Philosophy

Hi all! 🙂 On Wednesdays we welcome you to practice languages! If you want to practice a specific (uncommon) language, please send us a message so we can find some conversation partners for you on our mailing list! We hope to see you in Café Marktzicht! In the last year we had tables for the following languages: * Dutch * English * French * Italian * Spanish * Turkish\* * German\* * Portuguese\* * Danish\* * Norwegian\* * Russian\* * Arabic\* * Chinese\*\* * Japanese\*\* * Indonesian\*\* * * Most likely, but not every week present. \*\* - Rather rare ;-) If your language is not in this list, please let us know! We have a large database of Language Cafe visitors speaking 56 different languages! We might be able to connect you with a person that does speak the language you want to practice. In case you are not in our database yet, please use this form: http://goo.gl/forms/oSCn9Dn8m8

Compromised running is a form of training designed to train your running while being fatigued from other exercises. This is especially important when you are planning to do a Hyrox race. **What to expect:** \- A combination of functional exercises \(Lunges\, Squats\, Burpees etc\.\) and running\. \- Coaching on how to perform the exercises \- Coaching on running form **Who is this for:** \- Anybody that loves to work on their fitness \- Hyrox athletes training for a race \- Moderate to expert fitness level \(From doing sports once in a while to daily trainers\) **What to bring:** \- Your training outfit \(including running shoes\) \- Water \- Your smile and motivation Hope to see you there!

Join in for a some drinks (and food, if you want) after work at **The 5th \| Utrecht**. Bring your own project and payment for drinks. As evenings tend to be a bit busier, we'll reserve a table. This means: **Only sign up if you are sure you will come!** And if there's no space left on the event, please don't join spontaneously. \-\-\-\-\- As always, we talk about our projects, exchange tipps, but also just get to know each other and enjoy a drink after a long day in good company. Whether it's knitting, crocheting, stitching, origami, or something more unique, we're looking forward to seeing you!

Hi people! 👋 Tonight we'll take a seat and chill out at Seven, the lively bar/restaurant at Mariaplaats 7 (3511 LH, Utrecht). Come join us and don't shy away from making friends with us, we're a kind bunch! 😄 This meetup is expected to start at 9pm and end at 11pm. See you there! 🌈❤️

Join Emma and a lovely group of students in this special short course for intermediates or advanced. You will learn how to do object work (cleaning a gun), actions (chasing and horse riding), create locations (saloon, spaceship). The stage is your canvas! For participants who have completed two improv course. or any amount more Teacher: Emma Holmes. Location: Buurtcentrum OaseTime: Wednesdays 18:45 to 20:30Price: €160 For whom: people who have done 2 courses or have a high knwoledge on the basics Wednesdays 6 May - 10 June 2026 6 lessons Show on Sun 7 June (afternoon or evening) lessons 18:45-20:30. Location Buurtcentrum De Oase (free parking and next to train station Zuilen. Teacher Emma Holmes. 7 lessons including a show €160 incl BTW T**eacher Emma Holmes** Emma Holmes is specialised in Improv, Stand-up Comedy and Storytelling. Emma has a sharp eye for how you can become a pleasant co-player for the other players. You will learn how you don’t have to act funny, but let the fun evolve from the story (finding the game). You will learn to be silly, out of your comfort zone without fear of failing, Presentation skills, active listening skills. And much more. ### About the tickets Improv Utrecht offers 1 or 2 funded courses with 20% discount for people with less finances. Send a message to Marieke van Laar. **Tickets: improv-utrecht.weticket.io** info: www.improvutrecht.nl/

