About us
This is a study group, or book club if you will, for the thoughtful reading and discussion of the great classic literature in philosophy, psychology, sociology and related areas throughout history.
Each event will have a syllabus of reading that should be done before the event, and the participants are expected to have done the reading and prepared for a discussion.
Depending on the members in the group, we can branch out into related topics and/or media forms.
The event will be free of charge and are not affiliated with any organization. The place can vary, but will likely be at some café of choice. In order to have good discussion while giving everyone the time and space to talk, we prefer the discussion groups to be a maximum of 10 people. If an event has more attendees, we'll split into smaller sub-groups.
That said, we are here to have fun and any guideline can be changed if we want it to!
Note
Currently, the organisation of this group, as well as member discussions, happens on Discord. Join us there using this link if you'd like to participate.
Upcoming events
2
Thomas Nagel: "Subjective and Objective"
ilcaffè, Södermannagatan 23, Stockholm, SEOBS!!! This is a cross-post for an event being arranged via the Discord server. While you're free to sign up here, bear in mind that all discussion happens on Discord, and this group may be unmonitored. Please join the Discord server!
OBS 2!! The venue is not as large as used to be. Please keep your RSVP up to date, and only join if your RSVP is confirmed.
"Subjective and Objective" is one of Thomas Nagel’s most influential essays, exploring the fundamental tension between the first-person perspective—the way things seem to us from within our own minds—and the third-person perspective, the objective, external view of the world. Nagel argues that this divide is not just philosophical but existential, shaping how we understand consciousness, morality, and even our own identities. With his signature clarity and wit, he asks: How can we reconcile the subjective experience of being alive with the objective reality of the world? This essay remains a cornerstone of debates about the mind, ethics, and the limits of human understanding.
Thomas Nagel is an American philosopher and professor at New York University from 1980 until 2016. He is known for his critiques of reductionist and materialist approaches to consciousness, as well as his explorations of moral objectivity and justice. “What's it like to be a bat?” Is his most famous essay.
Where you can read the text
The essay is 18 pages long and can be read as a PDF here.
Also, it is the final essay in the book-length collection Mortal Questions; Mortal questions can be found in libraries as well as in akademibokhandeln, ad libris and the like.14 attendees
Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis
ilcaffè, Södermannagatan 23, Stockholm, SEThis time we're reading Kafka's The Metamorphosis (1915). Travelling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect. What follows is less a horror story than a sustained philosophical meditation. Kafka never explains the transformation — it simply is, accepted with dreamlike matter-of-factness. Through Gregor's gradual estrangement from language, work, family, and finally his own body, the novella asks sharp questions that resonate with existentialist, Marxist, and psychoanalytic thought alike: What is a person's worth when they can no longer be productive? How does identity survive when the body betrays it? Can love persist when care becomes burden?
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Stockholm Philosophy Study group is a group for thoughtful discussion on philosophical topics. Everyone is welcome regardless of previous philosophical experience, but we would like everyone you to read the text ahead of time as the conversation will revolve around it. This is a space were we learn from and listen to each other, our focus is on deliberation, not debate. If we are a large group, remember to leave room for everybody's voices to be heard. We read all sorts of philosophical texts, some are easier and some are difficult. If you don't understand everything, don't worry, we will make sense of it together. Our meetups are at a public café, so if you participate, please buy something from the café to support them.
Please note that this is a cross-post for an event being arranged via the Discord server. Discussion between meetups happens on Discord, and this group may be unmonitored. If you join the server you also get to vote on our coming readings, so please consider joining.
Hope to see you at the meetup!
15 attendees
Past events
91
Group links
Members
1,892
