[In-person] The Goal of Life: Why Do Living Things Do What They Do? 

The topic of this Curiosity Café is, The Goal of Life: Why Do Living Things Do What They Do?

What is a goal? When we think of goals, we typically think of the traditional New Year's ritual. However, goal setting is much more ubiquitous than that. Some philosophers and cognitive scientists say there are goals underlying every one of our actions. From this understanding, even an activity as mundane as drinking water can be a goal. At the other end of the scale, they can be all-encompassing. For example, Aristotle claims, roughly, that the goal of life is to partake in the eternal and divine, so far as beings are able.

In this café, we explore what differentiates successful goal setting from unsuccessful. In the second half, we extend the question to all living beings. That is, why do living beings do what they do? Is there a single goal that all living beings strive toward? What do you think? Join our two moderators, Alex Rose and Marybel Menzies, and have your say, at the next café!

Space is limited! Please also obtain a ticket here if you're attending this event.

You can support our organization by implementing optional “Pay-What-You-Can” tickets, in addition to the usual "Free Ticket" option. We ask that you consider making a donation when you RSVP to help us make our work and growth as an organization possible. The ticketing page also has info about accessibility-related concerns at the venue.

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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.