The Stoa
"Putting Philosophy back in the marketplace!"
The Stoa is a pub philosophy group meeting in Deal, Kent, UK. We meet on the first Wednesday of the month at the Bohemian Pub from 19:30 to 21:30. Everyone welcome. Just bring your brains and some beer money!
A Welcome and an Apology
Welcome our new website. It has been completely re-written so it's (hopefully) easier to use and certainly be easier for me to update. Please have a browse.
But apologies to all of you who were expecting a meeting at the beginning of August. It did take place but owing to a techical fault (ie, my fingers!) the notification didn't go out. Sorry about that, but the four of us who did turn up had a good conversation. We might repeat the topic of language at a later date. Our next meeting, on 2 Sept is definitely on!
Upcoming meetings...
Wednesday 2 September 2026
"Punishment"
at The Bohemian, 19:30–21:00
The prospect of the early release of Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were convicted of the manslaughter of PC Andrew Harper in 2019, has provoked an unusually strong reaction both from the public, who have presented a petition of over a million signatures, and the Police Federation. The policy has also raised the issue of what punishment is actually for. Do we undermine respect for justice by reducing the punishment experienced by prisoners? ❰More❱
Wednesday 7 October 2026
(to be announced)
at The Bohemian, 19:30–21:00
Wednesday 4 November 2026
(to be announced)
at The Bohemian, 19:30–21:00
Wednesday 2 December 2026
"The Paranormal"
at The Bohemian, 19:30–21:00
Paranormal phenomena, parapsychology, psychical research: all these terms refer to the study of anomalous phenemena for which we have no natural explanation. While conventional science examines and tries to explain empirical phenomena that we have good evidence for, parapsychology tries to establish the reality of its phonomena as well as trying to explain them. ❰More❱
Where do you meet?
The Bohemian Pub, 47 Beach Street, Deal, CT14 6HY
What is the Stoa?
The Stoa is essentially a conversation and discussion group and NOT a lecture series, course or reading group. We put up some reading each month on the website but this is just for interest. Feel free to browse but don't feel an obligation to read any of the stuff. Just come along to the topics that interest you. You don't have to be prepared on any of the topics or to have studied philosophy before.
Meetings are always introduced by a member in order to kick-off discussion and you are welcome to interject at any point. However, the Chair tries to keep the discussion on track and to ensure everyone gets equal air-time.
Everyone is welcome and all opinions, however heretical, are tolerated. You just have to give REASONS for your opinions. We only ban dogmatism.
We discuss a wide range of subjects, not just formal philosophical topics. See the this page of our past and upcoming topics... ❰Topics❱
If you have anything you would like us to discuss just drop us an email.
Why the 'Stoa'?
It's not an acronym, as people often think, but a reference to the Stoa Poikile, the covered portico in the ancient Athenian market-place. It was here that philosophers used to meet to chew the fat over their various and conflicting theories of Life, the Universe and Everything.
The famous Stoics got their name from their practice of meeting under the Stoa and not because of anything to do with their school of thought. We like to think of ourselves continuing in the same tradition of doing philosophy in the marketplace like those ancient Greeks, rather than in the 'ivory tower' of academe. However, in our case it's in the pub rather than in the marketplace!
A previous version of the Stoa ran for over 12 years in Faversham and owing to several folk expressing an interest we thought we'd give it a try here in Deal too.
How can I contact you?
You can contact us at: east.kent.stoa@gmail.com
We also have a WhatsApp group. If you don't have too many WhatApp sunbscriptions already drop us a line and we will add you to the group.
QI (Quite Interesting)
The QI section is for the stuff that's not included in our topics. Click ❰here❱ for miscellaneous 'Quite Interesting' stuff.