Philopolis Guelph: Big Ideas for the Community

Philosophy is a field that engages with every facet of life. However, academic philosophy these days could be doing a better job of engaging in dialogue with the public: this requires finding a common language, as well as being explicit about the relevance of the ideas at issue. Both academic philosophers and the broader public stand to benefit one another greatly through this kind of exchange—free of jargon, of minced words, and of exclusionary assumptions.

Philopolis is a festival that aims to facilitate just such an exchange through panel discussions, workshops and activities of many kinds. Multiple concurrent sessions held throughout the two-day festival, totalling about forty activities, release a collective brainstorm of critical mass. Admission is absolutely free, and no registration is required.

Philopolis welcomes and actively encourages the curious of mind from all backgrounds to take part, drawing on this diversity to enrich the whole. It is specifically this diversity among participants that makes Philopolis such an exciting and unique event. Click here for a series of blog posts that explores the nature of Philopolis, where you can participate, through your comments, in defining the event moving forward. The whole community can thus participate not only in the content of Philopolis, but in the structure of the event itself.

Philopolis Guelph specifically focuses on the ideas, concerns and culture relevant to Guelph, on reawakening the underlying philosophy that makes Guelph the unique city that it is. These topics include ethical diets, environmental sustainability, and the value of a tight-knit community.