Join Emma and a lovely group of students in this special short course for intermediates or advanced. We will focus on a few specific skills based on training needs from the group: listening 2.0, sceneplay, taking your time, bold characters, powerful scene starts etc. Location: Buurtcentrum Oase Time: Wednesdays 20:35-22:20 Price: €160 For whom: people who have done 2 courses or have a experience with the basics Wednesdays 6 May - 10 June 2026 6 lessons Show on Sun 7 June (afternoon or evening) lessons 20:35-22:20. Location Buurtcentrum De Oase (free parking and next to train station Zuilen. Teacher Emma Holmes. 7 lessons including a show €160 incl BTW T**eacher Emma Holmes** Emma Holmes is specialised in Improv, Stand-up Comedy and Storytelling. Emma has a sharp eye for how you can become a pleasant co-player for the other players. You will learn how you don’t have to act funny, but let the fun evolve from the story (finding the game). You will learn to be silly, out of your comfort zone without fear of failing, Presentation skills, active listening skills. And much more. ### About the tickets Improv Utrecht offers 1 or 2 funded courses with 20% discount for people with less finances. Send a message to Marieke van Laar. **Tickets: improv-utrecht.weticket.io** info: www.improvutrecht.nl/

Welcome to our Volleyball community !! 🏐🎉 We are a community of volleyball enthusiasts who want to enjoy the game, improve their skills, and meet new friends. Our open play sessions offer a friendly, social environment where everyone can get some practice and have fun. Our sessions consist of mixed level play, however basic/intermediate volleyball knowledge is mandatory. We try to have a balanced levels per team to ensure smooth play. If you aren’t familiar with basic volleyball rules and have no experience, sorry to say, but it's not your group. ❗❗ Meetup recently pops up their subscription option after you click on RSVP— you can dismiss it by clicking the "X" in the top left corner. ✅ RSVP & Attendance Attendance is limited to 14 people. If the RSVP list is full, join the waiting list—cancellations happen frequently. If the event appears full on the Meetup app, try using a web browser instead. ❌Cancellations & Refunds cancellation prior to 24h before the event, can be refunded. Can’t make it? Update your RSVP to "Not Going" ASAP so someone else can take your spot. 👟 What to Bring For your own safety and comfort, wear sport shoes and clothing (no street shoes—must change into sport shoes) and bring deodorant for ours. 💸 Payment & Contribution (€6.00 per person) Payment must be made in advance via Tikkie (payment link will be added in comments). Please only pay once you are added to the going list. In case you do not meet the payment deadline, you may be moved to the not going list. Looking forward to seeing you on the court! 🏐🔥 Let’s play, have fun, and make new friends!

📍 Hilversum Station, 11:00 → Pinetum → back by ~15:00 🚶‍♂️ Short walk (~20–30 min each way) 🎯 Main location: Pinetum Blijdenstein (€4 entry) This time we’re keeping it shorter and focusing on one beautiful spot: the Pinetum — a small botanical garden dedicated to pine trees, full of interesting shapes, textures, and quiet corners to sketch. We’ll meet at Hilversum Station at 11:00, walk together to the garden (arriving around 10:30), and spend about 2 hours sketching. There are some benches, but not many — please bring a foldable chair if you’d like to sit while sketching (blankets won’t work here). Around 14:00, we’ll head back toward the station. If people feel like it, we can grab coffee and maybe lunch at Mout before wrapping up around 15:00. Bring: Sketching materials Water Foldable chair Comfortable clothes + an extra layer No pressure on skill level — quick sketches, detailed studies, or just experimenting are all welcome. Come for the trees, stay for the sketches 🌲✏️

