Why’s it called the STOA?

Well—it’s not an acronym as some think but a reference to the Stoa Poikile, a 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 habit of meeting in the Stoa and not because of anything to do with their school of thought. We like to think of ourselves continuing in the tradition of doing ‘philosophy in the marketplace’ like those ancient Greeks, rather than in the ‘ivory tower’ of academe—although in our case these days it’s in the pub rather than marketplace!

This group 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.

The meetings are essentially opportunities for dialogue discussion and debate, so don’t expect academic papers or a class on philosophy. It’s simply a chance to air you own opinions.

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.

We start at 7.00pm and have a break half-way through in order to recharge our beer glasses (we are firm believers of In Vino Veritas!). We finish the discussion at 9.00pm but the more hardy of us adjourn to the main bar to continue until closing time.

Everyone is welcome and all opinions, however heretical, are tolerated—You just have to give REASONS for your opinions. The only thing we ban is dogmatism. You don’t have to have done a course in philosophy to join on. Just bring your brains and some beer money.

And by-the-way, there is no membership fee.