Philadelphia Ethical Society

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Philadelphia Ethical Society

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A humanist educational and religious group.
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10/28/2026

What would make daily life better for the people of Philadelphia?

Join us for CityCamp Philly on November 15! A participant-led unconference bringing together neighbors, public servants, educators, technologists, and anyone who cares about making Philly a better place to live.

Unlike a traditional conference, there’s no set agenda. The people who show up decide what gets discussed, share ideas, and collaborate on solutions to the issues that matter most to our city.

Whether you’re passionate about your neighborhood, public spaces, environmental education, technology, local government, or simply finding new ways to make Philly better, there’s a place for you in the conversation.

📅 November 15 • 9AM - 4PM
📍 Philadelphia Ethical Society
👉 www.citycampphilly.org

Come curious, bring your ideas, and help shape the conversation. Everyone has something to contribute!

Sign up today!

10/15/2026

Join us Sunday, October 25th at 11 am at The Philadelphia Ethical Society on Rittenhouse Square.

Busting the myth of “groupthink,” a powerful look at how our ability to influence one another can accelerate individual and collective intelligence.

A leading expert on social networks and behavior change delivers new principles of social influence to improve collective intelligence.

For years, scientists have struggled to discover the formula to produce the world’s smartest teams. But the solution has been elusive because they have focused on individual intelligences. In Goodthink, Damon Centola shows how to build teams, design online platforms, and create office spaces that sharpen our thinking individually and align our intelligence collectively. The secret, it turns out, is in the shape of our networks.

How did MIT’s Building 20, populated with outcasts and eccentrics, become one of the most innovative and productive research hubs in American history? Why did increasing the number of online echo chambers unexpectedly reduce political polarization? How can popular “herding behavior” make crowds more intelligent? This book has the answers. Taking us behind the scenes of the most successful systems of collective intelligence in the modern world, it introduces a new science of what it means to be smart.

Every day, each of us faces four critical decision-making challenges: choosing, coordination, cooperation, and creativity. Goodthink describes the tell-tale signs of when effective structures are at work, enabling us to “read the room” and begin to shift the dynamics at play. It also reveals how to know when things are failing and what to do to fix them.

Delivering path-breaking insights currently at work within Fortune 500 companies, global philanthropic organizations, and government agencies, the book reveals underlying dynamics of group intelligence that have gone overlooked. Showing us how these principles work to make us feel more confident, more connected, and more engaged, Goodthink leaves us feeling smarter—because we are!

10/14/2026

Join us to continue our discussion of how community agreements can help us build a thriving community at The Philadelphia Ethical Society.

What are they?

“A consensus on what every person in our group needs from each other and commits to each other in order to feel safe, supported, open, productive and trusting… so that we can do our best work, achieve our common vision, and serve our [students/families/constituents] well.”

10/08/2026

This Sunday’s platform is a preview and orientation for CityCamp Philly, which the Philadelphia Ethical Society is hosting on November 15th. Unlike a traditional conference, CityCamp Philly invites anyone with an idea connected to social or environmental impact to pitch a session. You don’t need to be an expert- you just need to come ready to listen and collaborate.

Examples could include, “Ants and Parks: Educating Philly about Park Ecosystems” or “Strategies to help mutual aid networks scale” CityCamp is a global movement in dozens of cities around the world, many of which have sparked real projects and collaborations. This event is representative of the fundamental idea of Ethical Culture: that collaboration, connection and creativity are at the heart of a good life.

Join us this Sunday to learn how you can get involved! CityCamp Philly is November 15th

10/05/2026

You do not need to be an expert or have a finished idea to come to CityCamp. You just need to be ready to listen, share, and work with others.

Tickets at citycampphilly.org

Join a community of neighbors, public servants, technologists, and other engaged Philadelphians, for an event where who shows up decides what gets talked about.

CityCamp Philly is a participant-led unconference centered on one question: How can we make daily life better for the people of Philadelphia? Unlike a traditional conference, there will be no fixed sessions planned in advance. Instead, the people who attend will shape the conversations and activities throughout the day.

Sessions can focus on many different ideas, needs, or challenges. They might explore art, healthcare, democracy, public spaces, emergency planning, or something else. The key is that each session should focus on improving daily life for people in Philadelphia.

Examples could be:

Ants and Parks: Educating Philly about Public Park Ecosystems
How Can OpenDataPhilly Help SEPTA?
Building a Multiracial, Intergenerational Community Arts Space: Challenges and Tools
Weird Philly Pop Up Micro-Museum Ideas: A Brainstorm!
CityCamp Philly is meant to lead to collaboration and action. Sessions will not be formal presentations. They will give people a chance to share ideas, meet possible partners, work through a challenge, or begin building and testing an idea together.

The day is still being planned, but it will look something like this:

Share ideas: People suggest an idea, question, or challenge they want to work on.
Build the schedule: The group discusses and votes on those ideas to create the day’s sessions.
Choose a session: People join the sessions that interest them most.
Work together: Each group works toward an idea, collaboration, or next step.
Vote with your feet: People can join a different session at any time.

