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.
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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.
Transfixing and transcendent, the second feature by Andrei Tarkovsky traces the life of a renowned painter, vividly conjuring the murky world of 15th-century Russia. This dreamlike and remarkably tactile film follows Andrei Rublev as he passes through a series of poetically linked scenes, gradually emerging as a man struggling to hold on to his faith in God and art in a world of overwhelming cruelty, suffering, and barbarism. Initially banned by Soviet authorities for a host of reasons (political ambiguity, formalism, “historical inaccuracy”, religion, and its depiction of the artist’s plight under a repressive regime), Andrei Rublev is one of Tarkovsky’s most revered films, an arresting meditation on faith, creativity, and spiritual endurance.
"A film of spiritual power and epic grandeur… It may be Tarkovsky’s greatest work.” (The Observer)
"One of the most convincing portrayals in art of an artist." (The Guardian)
"A hymn to creative freedom... and to courage and risk-taking as two of the fundamental characteristics anyone who intends to transform the world must have.” (Sight and Sound)
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Let's discuss the movie Andrei Rublev (1966) directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, recently voted the 26th greatest movie of all time in Sight & Sound's international survey of filmmakers, and the 67th greatest movie of all time in the related poll of film critics and scholars. Initially banned by Soviet authorities, the film was allowed to screen at the 1969 Cannes festival where it won the International Critics Prize. We've previously discussed Tarkovsky's Solaris (1972), Stalker (1979), Nostalghia (1983), and Ivan's Childhood (1962) in this group.
Please watch the movie in advance and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the meeting.
There are many versions of this movie floating around out there. I suggest we all watch the original uncensored 183 minute version of the movie as Tarkovsky intended it, which is available through Criterion. You can stream it here with English subtitles (let us know if you encounter any issues with this link) or rent it through various online platforms.
Check out other movie discussions in the group every Friday and occasionally other days.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- The Culmination: Heidegger, German Idealism, and the Fate of PhilosophyLink visible for attendees
“A provocative reassessment of Heidegger’s critique of German Idealism from one of the tradition’s foremost interpreters. Heidegger claimed that Western philosophy ended — failed, even — in the German Idealist tradition. In The Culmination, Robert B. Pippin (University of Chicago) explores the ramifications of this charge through a masterful survey of Western philosophy, especially Heidegger’s critiques of Hegel and Kant. Pippin argues that Heidegger’s basic concern was to determine sources of meaning for human life, particularly those that had been obscured by Western philosophy’s attention to reason. The Culmination offers a new interpretation of Heidegger, German Idealism, and the fate of Western rationalism...”
Welcome everyone to the next meetup series that David and Philip are offering, resuming May 2025. This time we will be reading the book:
- The Culmination: Heidegger, German Idealism, and the Fate of Philosophy (2024, University of Chicago Press) by Robert Pippin
The format will be our usual "accelerated live read". What this means is that each participant will be expected to read roughly 15-25 pages of text 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.
Unlike the meetups Philip does on Sundays with another co-host, this meetup will be two hours. There is no "Final Hour Free For All" on Monday like there is on Sunday. Everyone is welcome to attend, even people who have not done the reading. But we need to make sure that only the people who have done the reading are the people who are guiding the direction of the conversation. So please do the reading if you intend to speak and shape the conversation that will happen in this meetup. You may not think that this applies to you... but yes! It applies to you!
Here is the reading schedule (which may change slightly as the meetup progresses). This series meets every 2 weeks on Monday. A pdf is available here.
- For May 5, please read pages 42-55.
- For May 19: TBA
- .....
Please note that in this meetup we will be actually doing philosophy and not merely passively absorbing the ideas of Pippin, Kant, Hegel and Heidegger. What this means is that we will be trying to find flaws in the reasoning that Pippin, Kant et al present. We will also be trying to improve the ideas in question and perhaps proposing better alternatives. That is what philosophers do after all!
It is strongly advised that participants read the writings of Kant, Hegel and Heidegger which Pippin references throughout his book "The Culmination".
Check out Philip's other series on Sundays (hosted with Jen):
- FTI: Is Trump right that U.S. elections were meddled with?Link visible for attendees
Trump has been saying the elections were being meddled with since he first ran for president. While he and his followers stopped making those accusations when he was declared the winner, I think his accusations deserve serious consideration and would like to see if they may be accurate. I’d also like to evaluate the evidence that the election was meddled with by both Trump and Harris. If Trump meddled with the election, its very possible he thought Harris was doing it and he decided to do it to try to “even things out.” But either way I think we should evaluate the evidence based on its merits.
I recently came into contact with a post on reddit that shows that there is enough evidence of voter fraud in 2024 that it's going to court. I want to examine this and other such claims to see whether Trump is right that the elections were meddled with:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-165658733Format: Lecture and discussion
Note: social time for our community 15 minutes before the presentation.
To get familiar with our past events, feel free to check out our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmixGB9GdrptyEWovEj80zgAfter registering via zoom, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
We publish our event recordings on our Youtube channel to offer our help to anyone who would like to but can’t attend the meeting, so we need to give this clause. If you don’t want to be recorded, just remain on mute and keep your video off.
Here’s our legal notice: For valuable consideration received, by joining this event I hereby grant Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns, the irrevocable and unrestricted right to use and publish any and all Zoom recordings for trade, advertising and any other commercial purpose, and to alter the same without any restriction. I hereby release Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns from all claims and liability related to said video recordings.
