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!
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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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.
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Our reading explores the medieval church's stance on usury in Jacques Le Goff's book "Your Money or Your Life: Economy and Religion in the Middle Ages". Le Goff examines why the Catholic Church viewed money lending as a sin, reflecting broader societal values. He examines the moral and ethical implications of usury, emphasizing the church's role in shaping economic practices and the concept of redemption.
Please read in advance Chapter V ("Your Money and your Eternal Life: Purgatory") from this book. Participants who don't do the reading go straight to Inferno.
Other meetups:
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The Theft of a Decade: How the Baby Boomers Stole the Millennials' Economic Future — Thursday August 1
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David Graeber asks: Do you have a Bullshit Job? — Wednesday August 7
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Ted Kaczynski against Wokeism — Thursday August 8
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The Unabomber Manifesto: Why The Industrial Revolution was a Disaster for the Human Race — Thursday July 25
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Critique of psychoanalysis: Descartes as phenomenologistLink visible for attendees
We're taking up the first half of ch. 1 "Videre Videor" from Michel Henry's The Genealogy of Psychoanalysis (1985). See below for notes on the text.
Please take the time to read and reflect on the reading prior to the meeting. Find a PDF of the text in the Google folder linked at the verry BOTTOM of this description (scroll down 👇).
If you have attended any meetings, please fill out a brief survey: https://forms.gle/tEMJ4tw2yVgnTsQD6
Join the Facebook group for more resources and discussion:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/755460079505498Reading schedule:
Jul 20: Intro to Henry's critique of psychoanalysis
Jul 27: Henry on Descartes ("Videre Videor")
Aug 3: Henry on Descartes (cont'd)
Aug 10: Henry on Heidegger***
GROUP RULES
Everyone is welcome, but speaking priority will be given to people who have done the reading.- Please limit each comment to a maximum of 2-3 minutes. You're welcome to speak as many times as you wish.
- Keep your comments concise and relevant to the text.
- I suggest 1-2 hours per week reading and preparing for the discussion.
- Virtual meeting courtesy: let's not interrupt each other and keep mics muted when not speaking.
- We'll focus the discussion with key passages and discussion questions. Be sure to bring your favorite passages, questions, comments, criticisms, etc.
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NOTES ON THE TEXT
This chapter lays out Henry's phenomenological reading of Descartes. Sidestepping the traditional epistemological interpretation, he understands the Cartesian cogito as the fundamental condition of phenomenal manifestation.The classical phenomenology of Husserl takes its cue from the Cartesian method of radical doubt. Calling this method a reduction (epoché), phenomenology brackets out the objective content of any perception (the "what" of experience) in order to arrive at the "how" of perception as such, those modes of intentionality in and through which objects appear to us. In other words, it suspends the empirical / ontic level to reveal the transcendental / ontological one. Every object of experience is ensconced within an intentional horizon that makes its manifestation possible. Descartes called this horizon the natural light of reason, while phenomenology expands it to include space, time, historicity, embodiment, intersubjectivity, etc. All these are ek-static ontological / transcendental dimensions through which human being (Heideggerian Dasein) relates to the world in which it exists.
Henry accepts this phenomenological line of thought but radicalizes its epoché. How, he asks, are the ek-static horizons of intentionality themselves possible? How are they manifested, and what is their ontological foundation? This second-order question requires that not only the "what" but also the "how" of perception be bracketed. Ek-static transcendence itself is put in suspension, whereupon a deeper and purely immanent phenomenal ground manifests itself. This ground of immanence lying beneath all horizons, Henry argues, is the true meaning of the Cartesian cogito. It is the pure interiority of self-affection that experiences itself immediately, apart from space, time, world, or the other. This is the same apperception or self-consciousness that idealist philosophy (viz. Kant and Hegel) would go on to interpret as the Concept. In Henry’s materialist reading, however (and in good French style, one might say), this self-relation is originally one of sensation, feeling, passion, even jouissance. In it he uncovers the ground of his material phenomenology. It is therefore only because we originally relate to ourselves as pure self-contained interiority that anything like an ek-static horizon of experience (cf. Heidegger and Husserl) is possible for us at all.
Some questions to consider:
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In Difference and Repetition Deleuze states that “The whole of phenomenology is an epiphenomenology” (p. 52). In other words, the horizons of intentionality are derivative of something else. How similar are Deleuze and Henry in their critique of phenomenology?
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Is it coherent to bracket out all ek-static horizons and still talk about consciousness? How are we able to experience this interiority Henry speaks about, if not through another horizon?
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How would German Idealism respond to Henry’s materialist reading of apperception as affective and sensuous? Isn’t there a fundamental passivity in Henry’s philosophy that leaves it unclear how we can take any action at all?
