Posted on Thursday, August 9, 2018

The Philosopher Within You

One-sheet for SOPHIA Conversations

One-Sheet in Adobe PDF.

SOPHIA is grateful for permission from Dr. Andrew Pessin to share with you the following excerpt, “The Philosopher Within You,” from his book The 60-Second Philosopher. Leaders of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter got together to prepare for our next chapter meeting, read over Pessin’s essay, and drafted some guiding questions for our newest one-sheet document. These documents are meant to make the facilitation of fun, meaningful conversations easy.

The authors of the questions include Caroline A. Buchanan, Erik Jarvis, James William Lincoln, and Eric Thomas Weber. Click on the adobe logo on right or on the image of the one-sheet here to open a printable, Adobe PDF version of the one-sheet, which we plan to print front and back (keeping it on one sheet…).

For a printable Adobe PDF of the One-Sheet, click on this image or on the Adobe logo above.

Thanks to Dr. Pessin for permission to use this excerpt! We plan on prepare a number of one-sheets based on short essays from his book.

SOPHIA chapters interested in a copy of Pessin’s book can request one from SOPHIA by emailing Eric Thomas Weber at etweber@gmail.com. Anyone interested is encouraged to get a copy of the book too: Andrew Pessin, The 60-Second Philosopher (London: One-World Publications, 2013).

Photo of a meeting on July 24th, 2018, of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter, on "Disagreement," in which all many are laughing and smiling.

Photo of a meeting on July 24th, 2018, of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter, on “Disagreement,” held at the Good Foods Coop in Lexington, KY. If you live in or near central Kentucky, consider following the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter’s MeetUp.com profile.

This session will be moderated by Greg, who has a PhD in philosophy, specializing in epistemology, theories of knowledge.

It is very difficult, if not impossible, for human beings to base their beliefs on evidence. If we value evidence-based-belief very highly, this can be a difficult idea to live with. If we do not value evidence-based-belief very highly, we will be vulnerable to charlatans, demagogues, and propagandists. How do we cope?

Skeptical looking cat, with header: 'Skeptical cat is fraught with skepticism.'

Creative commons license.

This session will be divided into multiple sections in which the moderator will give a brief presentation before inviting open discussion. No advanced reading is required, but some passages from primary philosophical texts will be introduced as topics of discussion. Recommended reading is listed only for those who want to dive deeper on their own.

To RSVP, visit the Seattle SOPHIA chapter’s MeetUp page for the event!

Section #1: Overview of Skepticism
Types of skepticism (Academic, Pyrrhonian, Scientific) and other necessary terminology that will give us a foundation for further discussion. Some general arguments for skepticism.
Recommended reading:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeptical_movement

Section #2: Socrates
Socrates believes that no human being has knowledge of virtue, and can therefore be thought to be a moral skeptic. He nevertheless acts in ways that suggest that he has very strongly held moral beliefs. Is Socrates a skeptic? What can we learn from his philosophical practice?
Recommended reading: Plato, particularly the Meno, but also Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Hippias Minor.

Section #3: Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne advocates for Pyrrhonian skepticism on the grounds that it creates room for faith. Is this a contradiction? Is it a model for how to cope with skepticism?
Recommended reading: Michel de Montaigne, Apology for Raymond Sebond

Section #4: Hume
Hume famously argues that scientific beliefs are ultimately unjustified, because they rely on assumptions that cannot be justified either empirically or a priori. In the same text, Hume recommends a form of mitigated skepticism on the grounds that it destroys harmful superstition and metaphysics, in favor of more modest scientific inquiry. Is this a contradiction? Is it a model for how to cope with skepticism?
Recommended reading: David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Date:	April 15, 2018
Time:	01:30-4:45 p.m.
Event:	Skepticism in Practice - Seattle SOPHIA Chapter Mtg
Sponsor:	The Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA) 859.257.1849
Venue:	University Branch - The Seattle Public Library (206) 684-4063
Location:	5009 Roosevelt Way Northeast Seattle, WA
Public:	Public

If you haven't already, consider joining SOPHIA!

Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Photos from the Seattle SOPHIA Chapter’s March Meeting

Check out this cool event that the Seattle SOPHIA Chapter organized on “Artificial Intelligence and Doomsday,” posted on MeetUp.com. Here are a few pictures from the gathering:

Photo of the gathering at the Seattle SOPHIA Chapter meeting in March of 2018.

Photos courtesy of Gene Lin.

It looks like a great group. The event details on their MeetUp.com page reads as follows:

Is AI an existential threat to humanity? This will be a philosophically oriented discussion of the issue (but we will have at least one AI expert in attendance). We will consider the work of the philosopher Nick Bostrom, the philosophical engine behind an idea which has been championed by Elon Musk, and supported by people such as Bill Gates, Steven Hawking, and Stuart Russell.

There is no required reading, but some potentially helpful links are below:

Good summary of the issues from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_risk_from_artificial_general_intelligence

An argument for AI safety, with a good table summarizing the various “myths” around advanced artificial intelligence – for example, the myth that machines cannot have goals, or the myth that potential AI consciousness is a relevant issue.

https://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/

Some profiles of a few prominent people involved in the AI safety movement:

Article about Bostrom:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/23/doomsday-invention-artificial-intelligence-nick-bostrom

Article about Elon Musk’s crusade:
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/elon-musk-billion-dollar-crusade-to-stop-ai-space-x

If you live in or near Seattle, Washington, consider joining this chapter here and meeting up with them! Their next event is scheduled for May, 2018.

On Thursday, March 22nd at 8pm U.S. Eastern Time, SOPHIA is holding our next online symposium, on “Plato’s Cave Today.” Join us!

Anthony Cashio will be our facilitator for this event. This meeting will be about the content of our very first episode of Philosophy Bakes Bread, but there is no homework to prepare in advance of this meeting. If you want to listen to the episode, you’re encouraged to do it, but we will proceed with the assumption that some or many have not had a chance to hear it.

SOPHIA aims to hold genuinely conversational meetings. We have a facilitator or two each time, but the idea is not to hear a presentation and then ask questions, but instead to have a very brief introduction to a topic, give everyone sufficient time to read our one-sheet document for this event, and then we open the floor to discussion about it.

Thursday’s meeting will be about difficulties obtaining and knowing the truth, about the ways in which media frame our understanding of facts, and about the challenges that emerge as a result for trusting politicians, journalists, scientists, and others. At the same time, trust is important and yet ideals of objectivity may well be unattainable. We will have fun talking about these topics, going where our conversation takes us.

To prepare for an online symposium, please be sure to:

a) situate yourself in a quiet space (or else the moderator will mute your microphone)

b) have a working Web cam, microphone, and headphones (otherwise, your mic may pick up your speakers)

c) be connected to a great internet connection

d) pause or turn off file-syncing software, like Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, etc.

e) mute phones

f) Know that we will be recording this event and posting it on YouTube and on our Web site. Participation is taken to be permission to be recorded.

We’ll be connecting via:

Zoom Video conferencing using this link:

https://uky.zoom.us/j/249753269

Date:	March 22, 2018
Time:	08:00-9:30 p.m.
Event:	Plato's Cave Today: Online Symposium
Sponsor:	The Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA) 859.257.1849
Venue:	Zoom Video Conferencing Platform
Public:	Public