About us
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.)
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 Facebook, Twitter or Bluesky and join our new Discord for discussion and to stay in touch with other members.
(🚨🚨🚨 WARNING: FRADULENT EMAILS are circulating that IMPERSONATE organizers of this group and ask you for money or personal information if you engage. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED SUCH AN EMAIL OR IF YOU ARE UNCERTAIN about any message claiming to represent this group, PLEASE REPORT IT by contacting the main organizer Darren directly through Meetup's messaging system or other known channels. Watch out for scams in general, which are now easy to generate with A.I. 🚨🚨🚨)
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.
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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Featured event
Philosophers Discuss Stéphane Mallarmé’s Poetry
Hi Everyone, welcome to the next meetups that Jen and Philip will be presenting.
For medical reasons I (Philip) have had to pick a slightly lighter topic this time around. It may be a while before I can once again to justice to the heavy philosophers (ie., Kant and Hegel). So this time we will be reading these two books:
- Stéphane Mallarmé: Collected Poems and Other Verse (With Parallel French Text)
translated by E.H. and A.M. Blackmore (Oxford World's Classics)
and
- Stéphane Mallarmé by Roger Pearson (2010). Please note that Roger Pearson has written many books about Mallarmé, so please be sure to get the one published by Reaktion Books in their series "Critical Lives".
👇 Scroll to the bottom for the reading schedule and materials. 👇
Mallarmé inspired many French thinkers including Derrida, Bataille and Maurice Blanchot. On days when I (Philip) am feeling up to it, we will explore these connections between Mallarme and the philosophers he inspired. The Pearson book will be very helpful in drawing out these connections.
On days when I am not feeling especially well, we will treat the meetup more like a poetry reading session and focus more on the literary aspects of the poems.
Once we have finished with the Pearson book (it is very short) we may read some short works (in translation) by French thinkers who wrote about Mallarme or were inspired by Mallarmé.
The format will be our usual "accelerated live read" format. What this means is that each participant will be expected to read roughly 15-20 pages from the Pearson book 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. Philip will also select one or two poems for each session. These will be read out loud in both English and French. Jen and Philip will attempt to convey aspects of the original French that were lost in translation. But we will be discussing the poems in English.
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.
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Here is the description from the back cover of the Pearson book:
This concise biography of Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–98) blends an account of the poet’s life with a detailed analysis of his evolving poetic theory and practice. “A poet on this earth must be uniquely a poet,” he declared at the age of twenty-two — but what is a poet’s life and what is a poet’s function? In his poems and prose statements and by the example of his life, Mallarmé provided answers to these questions.
In Stéphane Mallarmé, Roger Pearson explores the relationship among Mallarmé’s life, his philosophy, and his writing. To Mallarmé, being a poet consists of a continuous, lifelong investigation of language and its expressive potential. It represents, argues Pearson, a fundamental response to the metaphysical mystery of the human condition and the desire to make sense of it for others. A poet turns everyday banality into prospects of mystery; and a poet, in Mallarmé’s conception, is able to bring all human beings together in heightened awareness and understanding of the “magnificent act of living.”
This concise and engaging biography tells the story of a fascinating and utterly unique voice in French poetry, one that was often overshadowed by other Symbolist writers. It is an essential read for students of literature and nineteenth-century France.
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Here is the reading schedule:
- For the first session (March 22), please read the poems "Toast" and "Ill Fortune". Please read up to page 38 in the Roger Pearson book
- For the second session, please read the poems "Apparition" and "Futile Petition". Please read up to page 63 in Pearson.
After this, the readings will be posted.
A pdf copy of Stéphane Mallarmé: Collected Poems and Other Verse is here.
A pdf of the Pearson is here.
Upcoming events
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Socrates vanquishing the Sophists: Plato’s Protagoras (Live Reading)
·OnlineOnlineCan excellence and virtue be taught? Can virtuous politics be taught? Can political excellence be taught or transmitted in any way, shape or form? These are only some of the questions with which Protagoras wrestles and the provide Plato with ample opportunity to engage with diverse topics such as the constitution of human societies, the ultimate unity of virtues and the responsibilities of teachers.
Protagoras, possibly the most famous sophist of his day and a leading figure in the sophistic movement, is charging a king’s ransom as a fee for his professorial services and a young man by the name of Hippocrates is prepared to pay. He persuades Socrates to act as a mediator and convince Protagoras to take him on as a student. The ensuing dialogue will cast doubt on Protagoras’ claim that he is able to prepare the future leaders of the political community.
The dialogue is supposedly taking place some time before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, probably in 434-432 BC but was written in the 380s and belongs to the early platonic period.
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This will be a live reading of Plato's Protagoras. Saturday March 21 will be the first session on the Protagoras and thus the ideal time to join our group. Reference will be made to contemporary and older scholarship. Historical context will be brought up whenever necessary to illuminate the dialogue.
We will be using Benjamin Jowett’s translation, which can be found here.
This Plato group meets on Saturdays and has previously read the Symposium, Phaedo, 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. 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.
16 attendees
Georges Bataille on Eros and Thanatos
·OnlineOnlineAfter an interlude with Foucault and Deleuze, we continue our reading of Part Two of George Bataille's Erotism: Death & Sensuality, published in 1957*.* The plan is to finish this book over 5 weeks or so. See below for the weekly schedule, overview of this reading group project and group rules.
