What we’re about
Welcome to the Toronto Philosophy Meetup! This is a community for anyone interested in philosophy, including newcomers to the subject. We host discussions, talks, reading groups, pub nights, debates, and other events on an inclusive range of topics and perspectives in philosophy, drawing from an array of materials (e.g. philosophical writings, for the most part, but also movies, literature, history, science, art, podcasts, current events, ethnographies, and whatever else seems good.)
Anyone is welcomed to host philosophy-related events here. We also welcome speakers and collaborations with other groups.
Join us at an event soon for friendship, cooperative discourse, and mental exercise!
You can also follow us on Twitter and join our Discord.
Feel free to propose meetup topics (you can do this on the Message Boards), and please contact us if you would like to be a speaker or host an event.
(NOTE: Most of our events are currently online because of the pandemic.)
"Philosophy is not a theory but an activity."
— from "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus", Wittgenstein
"Discourse cheers us to companionable
reflection. Such reflection neither
parades polemical opinions nor does it
tolerate complaisant agreement. The sail
of thinking keeps trimmed hard to the
wind of the matter."
— from "On the Experience of Thinking", Heidegger
See here for an extensive list of podcasts and resources on the internet about philosophy.
See here for the standards of conduct that our members are expected to abide by. Members should also familiarize themselves with Meetup's Terms of Service Agreement, especially the section on Usage and Content Policies.
See here for a list of other philosophy-related groups to check out in the Toronto area: https://www.meetup.com/The-Toronto-Philosophy-Meetup/pages/30522966/Other_Philosophy_Groups_in_the_Toronto_Area/
Please note that no advertising of external events, products, businesses, or organizations is allowed on this site without permission from the main Organizer.
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Make a Donation
Since 2016, the Toronto Philosophy Meetup has been holding regular events that are free, open to the public, and help to foster community and a culture of philosophy in Toronto and beyond. To help us continue to do so into the future, please consider supporting us with a donation! Any amount is most welcome.
You can make a donation here.
See here for more information and to meet our donors.
Supporters will be listed on our donors page unless they wish to remain anonymous. We thank them for their generosity!
If you would like to help out or support us in other ways (such as with any skills or expertise you may have), please contact us.
Note: You can also use the donation link to tip individual hosts. Let us know who you want to tip in the notes section. You can also contact hosts directly for ways to tip them.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Experiments in Living Together: How Democracy Drives Social ProgressLink visible for attendees
Over the past 70 years, the United States has undergone major moral shifts surrounding gender, sexual orientation, and race. Although these changes have been incomplete and imperfect, they nonetheless represent stunning improvements in the human condition which have been supported by democracy. While on its face democratic governance embodies the promise of protest, free expression, and social change, the recent surge of populism has provoked some cynicism about democracy and the potential ignorance and irrationality of democratic citizens. This debate raises questions around the role of democracy in social progress, democracy's definitive principles and ideals, and the tension between democracy's characteristic aspirations and the disappointing realities of real-world politics.
In Experiments in Living Together (Oxford University Press, 2024) Michael Fuerstein addresses these questions, presenting a fresh philosophical account of social progress that focuses on democracy and delivering an innovative rebuttal to skeptics inspired by the recent populist wave. Following in the tradition of John Dewey, he argues that democracy enables progress through "experiments in living": innovations in social practice that transform social emotions and identities and cultivate moral learning.
Drawing on research in social psychology and several detailed historical case studies — same-sex marriage, women's integration into the workforce, and school desegregation — Fuerstein illuminates the critical role of novel experience in building community: linkages of emotion and identity across a democratic public, which enable diverse citizens to flourish together. Challenging technocratic views that imply that democracy is undermined by citizens' ignorance and incompetence, Fuerstein suggests that the remedy for democracy's contemporary malaise must target failures of community more than failures of knowledge or skill, a change which will require a new round of experimental innovations in social life.
Join us for a discussion of the book featuring Michael Fuerstein, Susan Dieleman and Alex Madva.
About the Speakers:
— Michael Fuerstein is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Saint Olaf College. His research centers on democratic theory, social epistemology, and pragmatism, and has been published widely in scholarly venues such as The Journal of Political Philosophy, Social Theory and Practice, and a variety of anthologies with Oxford University Press. Most recently, he has developed an interest in the moral and social dimensions of business, and is an inaugural member of the Society for Progress. He is the author of the recently published book Experiments in Living Together: How Democracy Drives Social Progress.
— Susan Dieleman is Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. Her research is located in the areas of pragmatism (Richard Rorty), feminist philosophy (epistemic injustice), and political philosophy (deliberative democracy). She is co-editor of The Ethics of Richard Rorty: Moral Communities, Self-Transformation, and Imagination (Routledge, 2022) and Pragmatism and Justice (Oxford University Press, 2017) and co-author of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Richard Rorty.
— Alex Madva is Professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly Pomona, Director of the California Center for Ethics & Policy, and Co-Director of the Digital Humanities Consortium. His teaching and research explore the intersections between the cognitive and social sciences and topics in philosophy of race and feminism, applied ethics, and social and political philosophy. He is co-author of the forthcoming book from MIT Press Somebody Should Do Something on a novel and scientific approach to creating transformative social change and the ways that each of us can help make a real difference.
