Currently this group is not meeting due to Covid-19 restrictions. But will resume on 10th August. (Note new restart date – due to extension of government covid restrictions.)
Following some consultation with current group members I have decided on the following restart program (pandemic permitting!). The program really begins in September, but there will be a meeting in August, as follows:-
10th August: Natural Kinds: are there any, and if so how do we discover them?
14th September – and for the next 7 consecutive meetings – I will give a series of introductory talks. These talks will take up less than half of the session, followed by coffee and discussion. The titles of the talks are as follows:-
- Ethics – what principles should we act on in our personal lives?
- Politics – what counts as a good society and how should it be governed?
- Meta-ethics – how do we decide about ethics?
- Religion – looking at some philosophical arguments for the existence of God.
- Free-will – as an example of philosophy of mind. Arguments for and against.
- Scepticism – do we know anything, and if so how?
- What is philosophy? – what kind of answers does philosophy seek? How are they like or different from the answers of science?
Topics for further meetings will be decided by the group. It has been suggested we should look at philosophers’ answers to the question of what is The Good Life.
Access to the Small Meeting Room (the IT room) is either through the main hall ie the Ormskirk Room (where there may be another group) 0r by the rear door. The rear door is accessbile from the car park: Walk past the main door. The rear door is just round the corner, facing the same way as the main door. It is normally behind a steel shutter which I will raise for the meeting.
