Philosophy

We will continue reading The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper with chapters 3, 4, and 5. If you are interested in joining this discussion, but have not read Part I (chapters 1 and 2), this section of Popper's book has been condensed by Squashed Philosophers. It is not breaking the rules to read…

We will continue reading The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper with chapters 3, 4, and 5. If you are interested in joining this discussion, but have not read Part I (chapters 1 and 2), this section of Popper's book has been condensed by Squashed Philosophers. It is not breaking the rules to read…

We are reading The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper. The next meeting will cover chapters 6 and 7. I would like to mention that the people who attend our meetings are definitely not from any sort of, let us say, fecal hollow. They're really more Norwegian-like. You are welcome to join us no…

We are reading The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper. The next meeting will cover chapters 6 and 7. I would like to mention that the people who attend our meetings are definitely not from any sort of, let us say, fecal hollow. They're really more Norwegian-like. You are welcome to join us no…

We will be reading chapter 8 of The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper. This chapter goes into the details of his attempts to define what is meant by probability as it is used in science. It is a long chapter and includes some mathematics. Knowing that there are some who would prefer not…

We will be reading chapter 8 of The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper. This chapter goes into the details of his attempts to define what is meant by probability as it is used in science. It is a long chapter and includes some mathematics. Knowing that there are some who would prefer not…

We will finish our reading of The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper. Note that there is only one session this time. And while any topic from the book on philosophy of science will be entertained. we will focus on the last two chapters, which are on quantum theory and corroboration. If thinking about the former…

Our new book is Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (2017) by Max Tegmark. This book can be purchased new for around $16 in paperback and for about the same price as an ebook and hardback. How AI will affect us individually and socially is one of the great questions for our time.…

We will read chapters 3 and 4 of Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark. For this meeting we are going to try something different. In keeping with the spirit of the book, rather than having an intelligent conversation, we are going to attempt to SIMULATE an intelligent conversation. Come and…

(Note the Thursday meeting this time.) We are still working on our book, Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark. We will continue our examination of the promise and threat of artificial intelligence by reading chapters 5 and 6. Read carefully. Humanity could depend on you.

We will finish our book Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark. The last chapters include analyses of goals and consciousness and their relation to artificial intelligence. So, how many rights are we going to give artificial intelligence – or maybe vice-versa? I suggest that you set a goal to consciously…

We are starting a new book, Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery (2013), by Rupert Sheldrake. This book was originally published in Great Britain in 2012 under the title, The Science Delusion. For the 11th we'll read through chapter 3. It can be had for under $15 in paperback and for about $12 as an ebook. Sheldrake…

We will discuss chapters 4 – 8 of the book, Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery by Rupert Sheldrake. Sheldrake had no defenders in our first session on this book, but we still had a good discussion. Imagine what might happen if someone agrees with him.

We will conclude our discussion of Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery by Rupert Sheldrake. Sheldrake is known for his theory of morphic resonance, which some consider a pseudo-science in spite of Sheldrake's first-rate scientific credentials. Here's the good news. Morphic will be there. See if you can resonate with him (her? It?).

We will be starting a new book for this meeting: Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things that Matter (2016) by Peter Singer. This book can be purchased in paperback for around $15 and as an ebook for around $10. Singer is a bit controversial because of some of his positions, particularly concerning animal…

We are reading the book Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things that Matter by Peter Singer. This is the sort of book you can jump around in, so that's what we're going to do. For the tenth we'll read the following sections: Beyond the Ethic of the Sanctity of Life, Bioethics and Public…

We will continue reading Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things that Matter by Peter Singer. This time we will cover the sections on Animals, Politics, and Global Governance. The discussion will be conducted under guidelines laid down by the United Nations Committee on Reasonably Adequate Verbal Exchanges (RAVE) as interpreted by the…

We will finish our book, Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things that Matter, by Peter Singer. The sections we haven't read yet are Sex and Gender; Doing Good; Science and Technology; and Living, Playing, Working. If any of these interest you, be sure to join us.

We are going to discuss Plato's dialogue Phaedrus for this meeting. If you don't already have a copy of this dialogue, it is readily available online. Project Gutenburg (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1636) has it in several different ebook-type formats, but if you prefer plain text or PDF, you can go to http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/phaedrus.html. There are also summaries and outlines available,…

We are turning to the topic of philosophy of science with an examination of a book considered a classic in this field: The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper. First published in Germany in 1934, Popper rewrote it for the English edition in 1959. He later added chapters on quantum mechanics and corroboration as…

We will start reading one of the most influential books written by a native of Minneapolis, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974), by Robert Pirsig. This book may already be in your library or, if not, it can be had for less than $8 (the 25thanniversary paperback edition of 2006), or…

The next MISF Philosophy Study Group meeting will be in two sessions. Session 1 will be on Monday, January 28, and session 2 will be Wednesday, January 30. Both will be at 7:00 pm at Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis, and both will cover the same ground: Part III of Zen and the Art of…

The MISF Philosophy Study Group scheduled for Wednesday, January 30, has been rescheduled for Wednesday, February 6. It will be at 7:00 pm at Curran's Restaurant in Minneapolis. We will be discussing Part III of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig. No matter how you feel about the book,…

The MISF Philosophy Study Group will once again meet in two sessions. Session 1 will be on Monday, February 18, and session 2 will be Wednesday, February 20. Both will discuss Part IV, the last section of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig. Pirsig, a Minneapolis native, wrote this surprise…

The MISF Philosophy Study Group will once again meet in two sessions. Session 1 will be on Monday, February 18, and session 2 will be Wednesday, February 20. Both will discuss Part IV, the last section of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig. Pirsig, a Minneapolis native, wrote this surprise…

We are going to dip our toe into Martin Heidegger's seminal work, Being and Time. First published in 1927, Being and Time is considered one of the most important philosophy books of the 20th century. This book is neither short nor easy, so we will read and discuss the introduction to see how far we want to delve into it.

We have decided to try a different tack into the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and examine his idea of phenomenology. He disagreed with Edmund Husserl, the person who is most credited with establishing phenomenology as a modern discipline. We will try to take a look at exactly what Heidegger's disagreements were and what it means…