Send donations via Zelle to: donate@philosophersforum.org

Send donations via Venmo to: Dallas Philosophers

Lectures start promptly at 7:30PM and are held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month September 2025 through December 9, 2025.   Our meetings are held at the New New Chinese Buffet,  3822 Belt Line Road, Addison, TX 75001 (972) 243-1198,   Zoom access will NOT be available. 

9-9-2025   What Happens to the Brain in Near Death Experience

Speaker: David Alkek, MD

Present research is active in one of the last frontiers, the human brain, mind, and consciousness. The study of Near-Death Experiences is one of those branches. We will look closely at what is happening in the brain in these phenomena, and ideas of the separation of mind and possible existence after physical death of the body.

9-23-2025 William James and Issues Around Knowledge, Mysticism, Faith, and a Pragmatic View of the Personal “Religious” Life

Speaker: Eric Palfreyman

In William James’ “Varieties of Religious Experience” James argues for the reality of a “religious experience” relevant to the modern human experience. He takes a look at this psychologically and experientially. Part of his discussion seems to rely on an ambiguous use of language, but this criticism may be premature. James appears to have a way of discussing the mystical/religious experience in a manner that speaks to a modern society based more on science and reason than on superstition, fear, and tradition. But does he succeed, and if so, what does it mean, is it applicable, and if it is applicable, how is it applicable?

10-14-2025  The God Delusion (Or Not)

Speaker: David Pruessner, JD, LLM

Introduction:  Richard Dawkins, author and scientist, submits that belief in god is delusional.  In his book, The God Delusion, he advances several excellent arguments that belief in god is irrational.  He concludes that our world is random; having neither design nor designer.  Others disagree.  Scientists, including Carl Sagan and Sir Fred Hoyle, have insisted that our universe is not random.  Instead, our universe is “intelligent.” And, our universe seems to have been “finely tuned” to make both physical matter and life possible. 

Like Dawkins, scientists focus only on the physical world; the world that can be objectively tested and measured.  However, as philosophy constantly reminds us, there is another world.  The great French scientist Blaise Pascal taught that we live in two worlds.  One is our physical world, which we experience via our rational mind and empirical examination.  The other is an unseen world, which we experience via intuitive knowledge.  This unseen world holds “matters of the heart” and includes philosophy, love, justice, faith, and loyalty.  Under Pascal’s philosophy, intuitive matters of the heart are just as authentic as the scientific/empirical world.  Both religion and philosophy reside in this second world.  Which approach should we embrace; the empirical model of Richard Dawkins or the broader view of philosophers, such as Blaise Pascal?

10-28-2025 Time to be a Philosopher, or <Wozu Philosoph in dürftiger Zeit?>

Speaker: Dennis Sepper

I have just retired from teaching after 45 years in the classroom. The occasion has led to reflection on what it is to be a philosopher, what it is to be a professional philosopher, and the different ways in which temporality is woven into the fabric of philosophizing. Principal touchstones of the talk will be provided by Heidegger, Descartes, Socrates, and Montaigne

11-11-2025  Impact of Magical Thinking on Effective Problem-Solving

Speaker:  Rebecca Dare, B.S.  Executive Director—The Reflective Human

Magical thinking—also known as wishful thinking, is the tendency to accept beliefs aligned with personal desires rather than with evidence or reason—plays a significant yet often underestimated role in shaping how individuals and societies approach complex problems. In our world today, where challenges such as climate change, political instability, economic inequality, and public health crises demand critical analysis and decisive action, wishful thinking can distort judgment, delay crucial decisions, and undermine effective problem-solving.

 

From conspiracy theories and miracle cures to belief in luck over logic, this presentation examines the cognitive, emotional, and cultural impact of wishful thinking, examining how it influences both individual reasoning and collective policy-making. It explores how optimistic biases, denial and selective interpretation of data can lead to systematic errors in addressing real-world issues

 

While wishful thinking can provide psychological comfort and short-term social cohesion, its long-term effects often include poor risk assessment, resistance to change, misplaced trust and reliance on overly simplistic solutions. This presentation also highlights the urgent need for cultivating intellectual humility, critical thinking, and decision-making frameworks that acknowledgeemotional bias without being ruled by it.

11-25-2025  Could there be instantaneous sensory experiences?

Speaker: Philippe Chuard

Ever since William James (1890) raised it, philosophers have struggled with the question of whether—and in what sense—the stream of consciousness might be continuous: could it bereally continuous (in the very same sense in which the series of real numbers is) or merely continuous subjectively (in the sense that there doesn’t seem to be any gaps in our consciousness)? While many philosophers remain unsure as to how to even start addressing this question, just as many express a complete certainty that, obviously, there cannot be any conscious sensory experience which lasts not more than an instant. After clarifying the terms of this issue, this presentation will critically assess some of the arguments advanced against instantaneous experiences and suggest that, in fact, such experiences may well be possible.

12-9-2025  Population Ethics: A (still) Early Look Into the Troubling Field

Speaker:  Jack Sezer

Population Ethics was popularized in Derek Parfit's first work, Reasons and Persons, where he became troubled by an axiological discovery. Parfit realized that between two populations, the larger one can be deemed 'better' even if the inhabitants are less well off, assuming their lives are all generally worth living. In short, for every population, there is a much larger 'better' population with worse-off inhabitants. This conclusion he called 'The Repugnant Conclusion'. Parfit spent the rest of his life looking for 'theory X' which is the solution to RC. He was looking for theory X when he died. Since then, analytic philosophers have concocted solutions that fall short of Derek Parfit's desire for applicability. Notably, Christian philosophers hesitate to wander into this field due to its troubling turns. My presentation will explore the field of population ethics and its relationship (or lack thereof) with Christian philosophy.