Reading schedule
See the updated weekly reading schedule at this link:
https://sites.google.com/view/existentialism-and-its-critics/You can find all texts in the Google folder linked at the VERY BOTTOM of this description. The Google Meet link is also posted there.
👇 scroll all the way down for the links 👇ABOUT THE BATAILLE GROUP
This is a comprehensive reading group focusing on the works of French writer Georges Bataille. We are reading key texts from Bataille himself, as well as tracing his relationship with other major thinkers such as Hegel, Nietzsche, André Breton/Surrealism, Blanchot, Lacan, Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida, etc.Some familiarity with Bataille's mode and style of thought is helpful but not necessary. You're welcome to join the group in medias res at any time. See, however, the group rules below.
Please take the time to read and reflect on the reading prior to each meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend, but speaking priority will be given to people who have read the text.
Topics to be discussed in the future:
- Return to the 2nd part of Erotism
- Bataille's critique of Hegel: the negative and general economy
- Derrida's reading of Bataille in "From Restricted to General Economy"
Past topics included:
- Foucault on transgression, power and the history of sexuality
- The philosophical friendship and later rift between Deleuze and Foucault
- Bataille's Erotism, Part 1 & the logic of transgression
- Bataillean transgression and Deleuzian line of flight: reading Fitzgerald's "The Crack-Up"
- Bataille's aesthetics: the rift with Surrealism
- Susan Sontag on avant-guarde literature
- Bataille's novel Blue of Noon
- Inner Experience and a-theological mysticism
- Bataille's reading of Nietzsche and critique of fascism
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MORE ABOUT BATAILLE
Georges Bataille stands out as an eclectic, fascinating and controversial figure in the world of French letters. A contemporary of Sartre and Lacan, he combined ideas from diverse disciplines to create a unique position that he called 'base materialism'. In the early 20s, Bataille abandoned Catholicism, embraced psychoanalysis and Marxism and initiated an unorthodox search for the sacred in late modernity. His obsessive pursuit of ecstatic liminal experiences took him across the boundaries of philosophy, sociology, political economy, mythology, poetry, literature and mystical theology. His works develop a libidinal economy of unconditioned expenditure, offer a critique of fascism and embrace marginal experiences in the style of the French poets. Though he remained largely outside the academic mainstream and worked as a librarian, Bataille is a formative precursor to the post-structuralist philosophers of the '60s -- and may well be more relevant to our time than ever.In this group we look at a significant cross-section of Bataille's texts. Our aim is to understand his thought on its own terms as well as place him in the context of his predecessors and the French thinkers who followed his lead. In view of Bataille's early relationship with Surrealism, the referenced artworks will spotlight this movement.
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GROUP RULES
- Please spend 1-2 hours per week reading and preparing for the discussion.
- Keep your comments concise and relevant to the text.
- Please limit each comment to a maximum of 2-3 minutes. You're welcome to speak as many times as you wish.
- 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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Join the Facebook group for more resources and discussion:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/755460079505498If you have attended previous meetings, please fill out a brief survey at this link: https://forms.gle/tEMJ4tw2yVgnTsQD6
All readings can be found in this Google folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VPRdvZYmUKBY3cSxD8xC8sTYtSEKBXDs
Google Meet link to join the meeting:
https://meet.google.com/uho-cdks-dcbNote: To join the meeting anonymously, first log out of your Google account and then open the link. Alternatively you can open the link in an Incognito window (Chrome) or Private Browsing (Safari).
Art: Le Rêve / The Dream by Pablo Picasso (1932)
7 attendees
International Relations, Geopolitics, and Current Events Discussion
·OnlineOnlineThis will mostly be a discussion around major recent and ongoing events in international relations, while applying as much IR concepts and frameworks as possible.
Tentative Topics:
- Venezuela
- Iran
- Greenland / NATO
- Middle East Peace Deal
- Ukraine / Russia
- Cuba
- Tariffs, US-China trade war, and geopolitical competition
- Multipolarity
- Nuclear weapons proliferation
- A.I. race and chips
- Sudan
- Taiwan
- South China Sea
- North Korea
- .....
Links from event on Venezuela:
- Vibes-based grand strategy and foreign policy
- Regime change for democracy? Or more pliable former government (Max Blumenthal)
- Not about drugs or fentanyl (Daniel Davis), Narco-trafficking elites to run Venezuela (Chris Hedges)
- Good move because free oil - Not so simple or easy,
- Monroe Doctrine 2.0 - Iran, Columbia, Cuba, Greenland (Daniel Davis),
Links from prior/ongoing series on basic IR Theories:
Theory
- Quick Overview of Structural Realism, Liberalism, etc.; Another
- Offensive vs. Defensive Realism; 2
- Constructivism
- Diplomacy: Stapleton Roy, George Schultz, Bilahari Kausikan
- Power: Joseph Nye, Jack Matlock
Talks, applications, and discussions
- Rise and Fall of Liberal Intl Order
- John Mearsheimer discusses his book "The Great Delusion"
- Why is Ukraine the West's Fault? Featuring John Mearsheimer (2015)
- Why John Mearsheimer is wrong about realism, great power politics and history
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AjiSqp5Ddw
Additional Info and References
- [Placeholder]
18 attendees
Past events
7806
