About The Workshop
This is a one-day intensive workshop divided into three 90-minute sessions, with 30-minute breaks between sessions.
The workshop focuses on helping participants more readily, fruitfully, and confidently study philosophy outside of the structures of traditional academia.
Many people have a strong desire to study philosophy, but they're not sure where or how to start. Or they encounter difficulties, obstacles, and uncertainties that hold them back. Some wonder whether they're "doing it right", or making sufficient progress in their studies. Others are looking for where they can find resources, interlocutors, or communities.
This workshop is intended to help participants out with all of those concerns, and to provide a lot more as well.
It has its origins in common questions and issues about studying philosophy, asked by people from a wide range of backgrounds, in situations ranging from talks and workshops to online ask me anything (AMA) sessions, from emails and private messages to social media posts, from individual tutorial sessions to classes I've offered.
Check Out Our Curriculum
- Overview Of Part 1 Of The Seminar
- Link For Seminar Part 1 - 9:00 AM Central Time
- Discussion Forum: Thinking About Your Goals In Studying (for before session)
- Discussion Forum: Making Yourself A Manageable Study Plan (for after session)
- Handout - Some Main Areas in Philosophy
- Reading Philosophical Texts: Some Useful Advice
- Links To Reading Lists For Studying Philosophy (for comparison)
- Overview Of Part 2 Of The Seminar
- Link For Seminar Part 2 - 11:00 AM Central Time
- Discussion Forum 3: Note-Taking, Annotation, And Other Aids (for before session)
- Discussion Forum 4: How You Perceive Or Measure Progress (for after session)
- Considering Genre Of Philosophical Texts
- Different Types Of Secondary Sources
- Links To Selected Reliable Secondary Sources
- Overview Of Part 3 Of The Seminar
- Link For Seminar Part 3 - 1:00 PM Central Time
- Discussion Forum 5: Your Concerns About Time (for before session)
- Discussion Forum 6: Your Most Important "Takeaway" (for after session)
- Different Ways To Think About Time And Study
- Selected Links To Online Philosophy Communities
About The Instructor
After a successful career as a college professor, researcher, and administrator, I started our company, ReasonIO to help people study and apply philosophy in public, practical, and professional contexts. I continue teaching philosophy, literature, religious studies, and humanities courses at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
I take difficult philosophical texts, thinkers, and topics, and make them accessible for everyday people. That's how philosophy gets traction and remains closely connected with real life!
From 2016 to 2022, I served as the Editor of Stoicism Today. I remain a member of the Modern Stoicism, ltd. team. I am also the producer of the Half Hour Hegel series. I have authored one book (Reason Fulfilled By Revelation), edited two volumes (Stoicism Today Selected Essays, volume 3 and volume 4), and published dozens of articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries. Although I work in significant part outside of the academy, I remain actively engaged in research and scholarship.
I have held a Research Residency at the Institute for Saint Anselm Studies, been a Visiting Scholar position at European Graduate School, and was a Charles Chesnutt Library Fellow. I am also an APPA-certified Philosophical Counselor.
