What we’re about
Welcome to the Toronto Philosophy Meetup! This is a community (online and in-person) 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, poetry, current events, ethnographies, and whatever else seems good.)
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Join us at an event soon for friendship, cooperative discourse, and mental exercise!
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(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.
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See here for a list of other philosophy-related groups to check out in the Toronto area.
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Welcome everyone to the next meetup series hosted by Jen and Philip! (Please scroll to the bottom for the reading schedule and materials! 👇👇👇👇👇)
We are lucky at the Toronto Philosophy Meetup to have a lot of excellent meetups on Immanuel Kant. In this blurb I (Philip) will try to give you a sense of what our Kant meetup is (and what it isn't) so you can make an informed decision about which Kant meetup is right for you. Honestly, you cannot go wrong. Erik and Gerry both do excellent Kant meetups and several other people do as well.
But that being said, this meetup Jen and I will be doing will also have its merits and this blurb will, I hope, help you understand what those merits are.
First, the basics:
This will be a 3 hour meetup. For the first 2 hours we will be talking about:
- Michelle Grier's wonderful book Kant's Doctrine of Transcendental Illusion**.
- For the 3rd and final hour we will be talking about Manfred Kuehn's book Kant: A Biography.
In both portions of the meetup, the format will be our usual "accelerated live read". What this means is that each participant will be expected to read roughly 15 pages from Grier and roughly 20 pages from Keuhn before each session. Each participant will have the option of picking a few paragraphs they especially want to focus on. We will then do a live read on the paragraphs that the participants found most interesting when they did the assigned reading.
People who have not done the reading are welcome to attend this meetup. However if you want to TALK during the meetup it is essential that you do the reading. We mean it! It is essential that the direction of the conversation be influenced only by people who have actually done the reading. This is KANT after all — arguably the most important western philosopher of all time! So do yourself a favour and do the reading. You will get so much more out of this meetup if you do. You may think you are so brilliant and wonderful that you can come up with great points even if you do not do the reading. I'm sure you are brilliant and wonderful — no argument there. But you still have to do the reading if you want to talk in this meetup. REALLY.
Please note that this is a "raise hands" meetup and has a highly structured format, not an anarchy-based one. This is partly for philosophical reasons: We want to discourage a simple-minded rapid fire "gotcha!" approach to philosophy. But our highly structured format is also for disability related reasons that Philip can explain if required.
After we have spent a few sessions reading and talking about the Michelle Grier book, we may feel the need to focus on a few select passages from Kant himself. When we do this we will be using the Guyer and Wood translation of the Critique of Pure Reason. We also may feel the need to situate Grier's claims within a broader interpretive context and, if we do, we may spend some time dipping into Graham Bird's magisterial book The Revolutionary Kant. If you are new to Kant I urge you to start at the beginning of the Guyer/Wood translation of the Critique of Pure Reason and read it (slowly!) all the way through; either on your own or with a group. If you do this, the Graham Bird book can function as a helpful guide. I know the Critique of Pure Reason is not an easy book, but even if you just do 2 pages per day it will help you enormously (in all of your studies in Philosophy).
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Here is a bit about the guiding ethos of this meetup:
This meetup will be guided by the idea that to study Kant seriously it is essential to have a sense of the bewilderingly wide range of ways there are of interpreting Kant. The different ways of interpreting Kant do not present slightly different versions of the same basic Kantian themes. Not at all! The different interpretations are so different that it is sometimes hard to believe that everyone is reading the same German guy named Kant! And there is no indication that the various interpretations are converging. Again, not at all.
This frustrating situation is just the way things are in Kant Studies and we have to be realistic about it.
I (Philip) will always do my best to contrast Michell's Grier's claims with the different (sometimes wildly different) claims made by other Kant scholars. When we read passages from the Critique of Pure Reason I will do my best to alert you to the bewilderingly wide range of ways there are of interpreting every line Kant writes. This is what serious Kant scholars do (and serious people who are new to Kant do) and it is what we will do too.
This interpretive technique (of comparing your way of interpreting Kant with all the other ways of interpreting Kant) is, if anything, even MORE important if you are new to Kant. There is an alarming tendency in the history of Kant scholarship for people to (as it were) get "locked in" to whatever interpretation of Kant they encounter first, or whichever way of interpreting Kant has the most grip on their particular intellectual community.