For our next hike we'll be following a beautiful 9.5km route starting at Soest-Zuid train station and ending at Amersfoort Central Station. On the way we'll pass by the Soesterduinen dunes and the Birkhoven forest. Will you join? Utrecht Hiking Community aims to organise one hike per month in the Utrecht Region. Anyone is welcome to join, no matter whether you're a beginner or an experienced hiker, a local or an expat, a professional or a student, as long as you bring a good mood. We are not about fast hiking, but about social hiking: being active, exploring places, meeting like-minded people and just generally having a fun walk. We'll be starting from Soest-Zuid train station at 10.30AM. This time we won't be following a circular route, which means we won't end at our starting point, but we'll end at Amersfoort Central Station instead. Those who want to return to Soest-Zuid station afterwards to get back to their car, can take bus 70 from Amersfoort, which is going every 15 minutes. Please try to arrive to Soest-Zuid on time. We'll start our hike at 10.30AM and won't let the whole group wait for you in case you're arriving later. Only in case the train scheduled to arrive at 10.24AM has some delay, we'll wait for that train to arrive. If you're arriving after we have departed, you can send a message on WhatsApp to +31621177691, so we can share our location with you and you can try to catch up with us. Soest-Zuid station has a toilet, but please don't count on it to work. When checking the route, it was closed. On the way there are no public toilets, so please use a restroom before you arrive. The route is going over both paved and unpaved roads and we'll even be walking through the sand of the Soesterduinen dunes for a bit (not for long, as it's harder to walk through the sand than on the paths). Please wear good shoes, bring something to drink for on the way and use SPF if it'll be a sunny day Dogs are allowed on the route, but need to be kept on a leash on parts of the route. After the walk, those who want can join for lunch/drinks in the center of Amersfoort. This is not directly next to Amersfoort Central Station, but at a distance of another 15-20 minutes of walking. Since we do make some costs while organising our hikes (MeetUp subscription, travel expenses), a small donation would be very much appreciated. You can do so by following this link: https://www.ing.nl/payreq/m/?trxid=s9tT34cUyD97YuSHhIYbTIqN4LfxLAn9 If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. See you on Saturday 9th of May at Soest-Zuid train station!

In this format, we discuss a quote of a well-known philosopher. A summary is provided below. Please take the time to read. The Moderator will introduce the topic, we will have an open discussion, and a final round when everyone gives their conclusions. Quote of this Session: Arthur Schopenhauer "The knowledge of death is the beginning of philosophy, for only through death does man become aware that his existence is not self-sufficient or ultimate, but dependent and passing. Without death, life would never become a problem for reflection.” “Death is not an accident that befalls life from outside, nor is it something added to life at the end; rather, it belongs to life itself, and life is so deeply interwoven with death that both are inseparable conditions of each other. What we call death is only the dissolution of an individual phenomenon, while the inner nature of life itself remains untouched by it.” About the author Arthur Schopenhauer was a 19th-century German philosopher known for developing a deeply influential system of metaphysical pessimism centered on the idea that reality is driven by a blind, irrational force he called the “Will,” which manifests in constant human desire and suffering. In his major work The World as Will and Representation, he argued that the world we experience is only a mental representation shaped by our perception, while the underlying reality is an endless, non-rational drive that can never be fully satisfied. He is important because he radically shifted philosophy toward questions of desire, suffering, and the limits of reason, strongly influencing Nietzsche, Freud, existentialists, and indirectly shaping modern understanding of motivation, dissatisfaction and striving. RULES Please be on time! Make sure you take time for finding the location. If something happens, please cancel as soon as possible. There are people on the waiting list. If you repeatedly sign up and don’t show up, expect to be moved to the waitlist next time. You may disagree with others, but please do so respectfully without personal attacks. Please keep your attendance to one event per week to ensure everyone has an opportunity to attend. This is a Philosophy event and this event's PRIMARY function is NOT focused on Self Help, Psychology or Theology. Though those topics can be a point of discussion from time to time. Please take that into consideration when signing up!

**Zondag 10 mei presenteert OPA een boekpresentatie voor Dingen doen denken, het nieuwe boek van auteur Jeroen van den Eijnde en ontwerper Jannie Guo.** Dingen doen denken bevat teksten die Van den Eijnde schreef tussen 1994 en 2025, van persoonlijke observaties tot bijdragen aan vak en publieksboeken over design en ontwerpend onderzoek. Kunstenaar en ontwerper Jannie Guo heeft het boek vormgegeven. Beiden verzorgen een presentatie met aandacht voor de teksten van Jeroen en het ontwerp van Jannie. Walter Jansen van Het Colofon gaat met hen in gesprek. Graag aanmelden via info@hetcolofon.nl met de vermelding van het aantal personen.

This is a public event. https://www.mamalouise.nl/stemmen/#meer Location: Amsterdam https://share.google/cwDD8kYtynE6gveog Please WhatsApp your meetup organisor Mari for your confirmation!

