About

Edinburgh Philosophy and Psychology Group

The group was initially founded at the end of 2006 using the Meetup website. It had its first meeting in 2007 at the Filmhouse cafe/bar. Six people attended.

It quickly grew in size and became too large for the venue. Over succeeding years, a number of locations were used, including the Spoon cafe/restaurant and, latterly, the Links Bar and hotel in Marchmont (now Black Ivy).

Membership, by that stage, had reached around 200, with 30 attending per meeting. They represented a very wide cross section of Edinburgh residents from a variety of backgrounds. Meetings were lively and educational, with a very varied range of opinions and views expressed in friendly and well structured debates. Topics were chosen in advance, in most cases based on member suggestions and a monthly poll. Voting closed a week in advance and the organiser would compile a booklet of information from Google search to provide a starter for the discussions.

In 2015, the Links decided that the room we used could no longer be available and we began the search for a new venue. Our size was somewhat of an issue, as most suitable, larger venues wished to charge, and a principle of the group had always been that it was free.

Possible available alternatives were explored but, from the beginning of 2016, when a venue cancelled us at the last minute, it became clear there was a major issue.

At the same time, the organiser was increasingly, busily occupied in other ways, with limited time for venue hunting. Regrettably, the group closed. The information and downloadable booklet files remained on its original website for interested readers. However, from April 2021, we were notified that the hosting company were closing for business and the site would be lost.

This WordPress site has been set up to salvage some of the most important material, namely the booklets and the topic history. These can be accessed through the Past Topics page on the menu.

It has still been a dream that, one day, the group might restart. However Covid and the lockdown mean that won’t be anytime soon. In the meantime, feel free to browse and have fun.

Ray