res futura

res futura is a Toronto-based collective of workers, artists, and students.

res futura hosts Q&A, a weekly in-person educational forum.

res futura publishes online articles and a semiannual print issue.

Q&A is an educational forum. Every Thursday at Q&A, an expert delivers a lecture, then hosts an open discussion and question period. All our events are free. No background required.

Q&A meets every Thursday at 6 pm at the OISE Building (252 Bloor St. W), rm. 4426.

February 12 (Method | James Yuan): The art of memory

February 19 (Alex Fournier): The disillusion of the self: The philosophy of transindividuality

February 26 (Jonathan Russell): Machiavelli (continued)

(Interested in more details? Sign up for our mailing list with this link, or email us at q-and-a@resfutura.ca with the subject line “Subscribe.”)

Current Q&A series

Topics in Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic theory lies at the root of modern forms of psychotherapy. It also remains an essential foundation for many contemporary therapists’ understanding of their vocation. But psychoanalytic theory is not only relevant to therapists: it has exerted—and continues to exert—powerful influence upon political, historical, philosophical, and literary thought. This lecture series will cover diverse topics in classic and current psychoanalytic theorizing, weaving together thinkers from psychoanalysis’s international traditions, including those inaugurated by Freud, Jung, Klein, Fairbairn, Lacan, and Laplanche. Lectures are led by Naseem Rine-Reesha, a psychotherapist and former university instructor.

Method. What are facts and logic anyhow? Why does everybody keep talking about dialectics? What’s going on with philosophy—why does it look now more like poetry than the philosophy of the past? If you’ve ever wondered about questions like these, join lecturer James Yuan for an introduction to the methods of contemporary theory. This lecture series will adopt a nuts-and-bolts approach to philosophy and critical theory, examining the logical forms which thinkers use to craft ideas and communicate them to readers. Topics include argument by metaphor and analogy, statistical inference, mathematical and logical demonstrations, dialectics, autobiography and poetics, and the methods of the natural and social sciences.

Build Your Capacities! Res Futura executives will offer a workshop series designed to improve your skills as an author. A good author is more than just a good thinker; she is also a good rhetorician, a good editor, and a good designer. Together, we will build our capacities to express thoughts clearly and persuasively, to avoid mechanical errors and ambiguities, and to compose text into attractive and legible layouts. No background necessary.

Current seminars

Hegel: An introduction. Runs twice weekly May – August. See our dedicated page for more info.

FAQ

I would like more info and updates about Q&A lectures. Sign up for our mailing list with this link, or email us at q-and-a@resfutura.ca with the subject line “Subscribe.”

How do I get in contact? General inquiries may be directed to q-and-a@resfutura.ca. Contact our Members Officer (members@resfutura.ca) for matters relating to Members and Executives of Res Futura, our Financial Officer (finance@resfutura.ca) for financial concerns, and our University Officer (university@resfutura.ca) for relations with students and student groups.

I would like to lecture at Q&A. The key criterion for our selection of lectures for Q&A is its relevance to the community that attends Q&A. Thus, if you are interested in lecturing at Q&A, we invite you first to learn about the community for whom you will be lecturing, by attending regularly at Q&A for a period of time. Talk to an Executive of Res Futura at Q&A to get the ball rolling on your own lecture.

Are there recordings/livestreams of Q&A lectures? We do produce recordings of Q&A, including both the lecture and the discussion period. Recordings are private, and may be shared with you on an individual basis with the lecturer’s consent. Email us to request a particular lecture recording. As a rule, we do not livestream Q&A sessions.

What are my donations at Q&A used for? Res Futura is an unincorporated not-for-profit association, which means that none of our revenues are used to pay our Executives. Lecturers are unpaid as a rule, but invited guest speakers may receive an honorarium. Donations received at Q&A, as well as proceeds from our journal sales, are used entirely to fund expenses associated with Q&A, as well as to support Res Futura’s journal.

How do I become a Member or Executive of Res Futura? View the rights and responsibilities of our Members and Executives, as well as our membership procedures, here.