The Philosophy Society - July

The next meeting for the philosophy reading group will be Thursday, 1st July at 6pm. As always we will meet at 5.55pm at the entrance to the SU Bar at Park Campus. Paul Caddle is leading the meeting and will be presenting a paper entitled 'What actually is Buddhism?' The discussion does not require any preparatory reading other than a hand-out which will be distributed on the night. So there is not a reason not to come (not even World Cup because we finish at 7.30pm). I look forward to a highly attended and high-spirted discussion.


Shelley

Metal Madnness...

http://conferencealerts.com/seeconf.mv?q=ca16as3a

Heavy Fundametalisms: Can I Play with Madness? Metal, Dissonance, Madness and Alienation

8 to 10 November 2010
Prague, Czech Republic

Now THAT is a conference topic!

Wish I could go...
Would like to do something on NWOBHM, but not sure there's an audience for my paper on Tygers of Pan Tang...

See http://r-p-e.blogspot.com/2007/11/philosophy-and-popular-culture.html
for more on Philosophy and Popular Culture

d.

Exams and Cheating

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/15/exam-cheating-brain-food May interest some here!

The Severn Forum Annual Lecture

Wednesday 16 June, 7.45pm

http://www.thesevernforum.org.uk/

Is turning off the aid to poor countries the right Christian response?

Revd Professor Michael Taylor
Emeritus Professor of Social Theology,
University of Birmingham

Main Lecture Theatre, The Park Campus,
University of Gloucestershire
£3 to the public. Free to members and students

Contact: Patricia Downes ( pdownes@glos.ac.uk )

The Philosophy Society

Dr. Emily Ryall from Oxstalls Campus is giving a paper and opening a discussion for the reading group on Thursday, 3rd June. The abstract and reading links are posted below. Remember we are now meeting at the earlier time of 6pm, so meet outside the SU Bar at Park Campus at 5.55pm. The Gallery Room is now closed for the summer and I am still awaiting the booking for a seminar room. I am unable to come tomorrow evening but you will be under the excellent charge of Emily. Is anybody willing to collect the key from security? If somebody could volunteer for this small but important detail, please let me know.

Shelley

Being-for-oneself and being-for-others in sport: An existentialist critique.

I have argued in a previous paper (Ryall 2008) that sport seems to provide an area whereby the nature of being is intensely illuminated; for we are always aware that it is something that is voluntarily engaged in and has no meaning beyond that which we give it. In addition to this, the nature of sport provides a stage upon which the free choices we make are wholly visible both to ourselves and to others, and the emotions of pride and shame, contempt and respect (of varying degrees) are common. Such emotions, according to Sartre, demonstrate the on-going battle between ourselves and others to be authentic and in good-faith, and not fall foul of self deception nor the reduction of oneself by another to a mere object. As such, this paper will attempt to apply some existentialist (mainly Sartrean)ideas regarding authenticity and good-faith to the world of sport, and will consider whether Sartre’s notion of ‘the look’ exposes the problem of these emotions and the way we view ourselves and others in sport.

For my previous, 2008, paper on the nature of being a substitute in sport see: HERE
For an earlier draft of the paper being presented see: HERE