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The Humanist Association of Toronto
http://www.humanisttoronto.ca/

Every Saturday we meet on Zoom to discuss a topic decided upon the previous week. These are topics of humanist interest, from a humanist perspective.

The topic of the discussion will be decided in a prior meeting, usually two weeks in advance. This week’s topic is:

When to Conciliate and When to Resist. Introduced by Moses Klein.

At the 2026 World Humanist Congress, philosopher Ralf Schöppner suggested that humanists have a natural inclination to “balance”, i.e. take a conciliatory approach toward our adversaries, but that in extreme cases, where fundamental principles are challenged, we need to resist.

  1. Do you agree with this framing?
  2. How do you decide when to conciliate (balance) and when to fight (resist)
  3. Can you think of situations when fighting is appropriate but you found ideological allies more inclined to conciliate?
  4. Can you think of situations when conciliation is appropriate but you found ideological allies more inclined to fight?
  5. One characterization of the dichotomy is: conciliation with opponents, resistance against enemies. How do you distinguish between opponents and enemies?

Meet our diverse group, trade perspectives in a free and open forum and learn from others as they learn from you!

BTW: don't be concerned if there are not many RSVP’s. Many HAT members attend regularly but don’t sign up on Meetup. Our online meetings have been very popular with 20-30 attendees.

Our Website (http://www.humanisttoronto.ca/)

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