It would be nice if we could just start reading Kant, one sentence at a time and formulate an interpretation of Kant as we went. Even though that way of reading works really well for some philosophers, centuries of hard-won experience has taught Kant scholars that it does not work at all well in the case of Kant. Or such, at least, is the guiding ethos of this meetup. New readers tend to see in the text whatever interpretation of Kant is prevalent in their particular intellectual community. In this meetup we will make sure that does not happen by constantly referring to the full range of ways there are of interpreting Kant.
Instead of reading Kant just one sentence at a time, the community of serious Kant scholars has learned (often they had to learn the hard way) that Kant must be read holistically. Each sentence must be read in the context of Kant's overall project, and in the context of all the myriad ways there are of interpreting Kant and (indeed) even of all the myriad ways there are of interpreting what exactly his overall project even is.
Don't worry, it is not as difficult as it sounds! And it is more profound, more illuminating and ultimately much more satisfying than supposedly "easier" ways of engaging with Kant — even for (especially for!) beginners.
I will do my best to be your guide to reading Kant holistically. And don't worry, we'll make it fun too. Whether you are new to Kant or have been reading him for decades, this meetup is for you!
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READING SCHEDULE
For the first get together (September 7), please read:
- In Michelle Grier: Read the Introduction, 1-13 (pdf here)
- In Manfred Keuhn: Read the Prologue, pages 1-23 (pdf here)
For the second get together, please read:
- In Michelle Grier: Read pages 17-32
- In Manfred Keuhn: Read the first half of chapter 1, pages 24-42
(A pdf of Grier's Kant's Doctrine of Transcendental Illusion is available here. A pdf of Keuhn's Kant: A Biography is available here.)
After that we will post the readings as we go (once we get a better sense of what pace works best for our group and the particular people in it). And don't forget that sometimes we will take a break from Grier and instead read from the Guyer/Wood translation of the Critique of Pure Reason.
Jen and Philip have a very clear division of labour. If you have issues or concerns about the choice of texts, or the pace of the reading (or other "content" concerns) please contact Philip. If you have technology related questions please contact Jen. If you have complaints please direct them only to Philip.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Heidegger Becoming Phenomenological: Interpreting Husserl through DiltheyLink visible for attendees
“No one knows the Heidegger-Dilthey connection better than Robert Scharff, and in this revolutionary new work he pushes the reset button on the origins of Being and Time. Through a meticulous reading of the earliest courses Scharff reveals how Heidegger’s grappling with Dilthey turned him into a phenomenologist of life and eventually of Dasein, in contrast to the transcendental consciousness of Husserl. Written with clarity and verve, this book leaves the “Seinology” of later commentaries in the dust and restores to Heidegger’s work the existential vitality that is its birthright.”
Welcome everyone to this meetup series presented by Scott and Philip.
Every second Friday we will get together to talk about this book:
- Heidegger Becoming Phenomenological: Interpreting Husserl through Dilthey, 1916-1925 (2019) by Robert C. Scharff — see link for further info about the book
Scroll to the bottom for the reading schedule and pdf 👇👇👇👇👇
The format will be Philip's usual "accelerated live read" format. What this means is that each participant will be expected to read roughly 10-15 pages before each session. Each participant will have the option of picking a few paragraphs they especially want to focus on. We will then do a live read on the paragraphs that the participants found most interesting when they did the assigned reading.
People who have not done the reading are welcome to attend this meetup. However if you want to TALK during the meetup it is essential that you do the reading. We mean it! It is essential that the direction of the conversation be influenced only by people who have actually done the reading. You may think you are so brilliant and wonderful that you can come up with great points even if you do not do the reading. You probably are brilliant and wonderful — no argument there. But you still have to do the reading if you want to talk in this meetup. REALLY.
Please note that this is a "raise hands" meetup and has a highly structured format, not an anarchy-based one. This is partly for philosophical reasons: We want to discourage a simple-minded rapid fire "gotcha!" approach to philosophy. But our highly structured format is also for disability related reasons that Philip can explain if required.
I expect that some of the participants in this meetup will also have been in the Sunday meetup when Jen, Scott and Philip presented this short book:
- Philosophy of Life: German Lebensphilosophie 1870-1920 by Frederick C. Beiser
If you have not read this book you might find it helpful to do so. But it is not required that you do so to be a part of this meetup on the Scharff book.
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THE READING SCHEDULE (pdf here)
- Sept 5th, Please read the Preface (up to the end of Roman numeral page xxvii)
- Sept 19th, Please read up to page 19
- Oct 3rd, Please read up to page 36
- After that, the readings will be posted...
