About us
Welcome to the Toronto Philosophy Meetup! This is a community (online and in-person) 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, poetry, 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 Facebook, Twitter or Bluesky and join our new Discord for extended discussion and to stay in touch with other members.
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.
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.
Featured event
The Divine Comedy / Dante Reading
📌 The Divine Comedy is more than a story — it’s a map of the inner self.
- It teaches about choices, responsibility, and consequences.
- It shows how struggle and self‑reflection can lead to growth and spiritual awakening.
- The journey mirrors our own personal transformation — confronting flaws, repenting, and aiming for higher understanding and compassion.
A short 5-minute TEDx video introducing The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.”
https://youtu.be/YbCEWSip9pQ?si=XybZNFwcuzJfCTuU
***
## 🧍 Who Was Dante?
- Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) was a medieval Italian poet from Florence.
- He is considered one of the greatest writers in world literature and one of the founders of the Italian language.
***
## 🔥 What Is The Divine Comedy?
- A long epic poem written in terza rima (a special rhyming scheme) in the early 1300s.
- It describes a symbolic journey through the afterlife: Hell → Purgatory → Heaven.
- 🌍 What the Three Parts Represent
### 1. ⚫ Inferno (Hell)
- Dante travels through the nine circles of Hell guided by the Roman poet Virgil.
- Each circle punishes a different kind of sin.
- Theme: Recognizing the consequences of wrongdoing and human weaknesses.
### 2. 🔺 Purgatorio (Purgatory)
- Dante and Virgil climb the mountain of Purgatory, where souls purify themselves.
- It’s full of hope and change — sinners repent and grow.
- Theme: Transformation and self‑improvement.
### 3. ☀️ Paradiso (Heaven)
- Beatrice (Dante’s ideal guide of divine love) leads him through the celestial spheres.
- Dante encounters angels and blessed souls.
- Theme: Divine love, spiritual fulfillment, and union with God.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:
- John Ciardi – (I HAVE PURCHASED THIS ONE). Best for a discussion group because it’s clear, accessible, and includes notes for each canto. Helps participants understand the meaning and context without getting lost in archaic language.
- Mandelbaum (20th c.) – Modern, poetic, complete. Very readable and preserves the literary quality. Good if the group wants more literary flavor ''after understanding the basics''.
- Longfellow (1867) – Historically respected, complete, but 19th-century English can be challenging.
Here is the PDF version of my PowerPoint presentation. Please note that I will be adding more material before our next meeting.
Make sure you are using the most recent version. I will update the document before Tuesday.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KhZUEo33ma00aCWS0_lzhQDBFN8G1Eb6/view?usp=sharing
## 📅 How We’ll Proceed (Weekly Plan)
## Recommended Strategy - Hybrid Method:
Most scholars and teachers of Dante suggest a hybrid method:
- First pass: read and interpret on your (group) own
- Let your mind react naturally.
- Note your questions, feelings, and possible symbolic meanings.
- Try to paraphrase the lines in your own words.
- Second pass: read with a scholarly commentary
- Compare your interpretations with what scholars like Hollander, Singleton, or Musa explain.
- Note where you were close, where you missed something, and where you had a different insight.
- This enriches your understanding without destroying your personal perspective.
- Reflect
- Ask: “How do my interpretation and the scholarly one interact?”
- Often your own interpretation is partially right, but scholarship adds layers and precision.
- Week 1: Divine Comedy - Power Point presentation
- Week 2: Canto I — The forest, the beasts
- Week 3: Canto II — Virgil
## 📚 Links to the Book (Public Domain)
***1, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/
2. Full text - Project Gutenberg
📎 The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso – Project Gutenberg
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8800
***This is another version of Project Gutenberg, but this edition also includes notes and explanations for each canto.
https://wyomingcatholic.edu/wp-content/uploads/dante-01-inferno.pdf
LECTURES AND INTERESTINS WEBSITES:
A. Prof. Teodolinda Barolini is Lorenzo da Ponte Professor of Italian at Columbia University. You can listen to her AMAZING lectures. There are 54 videos and some are more than one hour. I will be listening at least one per week.
https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/the-dante-course/
B. YALE UNIVERSITY LECTURE BY: GIUSEPPE MAZZOTTA
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD1450DFDA859F694
C. This link has SEVERAL excellent sources:
https://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.com/2021/07/21/extratextual-sources-for-studying-the-divine-comedy/
D. Canto - Audio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEDGsmkxv84&t=4s
***
Upcoming events
507
![[In-person] Curiosity Café – Ethics of the Family](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/2/9/1/9/highres_533710521.jpeg)
[In-person] Curiosity Café – Ethics of the Family
Madison Avenue Pub, 14 Madison Ave, Toronto, ON, CAOur families, or lack thereof, are one of the first things we become aware of. For better or worse, as children, most of us rely on family to meet our needs and help us learn how to exist in the world. Their presence or absence shapes our behaviours and affects how others treat us. We may be judged by what our parents do for work, how our children behave, whether we have strong or weak family values and ties, or our ability to fulfill familial obligations. ‘Family’ shapes how we come to learn about the world, how we relate to one another and to ourselves, and the goals we set. Through our lived experience, the stories we’re told, and the cultural values many of us have inherited, ‘family’ has become a relational category whose existence we assume is natural; that is, family units have always existed and always will. But could a world without families exist? Statistically, families are the epicentre for cases of violence and abuse, and perpetuating economic inequality. Given this, would we be better off in a world without family as we know it?
Join co-moderators Fallon Taylor-Kanary and Sophia Whicher at our next Curiosity Café, where we’ll explore the following questions:
- Who do you consider to be family? Why?
- How do you feel when you think about family?
- What function does family play in our lives?
- Why are families sites of so much violence?
- How is contemporary infrastructure (architecture, policies, institutions, etc) designed around families?
- How would our relations be different if our material and economic conditions weren’t shaped or mediated by the family?
- Would a world without families necessarily be a world with less love and care?
Space is limited! Please obtain a “Pay-What-You-Can” ticket from Curiosity Café at this link (click here) 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!
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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.
9 attendees
Past events
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