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All readings can be found in this Google folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VPRdvZYmUKBY3cSxD8xC8sTYtSEKBXDs
Art: Composition IV (1911) by Wassily Kandinsky - Asian Philosophies | Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15 - The Supreme SelfLink visible for attendees
Our schedule for 2024 is every Saturday 2:00pm Pacific (5:00pm East)
We will continue the Bhagavad Gita study and discussion in 2024.
Here is the reading material: (please read Chapter 15)- Sri Aurobindo's verse by verse translation: Click here
- Gandhi's interpretation: Click here
Gita is basically a poetic song of God, if you will, not meant to be taken literally. The notion of God is commonly understood as Krishna, but the way we approach it here is as the God within us all. Its our own song, that we all seem to have forgotten and we are reminding ourself our purpose of life via Gita. You can read it as God, or you can read it as a human. Ultimately, its our own personal journey to that higher state and deeper depths within ourselves to the Parm-atma (The Supreme Soul).There are 1000s of interpretations of Gita, some in English and many in other languages. Each interpretation has that author's personal take. We can start with any one of those, but depending on your specific place in your life you will need to internalize this for yourself with the goal that one is able to stay mentally unperturbed even in chaos. Please feel free to explore on your own, in the context of your life.The presenter will use the verse translation listed above and guide the conversation with a philosophical interpretation.
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There are 18 chapters in this book. We have completed through Chapter 14 sine 2023. For rest of 2024 we will have a session every two weeks. We will cover the remaining Chapter 15-18. We will alternate the session content between the whole Bhagvad Gita review for new comers followed by a chapter in as much detail as possible in the 2 hours.
Our Schedule as follows:- (2024-06-29) History of Chinese Philosophy -9 : Lao Zi, Tao Te Ching
- (2024-07-03) Bhagvad Gita Chapter 14
- (2024-07-13) History of Chinese Philosophy-10: Zhuang Zi
- (2024-07-20) Bhagvad Gita Review 1 - Crisis, Conditioning, Dilemmas
- (2024-07-27) Bhagvad Gita Chapter 15 (2024-07-27)
- (2024-08-03) History of Chinese Philosophy -11 Later Mohists
- (2024-08-10) Bhagvad Gita Review 2 - Action, Duty, Humility
- (2024-08-17) History of Chinese Philosophy - 12 : Yin-Yang School
- (2024-08-24) Bhagvad Gita Chapter 16
- (2024-08-31) History of Chinese Philosophy -13 Xun Zi
- (2024-09-07) Bhagvad Gita Review 3 - Devotion, God, Ego
- (2024-09-14) History of Chinese Philosophy -14 Legalism - Han Fei
- (2024-09-21) Bhagvad Gita Chapter 17
- (2024-09-28) History of Chinese Philosophy -15 Confucianist Metaphysics
- (2024-10-05) Bhagvad Gita Review 4 - Attention, Knowledge, Wisdom
- (2024-10-12) History of Chinese Philosophy - 16 World Philosophy
- (2024-10-19) Bhagvad Gita Chapter 18
- (2024-10-26) History of Chinese Philosophy -17 Han Empire
- (2024-11-02) Bhagvad Gita Wrapup - Summary
- (2024-11-09) History of Chinese Philosophy - 18
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please see all our past presentation :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1moDzDM4xb--hDgw7zXC7Rrayq-GEwQYETyJKa4W9usU/edit?usp=share_link
History of Chinese Philosophy
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXkeU_Ho4cmOF1TQb2xrEW0-RVNhnJXje
Bhagavad Gita Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXkeU_Ho4cmOShIitClQSIlGa26pY1KJk
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Spinoza: “Liberation from All Doubts” to Proposition 9 in Cartesian PhilosophyLink visible for attendees
At this meeting we will continue looking at Spinoza's Principles of Cartesian Philosophy; specifically, the section in the Prolegomena entitled "Liberation from All Doubts" (page 124 of the Shirley translation, the link for which is provided below), and then the definitions that appear prior to the first proposition, and then the axioms and propositions up to Proposition 9. And so, if everyone were to read from the beginning of the Prolegomena to Proposition 9 (pages 121 to 139 in the Shirley translation), that would be great.
We will focus only on what is most relevant to Spinoza's own thought, and hopefully we will derive a better understanding of how Spinoza responded to Cartesian philosophy and made use of Descartes' concepts in the Ethics.
Although there are several translations of Spinoza's Ethics into English, the following two are freely available and recommended.
Shirley's translation uses better English idioms and is easier to read.(https://homepages.uc.edu/~martinj/Spinoza_&_Hobbes/English/Spinoza%20-%20Complete%20Works%20(2002).pdf)
Curley's translation is more literal and the academic standard. (https://archive.org/details/benedictus-de-spinoza-the-collected-works-of-spinoza-complete-digital-edition-by/mode/2up)