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This is an online conversation and audience Q&A presented by the US-based Public Philosophy Network. It is open to the public and held on Zoom.
About the Public Philosophy Network (https://www.publicphilosophynetwork.net/):
The Public Philosophy Network promotes philosophy that engages issues of public concern and works collaboratively with civic and professional communities.
Our mission is:
- to support philosophers who use their concepts and skills to serve communities outside of academia and to make positive changes in society
- to reflect on how philosophy is transformed by various types of public engagement
- to support institutional changes supportive of publicly engaged work
- Nietzsche: The Gay Science [Session 42]Link visible for attendees
While the Walter Kaufmann translation is preferred, a link to the free Cambridge translation is here. For this Meetup, we will read aphorisms 154-165, and discuss them one at a time and get as far as we get, carrying forward any undiscussed aphorisms to the following week.
It’s 1882, and a friend has just given you a copy and recommendation of a book by a former professor of philology named Friedrich Nietzsche. Your friend says that he seems to be a philosopher of some sort, even though he doesn’t write like one, and in this book he argues, among a lot of other provocative things, that God Is dead!
This Is the beginner’s mind that this Meetup will take with this book. You may know his contemporaries and antecedents, but you’re here to share YOUR thoughts, not those of subsequent critics.
Recordings and AI summaries of previous sessions are available here.
Suggested texts: The Portable Neitzsche, edited by Walter Kaufmann and The Basic Writings of Nietzsche, edited by Walter KaufmannSyllabus (titles are linked to free PDF’s, most of which require a free academia.edu account)
The Gay Science (academia.edu)
The Gay Science (Kaufmann)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Beyond Good and Evil (academia.edu)*
On The Genealogy of Morals (academia.edu)*
The Case of Wagner*
Twilight of the Idols** (academia.edu)
The Antichrist**
Ecce Homo*
Nietzsche Contra Wagner***The Basic Writings of Nietzsche, edited by Walter Kaufmann
**Walter Kaufmann’s, The Portable Nietzsche - Kant – Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (Week 3)Link visible for attendees
What does 'morality' mean, and what does it mean that we are moral? Kant's classic of meta-ethics, the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, tries to address these questions while working towards inaugurating a new approach to metaphysics. Kant's ethical project is broad, covering problems of personal responsibility, virtue, rights, cosmopolitanism, world peace, and religion.
We will be covering "Section 2: Transition from popular moral philosophy to metaphysics of morals" at this meeting.
pp 61 - 93 (Practical Philosophy through Cambridge)
pp 4:406 - 4:445Note: Meetings focus on developing a common language and friendship through studying Kant. The host will provide an interpretation of Kant; other interpretations will not be discussed until later in the meeting. Additional interpretations, topics, and questions can be addressed through the Jitsi chat feature.
No prior experience with Kant is necessary.
READING SCHEDULE
Week 1:
Preface
pp 43 - 48 (Practical Philosophy through Cambridge)
pp 4:387 - 4:392Week 2:
Section 1: Transition from common rational to philosophic moral cognition
pp 49 - 60 (Practical Philosophy through Cambridge)
pp 4:393 - 4:405Week 3:
Section 2: Transition from popular moral philosophy to metaphysics of morals
pp 61 - 93 (Practical Philosophy through Cambridge)
pp 4:406 - 4:445Week 4:
Section 3: Transition from metaphysics of morals to the critique of pure practical reason
pp 94 - 108 (Practical Philosophy through Cambridge)
pp 4:446 - 4:463PDF: https://annas-archive.org/md5/9c47b527649eb9ebf0761b4bcd7f0654
The reading group will continue with the Critique of Practical Reason and Metaphysics of Morals, so if you plan to continue with the group I recommend getting the volume 'Practical Philosophy' in the Cambridge editions of Kant's work:
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Philosophy-Cambridge-Works-Immanuel/dp/0521654084/ - Kant FTΦ: Leibniz’s On Natural Law (Live Reading)Link visible for attendees
We will review the entire text at this meetup, and draw any conclusions we can after having read Twenty-Four Statements, Felicity, and the present essay.
Against the backdrop of our interpretation of Leibniz's twenty-four statements and Felicity, we continue with getting a view of how Leibniz conceives of natural law, which will illustrate one field of order in reality from which its overall perfection is in part determined.
The text is a short work from the Cambridge Collection of Leibniz's political writing.
PDF of excerpt: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11KqBH2t9afxaCfIt8KJJ6SG5Y-x4YCu_/view?usp=sharing
Complete Book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Leibniz-Political-Writings-Cambridge-History/dp/052135899X/
PDF: https://annas-archive.org/md5/d642626e4e0e3b1d939bbcb20fd9ed08
Note: Kant FTΦ (Friends Through Philosophy) is a group of individuals who have connected over reading Kant (and other philosophers).
This meeting will focus on individual FTΦ participants' interests, frequently referencing Kant and other philosophers. Discussions may involve shared notions developed over time, so if you feel lost in the conversation it may be a byproduct of being newer to the meetings. Don't hesitate to ask for clarification.
![Nietzsche: The Gay Science [Session 42] cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/b/e/b/a/event_521988826.webp "Nietzsche: The Gay Science [Session 42]")