Join us for a relaxed and friendly matcha tasting meetup. I’ll bring matcha for everyone to try, and you’re welcome to bring your own snacks and drinks, including alcohol if you like. This is a casual event for meeting new people, enjoying Japanese tea culture, and spending a cozy afternoon together. Beginners are very welcome. Free to join.

When judging morality, should we prioritize **intentions/duty** or **outcomes/results**? It introduces two influential philosophers as representatives of these approaches. * **Immanuel Kant (deontology):** An action is moral when it is done from **duty** and follows rational, universal principles (the **categorical imperative**). Certain acts—like lying—are wrong regardless of the consequences; you can’t do a wrong thing for a right reason. * **John Stuart Mill (utilitarian consequentialism):** The morality of an action is determined by its **effects**, specifically how much **happiness/well-being** it produces. Mill argues that some pleasures are “higher” than others, and that good intentions don’t redeem harmful outcomes. ## Discussion Questions 1. **The lying dilemma:** A murderer comes to your door and asks if your friend is hiding inside. Kant would say you must not lie. 2. **Can good intentions rescue a bad outcome?** 3. **The organ harvest problem:** A surgeon has five patients dying of organ failure and one healthy patient in for a checkup. Killing the one to harvest organs would save five lives, and the math works out for the utilitarian. Why does this feel so deeply wrong? Is that feeling a point in Kant's favor, or just a bias we should overcome? 4. **Do rules need exceptions?** Kant insists moral rules must be universal, with no exceptions. But most of us can imagine extreme scenarios where any rule seems like it should bend. Does the need for exceptions fatally undermine deontology, or is the strength of the system precisely that it refuses to bend? 5. **Who gets to calculate the consequences?** Utilitarianism asks us to maximize good outcomes, but we're notoriously bad at predicting consequences. If we can't reliably know the results of our actions, is it practical to base our entire moral system on outcomes? Does this uncertainty push us back toward rules and principles? 6. **Everyday morality:** Think about a real moral decision you've made recently, even a small one. Did you reason more like a Kantian (what's the right thing to do in principle?) or more like a utilitarian (what will produce the best result?)? Do most people naturally lean one way? 7. **Justice vs. the greater good:** A town can prevent a deadly plague by sacrificing one innocent person. The greater good is clearly served. But is it just? Can an action be morally right and deeply unjust at the same time? 8. **The big synthesis question:** Are these two systems actually opposed, or do they often arrive at the same answers by different paths? Is it possible that we need both: rules to guide us in the moment and consequences to evaluate systems and policies over time?

Main Library, Meeting Room 2B Join us for a welcoming evening of reflection, gentle music, and meaningful conversation. We’ll begin with a short grounding moment, followed by a brief reading from spiritual or philosophical traditions, and an open reflection circle where participants can share (or simply listen). Libera Animae is an interfaith community focused on inner growth, creativity, and authentic connection. All backgrounds are welcome.

Join me for a small, mindful photography walk in nature. (**NOTE Time is 9:00 AM EST(Meetup is having technical Issue))** This is a slow, intentional gathering — not focused on fitness or perfect photography — but on simply pausing, observing, and being present. We’ll walk at a gentle pace, with moments of quiet, and a few light prompts to help you notice details you might normally miss. 📷 You don’t need any photography experience — a phone camera is enough. This is also not a business networking event. It’s a calm space to connect with nature and, if it feels natural, with like-minded people. 🌿 What to expect: • A slow-paced, relaxed walk • Moments of silence and observation • Simple reflection prompts 📍 Location: [ Red Trabue Nature Preserve] ⏱ Duration: \~60 minutes This is a small, initial gathering as I begin creating this space through WellGratiVibes — a blend of mindfulness, nature, and quiet connection. If this resonates with you, you’re welcome to join.

Sleep in on Sundays. When you've had your fill of pajama-time, roll out and have some tasty brunch with your fellow Humanists!

We may pick a specific topic and post in advance or may discuss current events and various ad hoc topics . We would love to spend time hanging out and getting to know one another. Atheist, agnostics, other non-theists, and atheist-friendly people are welcome to join us. Note: COUNT operates a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/COUNT.discussions (http://www.facebook.com/groups/COUNT.discussions/) to promote discussions among members and visitors.