What we’re about
The Greater Philadelphia Thinking Society is a Meetup group that brings together thoughtful people for stimulating and civically minded conversations.
We meet in a relaxed setting on almost every Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 AM and occasionally in the evening. Most of our events aim for a small group ambiance with about 10-12 participants. Sometimes we use larger spaces with different group dynamics and formats.
Almost all our events engage participants in a group conversation to explore a wide range of topics including society & culture, philosophy & religion, design, science & technology, psychology, politics, economics, and current events.
We organize a safe, facilitated forum of inquiry and exploration.
Our interactive format engages participants to speak up and be heard, to explore our assumptions, to listen and hear others, and to find and build meanings.
We value topics that matter, diverse points of view and ways of knowing, sensitive listening, and your contributions to our explorations.
In addition to ideas and resources posed by the event host(s), our conversations are informed by participants exchanging experiences, interpretations, understandings, beliefs, feelings, values, thoughts, and ways of thinking.
Through discourse and consideration these ideas can reveal a web of relationships which participants can form into meaningful insights and new possibilities.
We start the conversation so come participate and accept your own genius.
We are always looking for new discussion leaders and other volunteers to bring new and interesting topics and perspectives to our group. Please see https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/pages/14433542/Discussion_Leader_Guidelines/ if you are interested.
For more information about our group including our list of Frequently Asked Questions, please visit About the Greater Philadelphia Thinking Society.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Politics of Vaccination: COVID and Measles (SHANNONDELL Valley Forge)Shannondell - Bradford Clubhouse, Audubon, PA
Why is acceptance or rejection of vaccines a partisan political decision for many Americans? And what can be done to decrease the spread of contagious diseases like COVID and measles?
Consider the recent rise in measles outbreaks. Take a look at an MSNBC video clip from July 25, 2025. https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/rfk-jr-makes-a-living-on-lawsuits-that-target-vaccines-brandy-zadrozny-on-hhs-measles-response-243140677575. (It runs 11:29. Wait for the ads to clear.) Ali Velshi and Brandy Zadrozny report that there have been at least 1,233 confirmed cases of measles spread across 39 states. They say Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is weakening confidence in vaccines and public health programs more generally. He recently claimed measles vaccine effectiveness weakens over time and that vitamins, should be considered as alternatives. Medical scientists and public health officials are outraged because the safety and effectiveness of measles vaccines have been confirmed again and again. Vaccine conspiracy theories have been decisively debunked. Anti-vax activism and misinformation that was once spread primarily on social media are now becoming U.S. government policy.
A 2023 scientific study of how declining trust in government during the Trump and Biden administrations may have led to declining trust in public health expertise and refusal to take COVID vaccines when they became available in January 2021. By September 2021, 90% of Democrats were vaccinated vs. 58% of Republicans. The scientific paper is available here, but I suggest you skip the technical details and read just the abstract, introduction, and conclusion sections. "Political Ideology and Trust in Government to Ensure Vaccine Safety" is available at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10002444/.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, April 4, 2025, investigated what is likely to happen if immunization rates for measles, COVID, and other diseases drop further over a prolonged period of time. Read a summary of “Measles May Be Making a Comeback in the U.S” by researchers at Stanford University. The link is here: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/04/measles-vaccination.html
******* ADDED 8/6/2025 *******
Here is an article by George Will from the Washington Post, "How the coronavirus sparked an epidemic of intellectual malpractice." It presents a critical view of the COVID vaccine roll-out, as reported by two Princeton social scientists in a new book, “In
Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us.” Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/11/covid-coronavirus-pandemic-response/.Some questions to consider:
- How did earlier anti-vaccine movements weaken trust in current vaccines? How are today’s anti-vax activists different?
- Are the reasons for rejection of measles vaccines different from COVID vaccines? Why?
- Why are the CDC’s and FDA’s leading vaccine experts being fired by RFK Jr.?
- Are anti-vax activists motivated by profit-seeking liability lawyers who sue pharmaceutical companies?
- Has loss of confidence in the federal government led to loss of faith in experts more generally, or more specifically in public health or vaccine policy?
- Why do you think more Democrats were vaccinated for COVID than Republicans?
- Comprehensivist Wednesdays: Metamodernism by Hunter Glenn!Link visible for attendees
Humanity’s ability to solve problems has always depended on how we think, share, and refine ideas together. But for most of history, this process has unfolded unconsciously. Through trial and error, moments of brilliance, and slow progress shaped more by chance than intention.
What if we could change that?
This series explores how we can become more aware of the way we think and collaborate. We aim to transform insight from something we stumble upon to something we intentionally cultivate. As we face overlapping global challenges ecological, technological, social, and spiritual we need new ways of integrating knowledge and generating solutions at scale.
