What we’re about
We're a community that practices and discusses philosophy, being free and open to all levels and backgrounds. We offer seminars, a variety of discussion formats, and the occasional lecture / guest speaker.
Many meetings will have fewer RSVPs than people who actually attend. This is because overtime people stop making use of Meetup.com and instead communicate with their groups via Discord, Slack, Zoom, E-mail, or similar You can think of the list of events hosted on this Meetup as advertisements for groups seeking new participants.
Our philosophy offerings are organized and facilitated by volunteers. If you have a philosophy offering - or an offering that compliments the study of philosophy, such as in literature, the sciences, and so on - that you'd like to advertise through this Meetup, please contact the organizer. We're grateful to those who want to enrich Seattle with study and discussion!
Participants must speak, write, and act in a considerate, professional, and respectful manner, and be prepared for the meetings that they attend, having reviewed the materials to the degree necessary to participate. If you haven't reviewed the materials but still wish to attend an event, please consult the event facilitator regarding the best manner for you to be present.
We look forward to studying philosophy together!
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Bataille's 'logic': On heterologyLink visible for attendees
If Bataille's thought has a "method" or "logic", it is what he calls heterology -- the logos of the other. We take up this topic this week with two texts:
"The Use Value of D. A. F. de Sade", p. 91 in the collection Visions of Excess
"Definition of heterology", available as a PDFYou can find all texts in the Google folder linked at the BOTTOM of this description (also the Zoom link) -- scroll all the way down 👇
We're starting Bataille's novel Blue of Noon (also in the Google Drive). We'll read it individually over several weeks, then dedicate a meeting to it (date TBA).
Please take the time to read and reflect on the reading prior to the meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend, but speaking priority will be given to people who have read the text.
Tentative schedule
Apr 12: Bataille's ontology: The labyrinth and the death of the self
Apr 19: Bataille's 'logic': On heterology
Apr 26: Bataille's ethics of excess: Chance, myth and the eroticFuture topics:
- Bataille's aesthetics: the rift with Surrealism
- Blue of Noon
- Personal sovereignty and inner experience
- Erotics and the 'logic' of transgression
- Bataille and/vs Deleuze
- Foucault's "A Preface to Transgression"
- Hegel, the negative and general economy
- Derrida's "From Restricted to General Economy"
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ABOUT THIS GROUP
This is a reading group of several texts of Georges Bataille with a focus on his philosophy of life. Bataille stands out as an eclectic, fascinating and controversial figure in the world of French letters. A contemporary of Sartre and Lacan, he combined ideas from diverse disciplines to create a unique position that he labeled 'base materialism' and which could equally be called 'ecstatic materialism'. Keeping outside the academic mainstream (he worked as a librarian), Bataille writes at the intersection of multiple disciplines including philosophy, psychoanalysis, sociology, mythology, and mystical theology. His works develop a libidinal economy, offer a critique of fascism and embrace marginal experiences in the style of the French poets. He is a formative precursor to the post-structuralist philosophers of the '60s -- and may well be more relevant in our time than ever.We'll start with Bataille's early writings on Nietzsche and make our way through his important concepts over a number of weeks. We'll aim to understand Bataille's thought on its own terms as well as to place him in the context of the German thinkers that preceded him and the French philosophers who followed his lead. In view of Bataille's early relationship with Surrealism, the referenced artworks will spotlight this movement.
Note: Bataille's texts, while philosophically important, discuss difficult themes such as mortality, the unconscious, eroticism, primeval social practices, etc. Keep this in mind as you approach him, especially if this is your first experience with French philosophy.
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GROUP RULES
- Please spend 1-2 hours per week reading and preparing for the discussion.
- Keep your comments concise and relevant to the text.
- Please limit each comment to a maximum of 2-3 minutes. You're welcome to speak as many times as you wish.
- Virtual meeting courtesy: let's not interrupt each other and keep mics muted when not speaking.
- We'll focus the discussion with key passages and discussion questions. Be sure to bring your favorite passages, questions, comments, criticisms, etc.
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A FEW NOTES ON THIS WEEK'S TEXT
TBA
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Join the Facebook group for more resources and discussion:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/755460079505498
If you have attended previous meetings, please fill out a brief survey at this link: https://forms.gle/tEMJ4tw2yVgnTsQD6All readings can be found in this Google folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VPRdvZYmUKBY3cSxD8xC8sTYtSEKBXDs
Zoom link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81251109319?pwd=R3hVQ2RqcVBvaHJwYnoxMFJ5OXJldz09Art: The Entire City (1935) by Max Ernst
- Marathon Discussions —Philosophy,Politics- Human psychology and more..Link visible for attendees
- EXPECT a large crowd!
- https://www.meetup.com/mindshearts-without-borders/events/tdfdssydcfbqb/
- *🔴 CAMERA and MIC MANDATORY
- Zoom link posts 15–30min. to the meeting.
