Upcoming Online Events
The Agora Foundation is a nonsectarian 501(c)3 non-profit endeavor, providing great books seminars and other educational opportunities to those who are busy with careers, families, and daily responsibilities yet are seeking to further their education. The goal of these offerings is to provide an understanding of the ideas that shape civilizations and to promote civil discourse on complicated subjects. The Agora Foundation has facilitated over 1,000 great books seminars and teacher trainings, covering a wide variety of topics including literature, philosophy, political science, theology, history, art, psychology, and more, featuring ancient and modern texts from around the world. In addition to seminars, since 2014 Agora has produced 35 panels, gatherings, and video interviews, promoting civil discourse on controversial and complicated subjects. Hundreds of these events can be freely viewed and listened to on this website.
Generously funded by The Ahmanson Foundation, Southern California Edison, The Shanbrom Family Foundation, the Ventura County Community Foundation, the WRG Foundation, the Constance Eaton and William Hart Fund, the Ojai Valley Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of Ojai, CIty of Ojai, and private donations, the Teachers for Lifelong Learning Program provides training to high school teachers in this engaging approach to learning, and The Ojai Chautauqua provides panels promoting civil discourse on controversial and complicated subjects.
Upcoming Regular Events



Online Seminar Series
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume
Thursday, March 20
12:30-2:00PM PDT
What can we say we know with certainty? What does it mean to say that we know something? How does knowledge differ from belief? David Hume was an 18th century Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism. Hume rejected the existence of innate ideas, concluding that all human knowledge derives solely from experience.
March 20 Reading:
pages 25-53 (Sections 5 to 7)
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Schedule:
12:30 - 2:00PM PDT
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Tutor:
Carol Seferi
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Location:
Free Onsite Community Seminar Series
Eastern Classics - Tao Te Ching
Tuesday, March 18
12:00-1:00PM PST
Online Seminar Series
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume
Thursday, March 20
12:30-2:00PM PDT
Like the west, the east has its own tradition of influential texts that address the perennial questions of human kind. Centering around the bodies of work from China, Japan, and India. We invite you to join us and attendees can feel free to join intermittently.
March 18 Reading:
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Schedule:
12:00 - 1:00PM PDT
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Tutor:
Andy Gilman
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Location:
111 East Ojai Avenue
Ojai, California 93023
There has never been anything like them, before or since. In one of the greatest examples of the exercise of free speech in all our history, the burning issue at stake was freedom itself, and whether it could prevail against its hideous opposite, its negation. We invite you to join us as we read and discuss all eight debates, roughly one month apart.
March 22 Reading:
Freeport Debate (August 27, 1858)
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Schedule:
12:00 - 2:00PM PDT
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Tutor:
Eric Stull
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Location:
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold - Onsight Seminar and Panel
February 1, 2024
The Ojai Valley Land Conservancy partnered with the Agora Foundation for a one-day celebration of Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, which took place at Oak Grove School on Saturday, February 1. The afternoon highlight featured Green Fire, the first full-length, high-definition documentary about legendary environmentalist Aldo Leopold, followed by a thought-provoking panel discussion on Leopold’s legacy and its relevance to Ojai’s conservation efforts today. The discussion was moderated by Jon Christensen (UCLA), Richard Knight (CSU), Roger Essick (OVLC), and Tom Maloney (OVLC).
An Introduction to The Agora Foundation. What is liberal education?
An Introduction to The Agora Foundation's Ojai Chautauqua Panels.