Hosted by 52LivingIdeas and the Greater Philadelphia Thinking Society, Hunter Glenn will lead a Comprehensivist Wednesday one discussion on metamodernism every month. This ongoing series is an open invitation to thinkers, seekers, designers, and anyone curious about the journey from fragmentation to coherence—and from crisis to transformation.
Come help shape the next phase of human thinking. Let it be by design rather than by accident.
************************************************************
While this event takes place on the 4th Wednesday of this month, Hunter will normally lead the Metamodernism Series on the 3rd Comprehensivist Wednesday of each month.Welcome to the series "Comprehensivist Wednesdays." Transdisciplinarity, Renaissance humanism, homo universalis, and Polymathy are some of the ways of describing this approach which Buckminster Fuller called Comprehensivity and described as “macro-comprehensive and micro-incisive.”
See the calendar at https://www.meetup.com/52LivingIdeas/events/calendar/
A Meetup Every Day, Every Week, For Everyone!
Every Weekday at 8 pm or 9 pm ET
We record all our Meetups and post them on YouTube. Feel free to keep your video on or off as you prefer. Watch Past Meetups here.
- Comprehensivist Wednesdays: Greg Sadler on the Legacy of Alasdair MacIntyreLink visible for attendees
Join us for a special online conversation with Greg Sadler on the life and work of Alasdair MacIntyre, one of the most influential philosophers of the past century.
MacIntyre’s contributions to virtue ethics, moral philosophy, and the role of traditions in shaping moral reasoning continue to influence how we understand the good life, community, and moral practice. His works, including "Plain Persons and Moral Philosophy" and "After Virtue", have inspired scholars, educators, and practitioners across many fields.
Greg Sadler, who studied with MacIntyre as a Faculty Fellow at Notre Dame’s Erasmus Institute, brings both scholarly insight and personal reflections on MacIntyre’s thought and character. This session will explore MacIntyre’s lasting contributions to philosophy and offer an opportunity to reflect on his enduring legacy.
About Greg Sadler:
Greg Sadler is the President and Co-Founder of ReasonIO, where he works to make philosophy accessible through public speaking, content creation, consulting, and one-on-one tutorials. He also runs a popular YouTube channel with over 163,000 subscribers and more than 16.3 million views, and teaches through the Study With Sadler Academy, serving students and clients worldwide.********************************************************************************
Welcome to the "Comprehensivist Wednesdays" series hosted by 52 Living Ideas and the Greater Philadelphia Thinking Society. Transdisciplinarity, Renaissance humanism, homo universalis, and Polymathy are some of the ways of describing this approach, which Buckminster Fuller called Comprehensivity and described as “macro-comprehensive and micro-incisive.”See the calendar at https://www.meetup.com/52LivingIdeas/events/calendar/
A Meetup Every Day, Every Week, For Everyone!
Every Weekday at 8 pm or 9 pm ET
We record all our Meetups and post them on YouTube. Feel free to keep your video on or off as you prefer. Watch Past Meetups here.
- Comprehensivist Wednesdays: Metamodernism by Hunter Glenn!Link visible for attendees
Humanity’s ability to solve problems has always depended on how we think, share, and refine ideas together. But for most of history, this process has unfolded unconsciously. Through trial and error, moments of brilliance, and slow progress shaped more by chance than intention.
What if we could change that?
This series explores how we can become more aware of the way we think and collaborate. We aim to transform insight from something we stumble upon to something we intentionally cultivate. As we face overlapping global challenges ecological, technological, social, and spiritual we need new ways of integrating knowledge and generating solutions at scale.
Hosted by 52LivingIdeas and the Greater Philadelphia Thinking Society, Hunter Glenn will lead a Comprehensivist Wednesday one discussion on metamodernism every month. This ongoing series is an open invitation to thinkers, seekers, designers, and anyone curious about the journey from fragmentation to coherence—and from crisis to transformation.
Come help shape the next phase of human thinking. Let it be by design rather than by accident.
************************************************************
While this event takes place on the 4th Wednesday of this month, Hunter will normally lead the Metamodernism Series on the 3rd Comprehensivist Wednesday of each month.Welcome to the series "Comprehensivist Wednesdays." Transdisciplinarity, Renaissance humanism, homo universalis, and Polymathy are some of the ways of describing this approach which Buckminster Fuller called Comprehensivity and described as “macro-comprehensive and micro-incisive.”
See the calendar at https://www.meetup.com/52LivingIdeas/events/calendar/
A Meetup Every Day, Every Week, For Everyone!
Every Weekday at 8 pm or 9 pm ET
We record all our Meetups and post them on YouTube. Feel free to keep your video on or off as you prefer. Watch Past Meetups here.
