Philosophy

We will continue our discussion of The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt by reading Parts III and IV. This is not a difficult book to read, but the arguments can be complex and even confusing. That, however, is no problem for us. We're as complex and confused as any group out there. Come and help us unravel…

We will finish up our discussion of Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition, covering Parts V and VI, in which she discusses action and the modern age, drawing her final conclusions concerning where we are now and the human condition as she perceives it. Have you come to different conclusions or have another interpretation of the…

For this meeting, rather than a book or other reading, we are going to assign a topic. The topic is Punishment. Both this meeting and our one in March will be in conjunction with the monthly general meeting of the Minnesota Independent Scholars Forum on March 25 in which one of our members will present…

We will read and discuss the Little Book of Restorative Justice (2015) by Howard Zehr. This is an inexpensive (less than $10), short book that we will cover in a single session. It is in conjunction with the following program on March 25, in which Jean Greenwood, one of our members, will give a presentation on restorative…

We will begin a discussion of the book When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth (2004) by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber. For the 12th we'll read the first ten chapters. This is a book about how myth operates in preliterate societies by taking advantage of aspects of the human mind…

  We will conclude talking about myth and the mind as presented in the book When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber. By reading this book and participating in our discussion, you will feel the spirit of Socrates spread over you and begin to…

First, please note that this time is different than our usual second Wednesday of the month schedule. For this session, we will begin the book, The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from our Eyes (2019) by Donald Hoffman. This book is available in paperback for less than $20 new and can be had…

We will discuss chapters five through seven from the book, The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from our Eyes, by Donald Hoffman. Just to be safe, we will do this virtually.  

We will conclude our reading of The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from our Eyes by Donald Hoffman. People have reacted very differently to the thesis that Hoffman presents in this book. Some think that he has opened an insight into reality that will revolutionize our study of physics and other areas of…

We are going to start reading a new book: Corruptible (2021) by Brian Klass. This book is about power and why those who abuse it so often have it. Does power really corrupt? Or is it that corrupt people seek power? Or is it because of badly designed systems? Whatever the conclusions are, this is the book that…

We will complete our discussion of the book Corruptible by Brian Klass. Note that this group will be meeting on the third Wednesday of the month rather than our usual second Wednesday. If this is not convenient for you, there's a possibility that it could be changed if offered enough Benjamins.  

We will be beginning a new book, Aristotle's Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life (2019) by Edith Hall. For the 15th we'll read through chapter 2. While we don't usually like telling people how to live their lives, we figured that it's about time to get a little more aggressive in what this group can accomplish.…

We will discuss chapters 3 – 6 of Aristotle's Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life by Edith Hall. Please note that while Aristotle's philosophy has helped many people, neither the MISF Philosophy Study Group nor the Minnesota Independent Scholars Forum guarantees that any positive change will occur from attending these meetings. Furthermore, we absolutely…

We will conclude our discussion of Aristotle's Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life by Edith Hall. After having read this book, it won't matter if you've been adhering to the Ten Commandments, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Five Pillars, or the Three Fundamental Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, or have just been working to improve…

On Valentine's Day we will be starting a new book, Thought: A Very Short Introduction (2013) by Tim Bayne, a part of the Very Short Introduction series from Oxford University Press. This book costs about $13 in paperback and $7 as an ebook. We will read the first three chapters for our next meeting. And a…

  We will finish discussing the book Thought: A Very Short Introduction by Tim Bayne. A short introductory book on a broad topic can lead to some interesting disagreements with what the author covers and how he goes about it. Added to this is the fact that, at this point, we know very little about thought or…

Note that this is the third Wednesday of the month, not the second Wednesday, our usual meeting day. We are starting a new book, An Aristotelian Account of Induction: Creating Something from Nothing by Louis Groarke, part of the McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Ideas.

For this meeting we will discuss the topic of “Power and Discourse” by reading three short and very accessible articles which can be found online. Powercube         https://www.powercube.net/analyse-power/  Okay, this is not really an article, but it serves the purpose of a good introduction to non-coercive power. Go down to the bottom of…

We will continue our discussion of the book, An Aristotelian Account of Induction: Creating Something from Nothing by Louis Groarke, by reading chapter 3. In this chapter, the author, having finished his survey and critique of concepts of induction falling between Aristotle and contemporary philosophy, starts to dig deeper into what Aristotle regarded as inductive reasoning. We are hoping that reading this will induce you to reason seriously about coming to our meeting so that we can induct you into our membership. Deductively, it's a no-brainer.

The MISF Philosophy Study Group plans to have its next meeting on Wednesday, June 12, at 7:00 pm via Zoom. We will be continuing our discussion of the book An Aristotelian Account of Induction: Creating Something from Nothing by Louis Groarke, by reading chapters 4 and 5. Who thought induction could be so complicated? And so much…

For this meeting we will discuss chapters 6 and 7 of the book, An Aristotelian Account of Induction: Creating Something from Nothing, by Louis Groarke. For those who might need a little persuading to attend, I have put together a notable argument:

All books about Aristotle are delightful. This is a book about Aristotle. Therefore, this book is delightful.

The next meeting of the MISF Philosophy Study Group is on Wednesday, August 14, at 7:00 pm via Zoom. We will conclude our discussion of the book, An Aristotelian Account of Induction: Creating Something from Nothing, by Louis Groarke with the attendance of the author, himself.

