We cover a very varied set of topics – philosophy of science, of politics and of morality and more. Our recent topics have been: June – Skepticism; July ‘Critical Commonsensism’; August ‘David Hume on Causation’; September – Moral Relativism or Moral Progress; October – Islamic Philosophy; November – the ‘Kalam’ Cosmological Argument
Next Meeting – Tuesday 11th December -The Moral Equality of Combatants
This will be a discussion based on the OU Free Course of the same name (available online from OpenLearn). The course material says, ‘The moral equality of combatants says that combatants on both sides of a war, regardless of the justice of their cause, are equally permitted to kill each other and equally liable to be killed.’
This is why we do not convict enemy troops of murder just because they have killed some of ours in course of fighting. This is an aspect of the ‘Just War’ tradition, which underlies such as the Geneva Convention. The free course discusses the reasons offered for and against such a stance.
It was agreed that we would each look at/study this course and discuss it at the next meeting. New members could do the same – taking the course is only a matter of reading some 20 online pages and doing a few (unmarked) excersizes – and/or request a summary from me.
Topics for further meetings have yet to be decided.