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Here is the description for the back cover of the Scharff book:
In this first book-length study of the topic, Robert C. Scharff offers a detailed analysis of the young Heidegger's interpretation of Dilthey's hermeneutics of historical life and Husserl's transcendental phenomenology. He argues that it is Heidegger's prior reading of Dilthey that grounds his critical appropriation of Husserl's phenomenology. He shows that in Heidegger's early lecture courses, a "possible" phenomenology is presented as a genuine alternative with the modern philosophies of consciousness to which Husserl's "actual" phenomenology is still too closely tied. All of these philosophies tend to overestimate the degree to which we can achieve intellectual independence from our surroundings and inheritance. In response, Heidegger explains why becoming phenomenological is always a possibility; but being a phenomenologist is not.
Scharff concludes that this discussion of the young Heidegger, Husserl, and Dilthey leads to the question of our own current need for a phenomenological philosophy — that is, for a philosophy that avoids technique-happiness, that at least sometimes thinks with a self-awareness that takes no theoretical distance from life, and that speaks in a language that is "not yet" selectively representational.
Welcome! And enjoy!
- (In person) BYOB: Bring Your Own BookBalzac's Coffee @ Toronto Reference Library, Toronto, ON
Instead of everyone agreeing to read one book for a meeting, we each read whatever we want, then share it with the rest of the group every alternate meeting. Our discussions are always fresh and interesting! Those who don't have a book to share but want a recommendation for their next read are also welcome to join. Then we vote on the discussed books and the book with highest votes gets discussed further in the subsequent meeting.
Books we talk about cover just about anything. Some example topics include: the history of salt, a man lost at sea, why some technological developments should make us optimistic about the future, creativity at Pixar, neuroplasticity, biotechnology, American sub-cultures, biographies, the economics, geography and biology underpinning the development of the New World, the politics of mental illness, harnessing a positive mental attitude, law, the changing role of the policies in US & Canada, walking the trail, communication in the workplace, and much much much much more.
The aim here is to establish a group of independent readers in the GTA who are curious about everything. Have you read an interesting book lately? Come and tell us about it! This relaxed and friendly book group is for those who enjoy reading books, asking questions, and having thought provoking, fun discussions on a wide variety of topics. Read whatever you want, then come and spend a few minutes discussing it with us. No formal book reports required, promise :). Paper books, e-books and audio books are all considered books for the purposes of this group.
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Books discussed in previous "Bring your own book" events are here:
GTA Book Club BYOB log Google SpreadsheetDuring the event, a poll will be opened for everyone to vote on the book we should all read in the subsequent event. At the end of the event, the subsequent event will be updated with the book that had the most votes from this event.
Bring a book to share or observe (find your next read) and bring an open mind! I hope to see you there.
- Plato’s Phaedo, on the Soul (Live Reading)Link visible for attendees
Phaedo is a fictional account of the conversation that took place between Socrates and his adherents just as Socrates was waiting to drink the hemlock. It marks a transition from the earlier ethical dialogues the more comprehensive works that involve proper epistemological and ontological inquiry. It is also the first dialogue to give a proper account of the theory of forms and contains a very short intellectual autobiography of Socrates. Phaedo remains important in our modern age both as a treasure trove of intellectual possibilities and because it provides a firm and coherent foundation for the philosophical life which, in Socrates' case culminates in death.
Therefore, Phaedo is both an ideal introduction to the platonic theory of forms and a summary of some of the arguments that would be used to defend the immortality of the soul for more than 2300 years.
Phaedo, along with the Euthyphro, the Apology, and Crito comprise the quartet of Plato’s works and are sometimes collectively called "The Trial and Death of Socrates". It is part of the first tetralogy of Platonic works and belongs to Plato’s middle creative period.
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This is a live reading of Phaedo. No previous knowledge of the Platonic corpus is required but a general understanding of the question of philosophy in general and of ancient philosophy in particular is to some extent desirable but not presupposed. This Plato group meets on Saturdays and has previously read the Apology, Philebus, Gorgias, Critias, Laches, Timaeus, Euthyphro, Crito and other works, including ancient commentaries and texts for contextualisation such as Gorgias’ Praise of Helen. The reading is intended for well-informed generalists even though specialists are obviously welcome. It is our aspiration to read the Platonic corpus over a long period of time.
The host is Constantine Lerounis, a distinguished Greek philologist and poet, author of Four Access Points to Shakespeare’s Works (in Greek) and Former Advisor to the President of the Hellenic Republic. May 3 is the introductory session for Phaedo and hence an ideal opportunity to join the group without having to do any catching up.
The translation we are using is by G.M.A. Grube and can be found here.
