The Department of Philosophy has a variety of reading groups for faculty and graduate students. If you're interested in joining one of the below groups, reach out to the Department at philosophy@illinois.edu for more information.
Workshops
Practical Philosophy Workshop (PPW)
Meetings: Generally, Tuesdays 6-8 pm
The Practical Philosophy workshop meets once a month to discuss (pre-circulated) work in progress by faculty and graduate students. The workshop covers all topics, contemporary and historical, that pertain to normative ethics, meta-ethics, applied ethics, moral psychology, practical reason, philosophy of action, social and political philosophy, and philosophy of law.
Theoretical Philosophy Workshop (TPW)
Meetings: Generally, once a month on Wednesdays from 6-8 pm
The Theoretical Philosophy workshop meets once a month to discuss (pre-circulated) work in progress by faculty and graduate students. The workshop covers any topic in theoretical philosophy broadly construed, including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, logic, linguistics, semantics, etc.
Reading Groups
Philosophy of Religion Reading Group
Meetings: Every other Thursday from 5:30-7:00 pm
The PRRG meets biweekly to discuss topics and debates under the purview of philosophy of religion, theology, and the like. Readings range from the basic to advanced level in an attempt to integrate those of all levels of familiarity with the topic. In particular, we've looked most so far at arguments for God's existence and the epistemology of religious belief. In the future we hope to cover in addition: arguments against God's existence, the metaphysics of God, the relationship between science and religion, and philosophy of non-Judeo-Christian faiths. The reading group is very casual and all interested are welcome & encouraged to join for future meetings!
Analytic Philosophy Reading Group
Meetings: Every other Monday from 1-3 pm
The purpose of the reading group is to get more familiar with some of the central figures in the (early) analytic tradition in Western philosophy. Thus far, we have focused on early analytic philosophers of language and logic, the logical positivists and figures in the Vienna circle, as well as early analytic ethical intuitionists and expressivists.
Social Metaphysics/Ontology Reading Group (SMORG)
Meetings: Every other Tuesday, from 1-2:30 pm.
SMORG is concerned with getting familiar with contemporary debates in social metaphysics and ontology. Specific topics have included philosophy of social groups, gender, race, the normativity of social norms, and the metaphysics of law.
Philosophy in Latin Reading Group
Meetings: Wednesdays from 11-1 pm
The goal of the group is to read and discuss the work of Latin-language authors in the original Latin in order to avoid distortions from translators. Beginner-friendly language instruction and guided readings in philosophy are the focus, but research-related questions and discussion are more than welcome.
Chinese Philosophy Reading Group
Meetings: Weekly during winter and summer break.
We are a group of graduate students interested in comparative Chinese philosophy :) Our reading group was founded by graduate students at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign during the winter break of 2024. Since then, we have read and discussed topics including Wang Yangming's concept of genuine knowledge (or the unity of knowledge and action), Zhuangzi's epistemology, Rawl's theory of justice and global distributive justice from Mencius perspective, and more recently, shame in ancient Chinese philosophy.