This page contains the resources that we have found useful. It is an eclectic list. It contains everything from quotes and books to podcasts, videos, and slideshows.
If you don’t want to scroll through the entire list, you can click on one of the links below and filter the resources by specific category.
We will update this list as we discover new resources. If you have a resource you think we should add, please email the Executive Director (etweber@gmail.com).
SOPHIA has organized two panels to be held at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association. The second will take place on Thursday, January 10 from 1:30–4:30 p.m. See program code: G17B for the room location. The panel is titled:
If you're not currently a member of the Society of Philosophers in America, consider joining here.
SOPHIA has organized two panels to be held at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association. The first will take place on Wednesday, January 9 from 11:15am-1:15pm. See program code: G11F for the room location. The panel is titled:
Grace Joy Cebrero (University of Minnesota), “Actually, Nobody Cares: The Ethics of Care in Navigating the Workplace as an Invisibly Disabled Colleague”
Tommy J. Curry (Texas A&M University), “Orthopedic Injury, Pain Management, and Regenerative Medicine”
Nate Jackson (Capital University), “Individualisms and Security Measures: Producing and Performing Disability”
Eric T. Weber (University of Kentucky), “Stoic Pragmatism for Parenting a Child with Disabilities”
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?
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.
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
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.