Our book for this meeting is What Would Nietzsche Do?: Philosophical Solutions to Everyday Problems (2017) by Marcus Weeks. A paperback version of the book lists for $20 but can be had from Amazon for $14.60; used copies are for sale by Half Price Books for $8, and an e-book is $4. This book is 180 pages…

At our last meeting we discussed the book, What Would Nietzsche Do?: Philosophical Solutions to Everyday Problems, by Marcus Weeks. This book took various problems that people may encounter in everyday life and offered solutions to them that some well-known philosophers would have presumably given. Since that book covered just about every major aspect of philosophy,…

The MISF Philosophy Study Group meets next on Wednesday, November 13, at 7:00 pm via Zoom. For this meeting we will discuss Friedrich Nietzsche's classic, On the Genealogy of Morals, first published in 1887. As a classic, this book is readily available in many different formats and translations. What has come to be considered the standard…

We will continue our reading of On the Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche by discussing his Second Treatise, “'Guilt,' 'Bad Conscious,' and Related Matters.” If you wish to remain guilt-free with a clean conscious (assuming you have one now (ha, ha)), you should show up for this meeting. Watch out for those related matters, though.  …

Note that this meeting is the first Monday of the month, rather than our usual second Wednesday. We will finish our discussion of On the Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche by reading the third treatise, “What do ascetic ideals mean?” In this treatise Nietzsche wraps up his arguments with further critiques wherever he finds shortcomings and,…

We will be beginning a new book, The Philosophy of Freedom, by Rudolf Steiner. Originally published in 1894, this book has been translated many times and has been very influential in some quarters. A new paperback can cost from $7 to $22 and an ebook from $2 to $10, depending on the translation. If you…

During this meeting we will finish our discussion of the book, The Philosophy of Freedom, by Rudolf Steiner by reading Parts II and III. In Part I Steiner laid out his concept of how the human mind is constructed and operates. In Part II he tells us all the wonderful things you can do with…

We will begin reading Simone de Beauvoir's attempt to provide an ethical foundation for existentialism, The Ethics of Ambiguity. This book is available in paperback for about $15 and as an eBook for about $10. Used copies are also available. For the 9th we'll read Parts I and II. Just so you know, there's nothing…

We will finish discussing Simone de Beauvoir's attempt to build an ethical system for existentialist philosophy, The Ethics of Ambiguity. Not a few people didn't think it was possible. Did she succeed? This is for you to decide, and we're very interested in what you think. We're even more interested in how this might fit…

We will be embarking on a new book: How Nature Works: The Science of Self-organized Criticality (1996) by Per Bak. Unfortunately, this is one of the pricier books that we have selected for our group. All forms of the book – hardcover, paperback, and eBook – list for $60. Fortunately, however, they can be found for…

We will continue our discussion of Per Bak's book, How Nature Works: The Science of Self-organized Criticality, by reading chapters 4-7. One of the remarkable aspects of self-organized criticality (SOC) is that it can arise from very simple rules but lead to highly complex, unpredictable systems. Since this book is an introductory overview of SOC,…

We will finish our discussion of the book, How Nature Works: The Science of Self-organized Criticality, by Per Bak. For those who will have read the book and will attend the meeting, you can, of course, expect to understand how nature works. However, this creates a problem. After so many of us comprehend this, there…

We will begin discussing a new book, Caste: The Origins of our Discontents (2020), by Isabel Wilkerson. The book focuses on race in the U.S. (Wilkerson is black), but examines the topic broadly and includes comparisons with the caste system of India and the discriminations carried out by Nazi Germany. For the 10th we'll read Parts…

We will continue discussing the book, Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson, by reading Sections 3 and 4. In these sections Wilkerson gets into the heart of how caste operates, and it's not very pretty. We hope that you can join us. All of our regulars should be there, but some of…

The MISF Philosophy Study Group is going to have their next meeting on Wednesday, November 12, at 7:00 pm via Zoom. We will conclude our discussion of the book, Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson. In the last parts of her book, Wilkerson discusses the more subtle, unconscious ways caste can impact society;…

For this meeting we are going to discuss three different existentialist works of fiction, two by Jean Paul Sartre and one by Earnest Hemingway. The former includes the short story “The Wall” and the play “No Exit”. The Hemingway work is another short story, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.” All these are available online. Commentaries on…

 We will be studying the book, The Boxer and the Goalkeeper: Sartre Vs Camus (2012), by Andy Martin. A new copy of this book can be had for around $20, but there seems to be plenty of used copies. It appears that there is no e-book available in this country. The book is about the friendship…

We will conclude our discussion of the book, The Boxer and the Goalkeeper: Sartre Vs Camus, by Andy Martin. In spite of rumors to the contrary, our next book will not be The Commie and the Nazi: Marx vs Heidegger. There is a possibility that we could do The Wrestler and the Fencer: Plato vs Descartes, however.…

We will begin discussing the book, The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas (2023), by Robert Zaretsky. This book is available new for around $15 in either paperback or as an eBook. For the 11th we'll read the introduction and chapters 1 and 2. Simone Weil was a 20th century French philosopher and mystic who…

We are finishing our discussion of the book, The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas, by Robert Zaretsky. The last parts of the book cover Weil's concepts of rootedness and her own mystical version of Catholicism. Even though most people aren't convinced by the latter, they still regard her analysis of social roots as…