Practical Philosophy Club Meetup - London 🇬🇧

🏛️ WHAT'S PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY ABOUT?

Practical Philosophy is a weekly meet-up that brings critical thinkers together for an opportunity to dive deep on a topic, practice communicating, and building a community. All with no ‘official’ philosophy knowledge required! 😎

Practical Philosophy is based on the idea that philosophy should be accessible to all, and not something reserved only for academics. Each week we choose a topic, and the goal is to use the conversation to develop our critical thinking and communication as we explore that topic.

Please note that RSVP via the meetup app is mandatory, including for any people you bring along with you so we and the venue have headcount and know who is with us.

The goal is to help develop our Critical Thinking, Communication, and Community 🙌

📓 HOW DOES IT WORK?

Each week, we pick one topic and discuss it. The topic for the week is shared, generally in the Whatsapp group, along with jump-off points to get the conversation going.

When groups get bigger than 7-8 people, it’s important that we break into smaller groups. This way we are able to maintain a conversational flow as opposed to having our meetups feel like a discourse or lecture.

General Meeting Agenda

Each Practical Philosophy meet-up follows this general timeline:

• 14:00-14.15 - Arrive, take a seat so there is 4-7 ppl per table. Shuffle around if you want to sit at a different table to meet new faces, and do your table introductions. This is also when I check people in on the Meetup app. RSVP for you and any guests is mandatory.
• 14:15-14:20 - Once everyone has been checked in on the Meetup app, I will give a short explainer on what PPC is about, read the guidelines, introduce topic’s jump-off points.
• 14:20-15:20 - Kick off with general thoughts on the topic, open discussion afterwards. At this point the group can review the ‘jump-off’ questions as needed, but they are just there to help guide the conversation. It’s not obligatory to answer them.
• 15:20-15:30 - We typically take a group photo. If you don't want to be in the group photo, there's no pressure, it's just a way to close out the meeting. We occasionally have an unofficial social so the different groups can mingle afterwards too, usually in the park with a board-game or we continue out discussions and hear what members on other tables discussed!

🧧PRICING?

Practical Philosophy Club is FREE to attend, and we operate on donations.

If you'd like to donate to support our running costs, that helps keep our group self-sustaining. Donations are 100% voluntary, but your contribution is appreciated! QR codes to donate will be present.

Tea’s and coffees and are paid by the individual should they wish to have them.

💛 WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY

🗣 “I feel like Philosophy Club helps someone build their own belief system through a series of perspectives while not promoting what’s right and wrong” - Ekam

🗣 “I got hooked from day 1 (the topic was authority) and felt it was the right place for me. I feel it is a place where people can go to learn and discuss new perspectives and increase critical thinking and community by interacting with people who might challenge your point of views but at the same time encourage you to have openness and mind flexibility.” - Daniel

🤓 FAQ

• What will we talk about? What's the topic?

The topic for the week is shared every week in the Whatsapp group before the session. We try to add the topic to the comment section on this event page as well but if you don’t see it, the topic and the jump-off points will be in our Whatsapp.

• Do I need to study or read anything to attend?

No preparation is necessary. This isn’t a study of other thinkers. We want to know what YOU think about the topic, not what an old philosopher thought. If you have a perspective from a religion or a school of thought to share, throw it on the table and we’ll discuss it, but it's not required.

• Is there a specific philosophy that Practical Philosophy is focused on?

The goal of our meet-ups is to not have dogmatic discussions, and flex our critical thinking muscles. Because of this, we want to hear from every realm of thought, and don't study a particular school.

• Is it mostly men that attend?

Surprisingly, no! Although philosophy is seen as a Candelabra affair in a dark room with a bunch of guys, our Practical Philosophy meetups are generally 50/50 between genders, and we don’t meet in any dark rooms.

• Can I come alone?

Of course you can, we encourage it :)

• Can I be late?

Please don't be! We do have a 15 minute grace period where we allow people to funnel in while we hang out, but after that if you arrive too late, it disrupts the flow of the conversation.

• Where do you meet?

The location is posted in Meetup and our Whatsapp group for this location. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you join the Whatsapp group! If you want to know what other cities have a Practical Philosophy Club, you can see our chapters on our website.

🤝POLICY
To respect our members privacy, we ask that no one privately message a member without first getting explicit consent. (This looks like speaking in person and being asked to message privately.) Contacting or texting other participants without prior consent is not permitted and may result in removal from the group. Practical Philosophy reserves the right to enforce this policy at its discretion to maintain a safe and respectful environment.

PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY - Making Philosophy Available To All. ✨

Practical Philosophy hosts weekly, in-person meetups in 25+ countries, including Canada, Spain, Japan, Mexico and many more! 🗺️
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