Open space: throughout the day there is always a room/s dedicated for unplanned conversations that anyone can use.

09/21/2026

Sunday, September 27th at 11 am.

Uma Viswanathan is a storyteller, philanthropic executive, and strategist who has invested over $200 million in cultural and systemic transformation. A Harvard graduate in psychology, she’s spent her career helping women and first-generation wealth builders reclaim voice and power, often in systems never built for them. She is the President of the Samuel Fels Fund.

Johann Berlin is a C-suite executive and behavioral strategist with over two decades of experience at the intersection of finance, leadership development, and systems change. He has seen first-hand that knowing more doesn’t mean doing differently, rooted in knowledge and insights from the executive roles he’s held in behavior-change technology, asset management, and L&D companies.

Anna Leone, is one of the most prized guitarists of her generation in Brazil. Having started
playing guitar when she was seven years old, Anna has performed as a soloist in important
music halls like Musiikkitalo in Helsinki, Sala Cecilia Meireles in Rio de Janeiro, television
and radio broadcast concerts at TV Cultural and Radio MEC. Anna Leone Anna Leone

09/16/2026

How can we build peace and unity in Philadelphia?

Join us on the eve of International Day of Peace as we consider this question. We want you to be involved in the conversation!

Whether you’re a longtime peace advocate, a sustainability professional, a human services worker, a non profit professional or just someone who cares about the role peace plays in Philadelphia’s future, there’s a seat at this table for you.

Hear reflections on active citizenship and gather at rotating discussion tables with fellow Philadelphians – neighbors, organizers, advocates, and dreamers – exploring questions about community, human rights, climate justice, and what it means to build a more peaceful city. Determine your action steps for peace in Philly going forward.

The program:

Special Guest Speaker: Roxanne Patel Shepelavy, Executive Director, Citizen Media Group (The Philadelphia Citizen) – “Citizen Guides for a More Engaged, Unified and Peaceful Philadelphia”
Curated conversation and collective visioning around what peace, justice, and great unity mean in our city

Taking an action step regarding your peace priorities

Setting your peace commitment going forward

Access “What Can You Do” Resources and “Do Good” Guides

Network with other people and organizations interested in peace

This event is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served.

Please register and share with your networks!
Presented by: UN Association of Greater Philadelphia, Net Impact Philadelphia and Peace Day Philly, with support from the Philadelphia Ethical Society
About Roxanne Patel Shepelavy: Roxanne oversees the workings of The Philadelphia Citizen, including its editorial content. She also writes and edits stories about solutions to problems in Philly. She has been a Philadelphia journalist for more than two decades. Roxanne’s an award-winning magazine writer whose work in national and regional magazines explored the effects of war; the moral and literal cost of healthcare; kick-ass female athletes; art capers; self-help scams; and a range of women’s and social issues.
Roxanne is passionate about Philadelphia, a city she loves and worries over in equal measure.

09/11/2026

Sunday September 13th at 11 am! Feat Cornelius Boots as guest musician . As always, free and open to the public.

Philly BOLT invests in the people closest to the problem.

BOLT — Build Our Lives Together — invests in the residents already doing the work, and the young people who will carry it next.

Their mission is to equip youth and adult residents in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods with the leadership resources and tools to drive intergenerational, community-led change.

Expertise is everywhere. Investment isn’t.

Residents of low-to-moderate income neighborhoods are treated as recipients of services, not leaders. Many have worked their blocks for decades and understand the problems better than anyone — but they get read as small, informal, and risky.

So resources flow elsewhere: to outside organizations that don’t know the neighborhood intimately and have no reason to stay. Capacity never gets built where the expertise already lives. The problems persist, and the persistence gets read as proof that residents can’t lead.

Join us Sunday September 13th at 11 AM to hear from Jude and Hillary.

09/09/2026

Please join us for our next Classical Open Mic on September 30 at 7 PM Philadelphia Ethical Society on Rittenhouse Square!

Our 9-foot Steinway Grand Piano is ready for another evening of beautiful, unamplified music. Musicians of all backgrounds are welcome to perform one acoustic piece under 7 minutes. We warmly invite both Western and global classical traditions—including classical, neo-classical, minimalist, baroque, romantic, and folk-traditional music. The basic rule is no amplification. Each musician will be permitted to play approximately 7 minutes.

SIGN UP AS SOON AS YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO PLAY! At phillyethics.org

We try to get all musicians on stage, but there’s a small possibility that we won’t have time if you sign up close to the date. Whether you are performing or listening, please feel free to bring a favorite snack or drink to share!

Address

1906 S. Rittenhouse Square
Philadelphia, PA
19103

Website

http://www.phillyethics.org/, https://forms.gle/AtTcyjZyrbFc3THu6

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