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SOCIALIZE with INTELLIGENT FRIENDS from AROUND the GLOBE @ our MARATHON SATURDAYS!
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Discussions for 10-16 hours✨✨💥
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Bring your Topic, concerns, questions, thoughts..nonestop however, there would be no more new entrees after the first 8 hours. ( 5:00am EST)
If you crave stimulating conversations, discussions, debates, socializing with interesting international friends, and/or .. You feel lonely,Are an insomniac,
join us!********************************************
Discussions will include a variety of topics presented by our members;💥💥
- Various branches of philosophy
- Politics
- psychology & Human behaviour
- metaphysics
- science , artificial Intelligence & etc.
- metaphorical philosophy & Poetry
- happy Room! Meet intelligent International friends,
And.. there’s always more. Come and go as you wish.
It is meant to lift our spirits and help us forget about all the serious issues we deal with during the week.
We engage in life’s matters in productive comprehensive ways suitable for almost all curious.Whether you enjoy the every day language of tackling life dilemmas OR analytical philosophyor maybe just need some company to engage in meaningful conversations, you may join and enter a breakout room with .. the other birds.. of a feather!
We cover everything from politics to spirituality, body to soul and.. all else.
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- Life the Universe and Everything .. General Philosophy ChatLink visible for attendees
## Another enjoyable free flowing discussion after the - Melbourne Existentialists meetup - Please feel free to join the Existentialists meeting from 1pm AEST Melbourne Existentialists Society meeting - https://www.meetup.com/existentialist-society/?eventOrigin=event_home_page
Life the Universe Street Philosophy commences at cessation of existentialists meeting.
Some of the many topics we discussed in last week's after discussion , (some of which I could almost follow), were -
Right Wing Mindset v Left
How close can we get to an example of an Objectively Moral Norm?
Where did the laws of physics come from?
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Does Truth exist independent of consciousness?
Hard problem of consciousness.
Conspiracy theories - is there a psychological profile of a habitual conspiracy Theorist.
Previously
Is it possible to have ojective Morality without a concept of God?
Definition of "Information"
How do we know how a particle behaves in an unobserved state if "unobserved" by definition means we don't blinking well see it?
Meaning of meaning in "what is the meaning of life?"
Definition of Language
Ship of Thesis - is the "thing" just a construct?
Tranendentalism
Determinism
Observer effect in quantum physics
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Is there a why to human existence?
Definition of experience.
Method of applying reason.
What does it mean to be "your authentic self?"
Idealism v Realism - ABSOLUTE TRUTH - What does that mean ? does it exist ? Ontology, how equipped are we to fathom the nature of things? HARD PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS: WHERE DOES CONSCIOUSNESS ARISE?: DOES DNA TRANSLATE TO BEHAVIOUR?, IF SO HOW - definition of rationality - origins of "value" - precision of mathematics - concept of infinity.
Have been having some great flowing discussion as topics arise following conclusion of existentialists meeting, Melbourne, Australia. Thanks to all attendees.
General chat for the philosophically inclined about whatever comes up,
suggest topics as suits you or -
- possible topics
Information
- where is the information in an un opened book, does it exist when unobserved?
Reason
- what is the definition of reason
does it exist in physical laws, i.e. if we can we say "the rock fell because of gravity", how is this different to "what is the reason she chose Pepsi max instead of Coke Zero?"
Validity of evolutionary psychology:
- what evidence is there for evolutionarily selected behaviour, given that we cannot observe the history of the emergence of neurological structures as we can observe evolutionarily selected anatomical changes? - Acquiring Character Traits -- Aristotle's Nicomachean EthicsLink visible for attendees
April 20. We will read Aristotle's own explanation for why we human beings, despite our sincere intentions, often suffer a lack of self-control, which, in olden times, is called incontinence or weakness of will.
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Our bookmark is at NE VII.3, second half, 1147a24, if anyone is interested in reading ahead for this Sunday.
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When you're on a diet, and you feel hungry, it matters, according to Aristotle, whether you "see" this piece of cake either as fattening or as sweet.----
We are live-reading and discussing Aristotle's ~Nicomachean Ethics~, book VII, which is about troubleshooting the virtues.
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The prerequisite to this book is our answering for ourselves these questions from the prior books, to which we will briefly review:
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1. What is a virtue of character {ēthikē aretē}?
2. How does one come to acquire it? (E.g. [Aristotle’s], ambition, bravery, gentlemanliness, ambition, …)
3. From a first-person perspective in being virtuous, how does one feel and what does one see (differently, discursively) in a given situation of everyday living?
4. From a third-person perspective, how is the virtuous person (of a specific virtue) to be characterized?
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The project's cloud drive is here, at which you'll find the reading texts, notes, and slideshows.
