What we’re about
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.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- [In-person] Curiosity Café: Social HarmsMadison Avenue Pub, Toronto, ON
Receiving a birthday card, a hospital visit, or an invite out for drinks are considered acts of kindness we often take for granted. These actions can seem small, but when we experience their absence we realize they are anything but. We feel their weight, but don’t know how to name them. These are not physical harms — the ‘sticks and stones’ of children’s proverbs. Nor can we categorize them as ‘emotional abuse.’ But what we are talking about here is a real, common, and significant experience for a lot of people — it needs to be named. How else can we remedy the real problems they can create?
If this cafe, we’ll explore the idea of social harms and how naming this category can play a role in building community and mitigating disconnection. Social harms are non-physical, emotionally detrimental actions that uniquely undermine our social bonds, both damaging interpersonal relationships and communal structures. We’ll draw upon philosophical and sociological reflections on harm, social connection, and citizenship to examine our intuitions about what we owe each other socially.
Join our guest moderator, Isaiah Ritzmann and our very own Sofia Panasiuk to explore the following questions and more:
- Do you think that perpetrating the acts — forgetting a friend’s birthday, not visiting someone you’re close to in the hospital — are harmful? Why or why not?
- How do social harms compare with other kinds of harms? Are some worse than others?
- For example — how would you compare a long-term friend disappearing from your life, without warning, to another friend stealing $2,000?
- Have you ever been the recipient of social harms? How did you feel? Do you believe your feelings were justified?
- Have you ever been the perpetrator of social harms? What do you believe your responsibility is after you have recognized the effect of your action?
Space is limited! Please obtain a “Pay-What-You-Can” ticket from Curiosity Café here to attend this event. See the ticketing page 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 consider signing up for our next Curiosity Class "Social Harms and Cancel Culture" on Saturday June 7th and our Philosophical Skills Workshop "How to Reconstruct an Argument" on Saturday May 24!)
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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: Wait, science says reincarnation is real? Does it matter?Link visible for attendees
I presented previously my logical argument that reincarnation is more likely to be true than false. During that event someone told me that this has been studied by peer reviewed science, so I’m re-doing the session on reincarnation after reviewing the peer reviewed research on the subject.
I also want to talk about whether or not this matters – I’d argue it does. If true, this would mean that the concepts put forward by some religions that after death we face eternal hell or heaven is not likely accurate.
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.
![[In-person] Curiosity Café: Social Harms cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/e/3/c/event_528080028.webp "[In-person] Curiosity Café: Social Harms")
