This week we are talking about the Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1948. Nobody is expected to have read this important document or be familiar with its contents or the thought of Marx and Engels. All this will be explained at the meeting, although in a necessarily superficial manner. 

Nobody is expected to agree or disagree with the content under discussion but everyone is encouraged to discuss the content in an open-minded and critical fashion. After all that is what makes PhilAnon meetings fun and interesting, everybody putting their thoughts on display for everyone to behold. 

Mr. Durst

Uncle Thomas 

Daniel the spaniel has declared Wednesday April 13's  1 PM meeting Bring-a-Quote day. Everyone is invited to bring one or multiple philosophical quotes to the meeting. They don't have to be capital P philosophy. We'll share them and see what happens from there. There are no special rules, only the ongoing rule of forcing the quiet people to speak against their will, and everyone being sharing and considerate conversation partners like we always are. We are also trying to move the meeting outside if the weather is reasonably tolerable. We will still meet at the room at 1 and then form a human chain to our final destination. 

Thanks in advance for coming

Your Best Friend Ever

Thomas

King Thomas

I hope you exploited your Spring Break to get some non-assigned pleasure reading in.

This Wednesday, from 1 to 2 in PAHB 229, Professor Mike Nance will be presenting on Kant and Fichte and what they can tell us about war, peace and economic globalization. The recent and ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine make this an important and timely discussion to have. I personally am very excited about it and I hope to see you all there!

Tom

This week one of our most consistent meeting attendees, Clarence Snuggs, will be leading us through a discussion on the nature of creativity, what it is and how we measure and assess it.  From there we will consider the ethical complications of artificial intelligence acquiring creativity. 

I hope everyone else is as stoked for this discussion as I am. 

Thomas 

This week, PhilAnon will be depressing. 

We will be taking a look at the political philosophy of the Russian far-right, neo-fascist, "Eurasian" ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin. He has been called "Putin's Brain" in the past and understanding his ideology will be highly instructive for those trying to grasp the horrific and ongoing invasion of Ukraine. It will also be extremely helpful in understanding the rising strength of the global far-right and some of the political philosophies motivating that project. 

In general at PhilAnon, we present what we find appetizing. We discuss ideas we find exciting and would like others to be excited about too. Even if we don't necessarily agree with the arguments we present to one another we  generally present material with a "hey check this cool thing out!" vibe. But this is not that type of presentation. Not all philosophy is pretty and thinking that a particular argument is important to understand should not not be considered an endorsement or celebration of that argument. 

I personally hope everyone finds these ideas abhorrent.

Thomas 

Mr. Dan says:

Thomas

Curtis is going to talk to us about philosophy of humor tomorrow. Come help me heckle him. We meet in 229 in PAHB at 1. 

Lord Thomas.