О нас
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.
See here for more information and to meet our donors.
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.
Set in a towering, futuristic city where the elite live above ground in a fantastic utopia while oppressed workers toil below, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) was a groundbreaking science fiction epic that transformed the visual and thematic language of futurism and dystopia. The story follows Freder, the privileged son of the city's authoritarian leader, who discovers the truth about the grim reality below and falls in love with Maria, a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior for the world. Central to the film's narrative is the first depiction of artificial intelligence in film: the invention of a humanoid robot capable of labor that upends the social order. Decades ahead of its time, Metropolis explores themes of social inequality, rebellion, and the human soul, and laid the foundation for how we imagine the complex relationship between humans and intelligent machines.
"Surreal, sprawling, operatic, drawing on biblical and medieval imagery as well as H.G. Wells… Lang's influential pulp allegory colonized a new realm of the imagination." (Rotten Tomatoes)
"The summit of German Expressionism." (Roger Ebert)
"A great artist contains multitudes, and Lang packed a host of contradictory longings into a single allegory." (Slate)
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Let's discuss the 1927 silent film masterpiece Metropolis directed by the Austrian-German filmmaker Fritz Lang, recently voted the 67th greatest movie of all time in Sight & Sound's international survey of film critics and scholars. The film is often said to contain the first cinematic depiction of Artificial Intelligence. We will also discuss Lang's equally acclaimed movie M (1931) in the near future.
Please watch the movie in advance and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the meeting.
There are many cuts of this movie floating around out there. Please watch the RESTORED 148 minute version of the film that was reconstructed from newly rediscovered footage in 2010. Accept no imitations! You can stream it here [to be posted]
Check out other movie discussions in the group every Friday and occasionally other days.
Предстоящие мероприятия (4+)
Смотреть все- [In-person] Curiosity Café: Games (Tickets on Eventbrite)Madison Avenue Pub, Toronto, ON
Nearly everyone has played a game. But what, exactly, is a game? After all, the category appears to encompass a wide variety of (not always human) activities, from board games to video games to the Olympic games. Games can be solitary, cooperative, or competitive, and depend in varying degrees on chance or skill; they include activities as different as Street Fighter and Solitaire, Monopoly and basketball, beer pong and fetch. To make matters more complicated, we often use the word “game” to describe attitudes toward things we do not usually perceive as games — as when we accuse people of treating an important task or a relationship “like a game” or we play games with other people’s (or each other’s…) emotions.
What, then, does it mean for something to be — or for someone to play — a game? At our next Curiosity Café, moderated by Sophia Whicher and Adrian Ma, we will engage in a playful, but by no means frivolous, exploration of these and other questions about the nature and value of games, including:
- What makes something a game? Is there a feature that is common to everything we call a “game”? (For example: must all games have rules?)
- What does it mean to play, or to treat something like, a game?
- What can games tell us about the importance of play in our lives?
- Are games always amusing or unserious?
- What is the value, if any, of playing games?
- When is it good to treat something like a game? When is it bad?
- Why is cheating in a game often seen as a big deal?
- Can we imagine a world without games? What would that look like?
Don’t play games with our expectations — reserve your spot by purchasing a ticket on Eventbrite now! ;)
Space is limited! Please obtain a “Pay-What-You-Can” ticket from Curiosity Café here (link) to attend this event. You need a ticket to be admitted. See the above link for more info about tickets and other options including a limited number of free tickets. Come and hang out with us, grab food, and read through our handout from 6-6:30pm. Our structured discussion will run from 6:30-8:30pm with a 10 minute break in the middle.
Hope to see you there!
(Also check out the next Curiosity Class "The Experience of Grief" on Saturday July 5th and our next Philosophical Skills Workshop "How to Evaluate an Argument" on Saturday June 21)
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This event is brought to you by Being and Becoming, a Toronto based non-profit. We aim to create community around exploring everyday concepts and experiences so that we may live more intentional, thoughtful, and meaningful lives. We use philosophy as a tool with which we can come to a richer understanding of the world around us.
By offering activities, spaces, and other opportunities for conversation and co-exploration, we hope to enable the meeting and fusion of individuals and their ideas. Everyone is welcome, regardless of background: indeed, we believe the journey is best undertaken alongside explorers from a variety of disciplines, cultures, backgrounds, and experiences.
Find out more about Being and Becoming here.
About the Curiosity Café Series:
For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to join us at our Curiosity Cafés and are wondering what they’re all about: every two weeks, we invite members of our community to come out to the Madison Avenue Pub to engage in a collaborative exploration of our chosen topic. Through these events, we aim to build our community of people who like to think deeply about life’s big questions, and provide each other with some philosophical tools to dig deeper into whatever it is we are most curious about.
- FTI: Project 2025: What It Aims to Change and What That Means for AmericaУчастникам доступна ссылка
In the lead-up to the next presidential administration, the Heritage Foundation and dozens of conservative organizations launched Project 2025, a comprehensive effort to reshape the federal government. The initiative outlines sweeping reforms to government agencies, public policies, and leadership priorities with the stated goal of reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy, restoring individual liberties, and promoting a particular vision of American values.
For some, Project 2025 represents a bold effort to return to what they see as the founding principles of the United States. For others, it raises concerns about the balance of power, individual rights, and the role of government in protecting vulnerable communities.
This event will explore Project 2025’s core objectives, including:
- Limiting federal regulatory power and promoting local governance.
- Restructuring social policies with a focus on family, religious freedom, and national sovereignty.
- Reforming economic, environmental, and foreign policies according to a conservative framework.
But we’ll also ask the broader questions:
- Where are we now as a nation in terms of balancing freedom, safety, and opportunity?
- How can we create a system of governance that empowers citizens without unnecessary harm?
- What ethical principles should guide both conservative and liberal efforts to shape the future?
Whether you agree with Project 2025 or oppose its aims, this conversation invites people across the political spectrum to engage thoughtfully, understand each other’s perspectives, and discuss the future of American leadership and values.
Format: 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.
![Фото обложки [In-person] Curiosity Café: Games (Tickets on Eventbrite)](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/8/f/9/f/event_529356767.webp "[In-person] Curiosity Café: Games (Tickets on Eventbrite)")
