We cover a very varied set of topics – philosophy of science, of politics and of morality and more. Our recent topics have been: January – Marx; February – Schrodinger’s Cat and Anti-Realism in Science; April – Testimony; May – Rationality, and July – Plato and Popper on Democracy, and August – What is mathematical truth?
Next Meeting – Tuesday 10th September – Does global warming impose an obligation on individuals to restrict their carbon emissions?
A US philosopher, Sinnott-Armstrong, argued in a paper of 2005 that, even assuming global warming is real, man-made and potentially disastrous, this affords no obligation upon any individual to limit their carbon emissions. We will discuss his arguments and conclusion. Note that this is not a discussion about whether global warming is real, man-made and potentially disastrous; that is not a philosophical question. The philosophical question is about the moral consequences of that assumption. (The paper itself, ‘It’s Not My Fault: Global Warming and Individual Moral Obligations’, is accessible on the web. If your interested, google Sinnott-Armstrong, go to his Home Page, select Papers – down the left-hand side and not very obvious! – and scroll down to the year 2005. This paper is the only one listed for that year.)
Topics for further meetings have yet to be decided.
