What we’re about
(We used to be (Faux) Philosophy Kitchener/Waterloo)
Enjoy exploring big ideas with a dash of paradox? Keen to connect with neighbors who bring different views and fresh insights? Ready to break out of the routine and discuss your insights on challenging questions? If these questions speak to you, come join our conversation.
Philosophy Unplugged Kitchener/Waterloo meets at 10 am on the first Saturday of each month. Our current home is The Catalyst coffee shop, 137 Glasgow St, Kitchener.
We are not exactly a philosophy club, nor a philosophy book club. Rather, we aim to create space to socialize ‘big’ ideas. We start with insights based on personal experiences and life’s lessons. The discussions draw on many sources - what we have read, respected thinkers, cultural influences, our education, theories and practices.
Each month we target an intriguing topic to discuss. We add a few reference items like articles or YouTube content, that are available to read, view, scan, or ignore, up to you. The only ask? You come prepared to share, listen and think with an open mind.
We look forward to meeting and becoming ‘philosophy unplugged’.
Upcoming events (1)
See all- Life Can Only Be Understood Backwards, But It Must Be Lived ForwardsCatalyst 137, Kitchener, ON
Firing up the meetup for another year. Hope the summer has been kind to everyone.
You will note the rebrand to ’Philosophy Unplugged’. The goal remains the same, experiment with how to bring value to people from all backgrounds who want to explore Philosophical themes with others.
I invite you to book 10 am on Saturday, October 4th for our first meetup of the season. We will meet at The Catalyst coffee shop, 137 Glasgow St, Kitchener.The first discussion will explore the paradoxical quote, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” (Kierkegaard). The immediate context for the quote is at https://homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~jorgen/kierkegaardquotesource.html and reads "It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards. A proposition which, the more it is subjected to careful thought, the more it ends up concluding precisely that life at any given moment cannot really ever be fully understood; exactly because there is no single moment where time stops completely in order for me to take position [to do this]: going backwards"
In case you wish to explore some context, https://philarchive.org/archive/BACICA is a reasonably accessible article (13 pages). https://philosophybreak.com/articles/kierkegaard-life-can-only-be-understood-backwards-but-must-be-lived-forwards/ is a short blog post that offers a practical point-of-view.
Hope to see you in October.
