Come with your questions.
20 attendees
Metaphysical "Intuition" - Henri Bergson
Kapéj Coffee Roasters, 1447 N Sedgwick St, Chicago, IL 60610, USA, Chicago, IL, USHow does metaphysics differ from science? What is an "intuitive" understanding of metaphysics? While Kant had dismissed metaphysical intuition as groundless and beyond human knowledge, Henri Bergson sees it as a matter of grasping things “from the inside.” He calls this “intuition”—the kind of understanding we have of our own inner lives. If you try to describe this with concepts or images, you falsify it; you freeze it into position. That’s necessarily what science does, and is very useful, but doesn’t get at what’s metaphysically fundamental for Bergson, which is the unbroken flow of duration.
Today we will discuss Henri Bergson’s An Introduction to Metaphysics (~20 pages):
READING:
Here: text
or
https://web.mit.edu/kaclark/www/bergson_introduction_to_metaphysics.pdfAUDIO — LibriVox:
https://librivox.org/an-introduction-to-metaphysics-by-henri-bergson/The above description is paraphrased from the PEL podcast. I recommend a listen, since it is helpful:
PEL — Bergson / Episode 92 materials:
https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/tag/henri-bergson/22 attendees
Past events
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