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The
Philosophy Group meets every 4-5 weeks on Monday afternoons at 2pm
and is open to new
members. 
No
Previous knowledge of the subject is required.
The Group is now almost at capacity, so if anyone is considering joining be aware there are only a couple of places available.
Each meeting deals with a topic - either a philosopher, a school of philosophical thought, or an idea viewed from a philosophical perspective. Meetings take the form of a talk/ presentation, followed by a focussed discussion.
As an alternative to group members giving presentations, we will be making use of pre-recorded audio/ visual talks and discussions to form the basis of some future meetings.
We are also hoping to assemble a body of literature from which members will be able to borrow should they wish to pursue a particular interest in more depth, or just for general reading.
Lisa Czyniewska
Reports on the Meetings :-
12th January
John Ashton talked about 'Justice'. We addressed some of the related issues and spent a long time covering several aspects of the topic. As this is such a big subject, we will be returning to it in the near future so we can hopefully do it justice!!
2nd February.
We welcomed a guest speaker for the first time. Richard Jones talked to us about Buddhism as a philosophy for life.
He talked to the group about the life of the Buddha and the spread of Buddhism throughout the rest of the world, including the UK. He touched on Dukkha, Dhamma and Sangha, before going on to mention The 4 Noble Truths, The 8-fold Path and the importance of 'mindfulness'.
Richard then took questions from the group before leading a short Samatha Meditation practice by way of demonstration in which most of the group joined.
The talk was very well attended and generated a great deal of interest as many people there had not previously encountered the principles of Buddhist teachings.
Lisa
Czyniewska.
No
Previous knowledge of the subject is required.The Group is now almost at capacity, so if anyone is considering joining be aware there are only a couple of places available.
Each meeting deals with a topic - either a philosopher, a school of philosophical thought, or an idea viewed from a philosophical perspective. Meetings take the form of a talk/ presentation, followed by a focussed discussion.
As an alternative to group members giving presentations, we will be making use of pre-recorded audio/ visual talks and discussions to form the basis of some future meetings.
We are also hoping to assemble a body of literature from which members will be able to borrow should they wish to pursue a particular interest in more depth, or just for general reading.
Reports on the Meetings :-
12th January
John Ashton talked about 'Justice'. We addressed some of the related issues and spent a long time covering several aspects of the topic. As this is such a big subject, we will be returning to it in the near future so we can hopefully do it justice!!
2nd February.
We welcomed a guest speaker for the first time. Richard Jones talked to us about Buddhism as a philosophy for life.
He talked to the group about the life of the Buddha and the spread of Buddhism throughout the rest of the world, including the UK. He touched on Dukkha, Dhamma and Sangha, before going on to mention The 4 Noble Truths, The 8-fold Path and the importance of 'mindfulness'.
Richard then took questions from the group before leading a short Samatha Meditation practice by way of demonstration in which most of the group joined.
The talk was very well attended and generated a great deal of interest as many people there had not previously encountered the principles of Buddhist teachings.
13th April
The Meeting focussed on 'Free Speech'. Everyone had been asked to prepare something beforehand. As a result of this many different points of view were aired on many different aspect of the subject. Several of the points raised came from an angle others had not considered and this made for a lively and interesting discussion.
The Meeting focussed on 'Free Speech'. Everyone had been asked to prepare something beforehand. As a result of this many different points of view were aired on many different aspect of the subject. Several of the points raised came from an angle others had not considered and this made for a lively and interesting discussion.
11th May
The topic was 'The Philosophy of Meaning' which was lead by Diane with support from the rest of the group and a recording from Philosophy Bites. Most people, including some new members joined in the discussion and as this is such a big subject we only managed to scratch the surface before time ran out. We may return to this in the future.
The topic was 'The Philosophy of Meaning' which was lead by Diane with support from the rest of the group and a recording from Philosophy Bites. Most people, including some new members joined in the discussion and as this is such a big subject we only managed to scratch the surface before time ran out. We may return to this in the future.
15th June
We discussed 'What's Wrong With Democracy?'
We discussed 'What's Wrong With Democracy?'
As with the April meeting people had been asked to prepare some thing
to contribute to the subject. This proved to be a particularly
stimulating meeting with varying opinions on the merits and de-merits
of Democracy and the different types of democracy that exist.
Although the topic was not deliberately chosen for this date, it was an
interesting coincidence that we were discussing it on the 800th
Anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta!!