Philosophy Study Group
2025-07-09 19:00 - 21:00 UTC | via Zoom
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, it follows the same pattern. It explains things with basic, simple ideas, but the consequences can be mind-boggling complex. So, if you think you’d like to join us but are worried about not being able to catch up because you’d have to read lots of abstruse, technical concepts, in actuality this book is something that even a member of the MISF Philosophy Study Group can understand. Well, okay, maybe the simple ideas part. But the rest is what’s really fun.

Philosophy Study Group
2025-08-06 19:00 - 21:00
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 really is no longer any reason to keep this group going. However, we do feel some obligation to explain these findings to those who come to subsequent meetings and who are not as enlightened as we will be – sort of an intellectual noblesse oblige. So, we’ll keep at it for a while, anyway. 😊

Philosophy Study Group
2025-09-10 19:00 - 21:00
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 I and II.

The book is readily available and lists for about $21 in paperback and $9 as an eBook, but can be found for much less. It has won several awards, including the Time magazine nonfiction book of the year. It was also nominated for several more, including the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize, and two different PEN America Awards. And to top it off, we’ll be discussing it in the award-winning MISF Philosophy Study Group, having captured the Best Philosophical Discussion Group in Minnesota for 2024. Or, at least, we would have if there was such a thing.

Philosophy Study Group
2025-10-08 19:00 - 21:00
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 us are not very pretty either.

Philosophy Study Group
2025-11-12 19:00 - 21:00
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; the resilience of caste; and what can be done to counter this.

At this point I planned on including a really clever comment designed to make everyone smile. However, considering the gravity of the topic and our current political climate, saying something amusing didn’t seem appropriate. Even if you don’t attend our meeting, I hope you can still read this excellent book as well as other writings concerning our current situation. I regard today’s circumstances as an existential threat to our democracy, fueled by scapegoating and racism. But the MISF Philosophy Study Group is doing their part by eliminating all of our hereditary positions. (Sorry, couldn’t help it.)

Curt

Philosophy Study Group
2025-12-10 19:00 - 21:00
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 each of them are also available. Read the three and see what they say to you regarding your existence. I mean, beyond just the fact that you’re still alive.

Curt

Here are three sites they can be found.

The Wall
https://www.scribd.com/document/662934896/OceanofPDF-com-the-Wall-Jean-Paul-Sartre

No Exit
https://ia600303.us.archive.org/13/items/NoExit/NoExit.pdf

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Hemingway pages

Philosophy Study Group
2026-01-14 19:00 - 21:00
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 and eventual falling out of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. It’s aimed at the general reader who has some familiarity with philosophy, or at least existentialism, and is not a difficult read. It even has pictures. For the 14th, we’ll read the first 10 chapters. That’s READ the first 10 chapters, not just look at the pictures. The book is not that easy.
Curt

Philosophy Study Group
2026-02-11 19:00 - 21:00
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. But whatever is decided, it will be done by those who show up. Jus’ sayin’.

Philosophy Study Group
2026-03-11 19:00 - 21:00
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 was only 34 when she died, but her writings have been enormously influential. She strongly believed that one’s philosophy should be lived. The MISF Philosophy Study Group thinks that, too, and will do it if we ever figure things out.

Philosophy Study Group
2026-04-08 19:00 - 21:00
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 her primary contribution to philosophy. However you may feel, we hope you’re rooting for us as we dig into her ideas.
Curt

Philosophy Study Group
2026-06-10 19:00 - 21:00
We are planning on concluding our discussion of the book, The Sovereignty of Good, by Iris Murdoch. This is a change from our earlier announcement that we would spend three sessions on the book. The remainder of the book is two chapters titled “On ‘God’ and ‘Good’” and “The Sovereignty of Good Over Other Concepts.” Murdoch did not regard herself as a theist, but she does regard ‘Good’ as, while perhaps not a Platonic form, something that rises enough over competing concepts that it deserves the term ‘sovereign’? Good God! The Sovereignty of Good over what!? Be sure to attend and find out!
