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Epistemology Study Group

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Free Thinker

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I have an idea for (yet another) study group. This one pertains to the study of epistemology. I plan on dividing it up into several sections, but here is a tentative list:

Part I - History (prior to 20th Century)

Plato - "Theaetetus"

Aristotle - "Posterior Analytics"

René Descartes - "Meditations"

John Locke - "Essay Concerning Human Understanding"

David Hume - "An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding"

Immanuel Kant - "Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics"

Part II - Objectivism

- ITOE

- relavant OPAR sections

- Binswanger's articles and lectures

Part II - Current Controversy (20th Century - now)

- Phenomenology

- Logical Analysis

(to be decided)

Thoughts?

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I want to make this study group as managable and as fun as possible. I am probably going to be amazingly busy when school starts, so I am trying to construct a light schedule. I am thinking; once a week (Sundays work great for me) and small assignments each week. Instead of formal answers to pre-assigned questions, I think just reading the material and posting one's thoughts is best. I wouldn't be able to commit if the demands are too great, so I would rather err on the side on too little control. That way, people are free to come and go as they please. People's posts, of course, could/should be highly moderated; so they can't just say things with no referent in a particular work. Sound fair? I think that if at least 5 people (including myself) commit or at least express interest, we can get started.

Edited by Free Thinker
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See sections titled, "Contemporary approaches", and "Epistemological theories" esp. .
Okay, do you concretely propose that we discuss Gettier problems and why they aren't problems given Objectivist epistemology? (Since that's sort of what's at the top of the "Contemporary approaches" part).
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Is this going to be moving forward? If so, around when, so those of us who are interested can make sure we have all of the necessary texts.

Well, do you think a three person study group would be very fruitful? (no sarcasm intended) I suppose we can get started, and perhaps attract more people later. That actually sounds good.

Okay, let's begin! First up, Plato's Theaetetus.

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Well, do you think a three person study group would be very fruitful? (no sarcasm intended) I suppose we can get started, and perhaps attract more people later. That actually sounds good.

Okay, let's begin! First up, Plato's Theaetetus.

A three-person group is more fruitful than no group at all. :lol: When should we try to have Theaetetus completed by?

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A three-person group is more fruitful than no group at all. :lol: When should we try to have Theaetetus completed by?

True ;). I don't have the book in front of me, but I remember it was about 100, maybe 120 pages long. 15 pages a week sounds reasonable, so about 8 weeks. (March 14, to answer your question)

Hmm...that seems like a long time. Well, let's stick to that for now, and we can adjust it later.

Make it four. I'm in.

Good.

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Two months to read a hundred and twenty pages? Wow, is this before the discussion is even to start? How about 2 weeks? Or we could have discussions after everyone finishes x amount of reading.

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I don't have the book in front of me, but I remember it was about 100, maybe 120 pages long.
It's more like 60-something. This translation is easy to use, but the Perseus Project version has more bells and whistles (such as: the Greek text in parallel). The full text of Jowett's translation including his analysis is twice that size. However they have frequent-enough server problems that it could be annoying to depend on them. It would help, btw, to decide whether to start with the dialogue and procede to the analysis. This summary is pretty short so it might be a good first-read, followed by the dialogue, then Jowett's analysis. Anyhow, that's a suggestion.
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It's more like 60-something. This translation is easy to use, but the Perseus Project version has more bells and whistles (such as: the Greek text in parallel). The full text of Jowett's translation including his analysis is twice that size. However they have frequent-enough server problems that it could be annoying to depend on them. This summary is pretty short so it might be a good first-read, followed by the dialogue, then Jowett's analysis. Anyhow, that's a suggestion.

Good thoughts all around. Like I said earlier, I would rather err on the side of laxity then have everyone drop out because it is too much reading. 60 pages? Wow, I was off. I still say 15 pages a week is solid. It should then take us only a month to read it.

To answer EC's question, the plan is read the selection for the week, then post your thoughts whenever you feel like it (during that week). If you guys are up for it, we can have a live chat session on Sundays or something. I can ask SoftwareNerd how to set that up (if you guys are interested).

Tommorow will be the official start. You guys will have until the following Sunday to get a hold of the text (at a library, bookstore, or using David's links), and read the first 15 pages.

It would help, btw, to decide whether to start with the dialogue and procede to the analysis. This summary is pretty short so it might be a good first-read, followed by the dialogue, then Jowett's analysis. Anyhow, that's a suggestion.

No, I think it is better to read the text first and then analysis. On harder books analysis may help us explicate the text better, but Plato is pretty straight forward.

Edited by Free Thinker
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Tommorow will be the official start. You guys will have until the following Sunday to get a hold of the text (at a library, bookstore, or using David's links), and read the first 15 pages.
Maybe we should use the standard text references just for clarity, since the page count can differ substantially depending on print format. For example, we could read up to 164a.
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