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.
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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.
"From being viewed as an activity performed in practical and political contexts, wisdom in fourth-century BC Athens came to be conceived in terms of theoria, or the wise man as a "spectator" of truth. This book examines how philosophers of the period articulated the new conception of knowledge and how cultural conditions influenced this development. It provides an interdisciplinary study of the attempts to conceptualize "theoretical" activity during a foundational period in the history of Western philosophy..."
Hello Everyone! Welcome to the next meetup series from Jen and Philip!
This time around we will be reading the book:
- Spectacles of Truth in Classical Greek Philosophy: Theoria in its Cultural Context (Oxford University Press 2009) by Andrea Wilson Nightingale
– A pdf is available here.
Our plan is to read the first part of Andrea Wilson Nightingale's book until we have a good sense of how she handles the theme of "Theoria" Then we will switch to another reading selection and try to get a sense of how Heidegger handles the theme of "Theoria".
For this, we will read the essay:
- "Decline and Fall: Ocularcentrism in Heidegger's Reading of the History of Metaphysics" by David Michael Levin, from the anthology Modernity and the Hegemony of Vision (1993) edited by David Michael Levin (See link for further info about the book.)
After we are finished with the David Michael Levin essay we will return to the Andrea Wilson Nightingale book and finish it.
After that, we may consider reading some of the original works by Heidegger that David Michael Levin mentions in his essay. And then we will be done!
The format will be our usual "accelerated live read". What this means is that each participant will be expected to read roughly 15-20 pages of text before each session. Each participant will have the option of picking a few paragraphs they especially want to focus on. We will then do a live read on the paragraphs that the participants found most interesting when they did the assigned reading.
As always, this Sunday meetup will be three hours. During the first two hours we will talk in a very focused way on the chapter we have read. During this part of the meetup only people who have done the reading will be allowed to influence the direction of the conversation. So please do the reading if you intend to speak during the first 2 hours of this meetup. You might think this does not apply to you, but it does! It applies to you.
During the last hour (which we call "The Free for All") people can talk about absolutely anything related to philosophy. People who have not done the reading will be allowed to direct the conversation during this third hour.
Please note that in this meetup we will be actually doing philosophy and not merely absorbing philosophical ideas in a passive way. Part of what this means is that we will be trying to find flaws in the reasoning and in the mode of presenting ideas that our two authors engage in. We will also be trying to improve the ideas in question and perhaps proposing better alternatives. That is what philosophers do after all!
The READING SCHEDULE will be specified further as we get a sense of when it is best to start to incorporate the Heidegger aspects of the meetup.
For the April 20 reboot of the series, please read pages 52-60 of Chapter 1 "Theoria as a Cultural Practice":
- Elites as civic representatives p. 52
Athenian festivals and the theoric gaze p. 54
The politics of panhellenism p. 60
NOTE: In this meetup, all technology-related issues are handled by Jen. So, if you cannot get into the meetup or are having other technology-related issues, there is no point contacting Philip. Philip is still trying to master the art of building a phone out of two tin cans and a string! : (
So don't contact Philip about technology, contact Jen instead and get some real answers!
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Bataille's 'logic': On heterologyLink visible for attendees
If Bataille's thought has a "method" or "logic", it is what he calls heterology -- the logos of the other. We take up this topic this week with two texts:
"The Use Value of D. A. F. de Sade", p. 91 in the collection Visions of Excess
"Definition of heterology", available as a PDFYou can find all texts in the Google folder linked at the BOTTOM of this description (also the Zoom link) -- scroll all the way down 👇
We're starting Bataille's novel Blue of Noon (also in the Google Drive). We'll read it individually over several weeks, then dedicate a meeting to it (date TBA).
Please take the time to read and reflect on the reading prior to the meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend, but speaking priority will be given to people who have read the text.
Tentative schedule
Apr 12: Bataille's ontology: The labyrinth and the death of the self
Apr 19: Bataille's 'logic': On heterology
Apr 26: Bataille's ethics of excess: Chance, myth and the eroticFuture topics:
- Bataille's aesthetics: the rift with Surrealism
- Blue of Noon
- Personal sovereignty and inner experience
- Erotics and the 'logic' of transgression
- Bataille and/vs Deleuze
- Foucault's "A Preface to Transgression"
- Hegel, the negative and general economy
- Derrida's "From Restricted to General Economy"
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ABOUT THIS GROUP
This is a reading group of several texts of Georges Bataille with a focus on his philosophy of life. Bataille stands out as an eclectic, fascinating and controversial figure in the world of French letters. A contemporary of Sartre and Lacan, he combined ideas from diverse disciplines to create a unique position that he labeled 'base materialism' and which could equally be called 'ecstatic materialism'. Keeping outside the academic mainstream (he worked as a librarian), Bataille writes at the intersection of multiple disciplines including philosophy, psychoanalysis, sociology, mythology, and mystical theology. His works develop a libidinal economy, offer a critique of fascism and embrace marginal experiences in the style of the French poets. He is a formative precursor to the post-structuralist philosophers of the '60s -- and may well be more relevant in our time than ever.We'll start with Bataille's early writings on Nietzsche and make our way through his important concepts over a number of weeks. We'll aim to understand Bataille's thought on its own terms as well as to place him in the context of the German thinkers that preceded him and the French philosophers who followed his lead. In view of Bataille's early relationship with Surrealism, the referenced artworks will spotlight this movement.
Note: Bataille's texts, while philosophically important, discuss difficult themes such as mortality, the unconscious, eroticism, primeval social practices, etc. Keep this in mind as you approach him, especially if this is your first experience with French philosophy.
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GROUP RULES
- Please spend 1-2 hours per week reading and preparing for the discussion.
- Keep your comments concise and relevant to the text.
- Please limit each comment to a maximum of 2-3 minutes. You're welcome to speak as many times as you wish.
- Virtual meeting courtesy: let's not interrupt each other and keep mics muted when not speaking.
- We'll focus the discussion with key passages and discussion questions. Be sure to bring your favorite passages, questions, comments, criticisms, etc.
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A FEW NOTES ON THIS WEEK'S TEXT
TBA
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Join the Facebook group for more resources and discussion:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/755460079505498
If you have attended previous meetings, please fill out a brief survey at this link: https://forms.gle/tEMJ4tw2yVgnTsQD6All readings can be found in this Google folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VPRdvZYmUKBY3cSxD8xC8sTYtSEKBXDs
Zoom link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81251109319?pwd=R3hVQ2RqcVBvaHJwYnoxMFJ5OXJldz09Art: The Entire City (1935) by Max Ernst
