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- Medieval Civilization: Millennia in Microcosm Week 152Link visible for attendees
Join us for an exploration of Kenneth Smith’s analysis of hamartia, the tragic flaw that turns intelligence against itself. In this session, we’ll examine how early Christianity redefined sin—not as mere wrongdoing, but as a profound misjudgment rooted in ego and blindness to the essential. Drawing from Greek tragedy, Smith presents Oedipus as the ultimate case of hamartia in extremis: a man who mistakes his cleverness for insight and brings ruin upon himself despite every warning. Through this lens, sin becomes not just moral failure but a spiritual pathology—a corruption of perception, of self-awareness, of the soul’s capacity to recognize what truly matters. We’ll discuss how this tragic blindness speaks not only to individuals, but to cultures that exalt ego over wisdom and mistake fragmentation for strength.
C: Selfless Love and The Encompassing https://kennethsmithphilosophy.com/end07.php - [In-person] Curiosity Café: Anger (Tickets on Eventbrite)Madison Avenue Pub, Toronto, ON
Anger is considered one of the six basic emotions by emotion researcher Paul Ekman. In its many forms, from mild irritation or simmering resentment to overpowering rage, anger is a core element of our emotional landscape.
Each person has their own relationship with anger. Some individuals feel ashamed of anger and believe it is important to suppress, viewing it as socially undesirable or harmful to oneself. They may struggle to even notice feelings of anger, labelling them as something else or minimizing them. Others embrace anger and perceive it as a source of empowerment or evidence of passion and commitment. In the first half of our café, we’ll examine our experiences of different kinds of anger, and in the second half, we’ll discuss our responses to anger.
A few compelling questions arise:
- What are the differences between various types of anger? (i.e., resentment, frustration, outrage)
- How is anger connected to morality?
- How is anger related to the expectations we have of ourselves, others, or institutions/systems?
- When is anger helpful or harmful? How should we respond to our anger?
- How should we respond to others’ anger?
Join us at our next café to explore the many ways that we experience anger and to contemplate its many roles in our lives.
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 check out the next Curiosity Class "The Experience of Grief" on Saturday July 5th and our next Philosophical Skills Workshop "How to Evaluate an Argument" on Saturday June 21)
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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.
![[In-person] Curiosity Café: Anger (Tickets on Eventbrite) cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/5/4/3/f/event_529101567.webp "[In-person] Curiosity Café: Anger (Tickets on Eventbrite)")
