Should Everyone Study Philosophy - a guest blog from Birmingham Metropolitan College

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Religion, Philosophy & Ethics Open Days 2016

As people start to think about their University choices – for September 2017 entry – we have a range of Open Day dates for those interested in our Religion, Philosophy & Ethics course.

To book a placce, go to http://www.glos.ac.uk/visit/open/Pages/undergraduate-open-days.aspx and reserve your spot!

At the event – staff will be around to chat and explain the course – but also, take a look at our links here  – our Photo Album (on Flickr) should give a sense of some of the things that happen beyond the classroom – but the social media links also mean you can find about us that way – via Twitter or Facebook.

RPE rushes towards the summer with its usual wealth of student activities and awesomeness

You might think that as Summer approaches, the Religion, Philosophy and Ethics course here at Gloucestershire might quieten down and slow..

Wrong.

As ever, there are events for students both within and beyond the classroom. You can see a fuller range over at our Facebook group - including details on the student research conference later in the Summer..

Prizes for the Buddhism quiz

We had A C Grayling come and speak to us this week - as part of a joint event with Gloucestershire Philosophical Society (GPS) and Gloucestershire Humanists. He spoke on Humanist Principles and Humanist Ethics, How do the former influence the latter. 

The RPE course and GPS are work together to bring a full programme of talks every term - https://glosphilsoc.net/ has details - and the hugely popular events are an evening of students, the public, and staff - all engaged in discussion and debate.

RPE cake..

What else? The second year Hinduism and Buddhism module ended with a quiz - with Buddha-in-a-bag prizes for the winning team. There was stiff competition, as these prizes are ferociously fought for - and students revealed how 'free stuff' suddenly activates their memories..

The third year class Emergent Spiritualities ended its run of student presentations (on topics like UFO religions, Game of Thrones, Conspiracy Theories, Satanism and Feminism, Hedgewitch traditions, Falun Gong and more) with, obviously, champagne. An RPE student even baked a special cake to add the sense of occasion.

RPE students!

RPE graduate Katie talks about her life as a teacher

Jessica talks about her work at TrueTube

This week also saw our Back to the Future Alumni event - where graduates came in to talk about their lives since leaving us. Katie talked about how her RPE degree led her into the teaching profession, while Jessica talked about her video production and planning work with TrueTube. There were also nibbles. 

Staff stare at buffet...

Stephen Law on The Evil God Challenge

Why should an all-good God be more likely than an all-evil God?  Does the world

provide us with evidence of good so as to make it impossible for the notion of an all-evil, omnipotent God?  Dr Stephen Law has debated this Challenge in numerous forums and we are pleased to have him at the University of Gloucestershire to discuss this topic with us.

Stephen Law is senior lecturer at Heythrop College, University of London and editor of the philosophical journal Think.  He is also the author of numerous accessible philosophical books including The Philosophy Gym and Humanism: A Very Short Introduction.

When:           12.15 – 2.15pm, Wednesday 20 April 2016

Where:          FCHC201

What:            Lecture, followed by light lunch

Book your place by emailing humanities@glos.ac.uk  by 9.00am, Monday 18 April 2016.

    

Is Evil really Good or is Good really Evil? How DreamWorks tackles this issue in Megamind - by Alex Griffiths

Animation:  Is this a modern medium of philosophical thought? Within Plato’s Symposium, Apollodorus expresses that philosophy is the only enjoyable subject; is this so the case, that even within children’s entertainment there is this requirement for philosophy to encroach?

Children’s film and literature (I’m sure most mediums) are filled with extremely powerful messages and moral guidelines. The lists are endless from Dr Seuss raising questions about the theory and nature of knowledge to Jacqueline Wilson embedding deep moral issues and guidance. Even big friendly authors such as Roald Dahl are at it!  But to return to film, DreamWorks, Pixar and Disney all fill their movies with powerful thoughts; Look at Wall-e as an example, a robot who’s function it is to clean up the planet due to human consumption providing huge topical environmental issues regarding the destruction we are causing to this planet, thus allowing insight to the instability and the fragility of our world. Not to mention the connection and empathy that is created within the robot, leading to such questions as what is it to be human and what sets this robot apart from humankind.

These large film industries are providing deep philosophical questions to become digested, disguised under comical scripts and loveable characters. Entertainment aimed at children provides vital education. This returns me to Apollodorus’ immense delight in philosophic discourse and his belief that other sorts of talk, especially that of wealth and "money-bag friends", not only annoys him but creates a sense of sorrow within him because others believe that this type of talk is of value.[1] I have to agree with him, and so does the entertainment industry. Within morality, a base guideline can be seen throughout history. Look at religious texts as a whole.  Does it not provide guidelines to a prosperous way of life - if not in this one, then in ones to follow? To tie this together, evidence of this thirst for moral codes can be seen throughout all children’s literature over the years from Grimms' nursery tales to Aesop’s fables.  This thirst provides evidence that morality is needed within society and human nature as we always are striving towards it. Without it the world would become pure anarchy, and society as we know it will break down, thus the importance of teaching children basic principles from a young age is important.

As titled, this is a review of Megamind, so I will look into the philosophical nature of the film, thus contextualising the idea that the industry provides deep thought and insight into what could be argued as higher thought into a relatable medium. So let’s start with the beginning…the very beginning:

The opening scene is of two planets at the brink of destruction, when baby Megamind and MetroMan are seen flying to earth. MetroMan begins his life in luxury and Megamind finds himself in prison. The two main characters grow up together, yet despite MegaMind’s efforts to fit in, he only gets more secluded, until he ‘learned a very hard lesson: good receives all the praise and adulation while evil is sent to quiet time in the corner. So fitting in wasn't really an option.[2]

The comical nature of the film allows for the depth to be the underbelly of the scene. What is, on first glance, portraying comedy and a base for the story line, actually in fact is asking and providing a springboard to deep abstract thought. The above quote is part of the opening spiel and provides an introduction of the two leading roles of the film. But what is so powerful is that it is playing on the notion of destiny. It sets forward the question of whether we can choose the lives that we lead, and if this choice can be changed or whether such matters are predestined. The film continues to look upon this paradigm of destiny, yet always relates it to the juxtaposition of good and evil. Other issues are raised within the film, such as the notion of what happens to the balance when evil beats good. Megamind (Will Ferrell) in this instance becomes bored. Could we take this notion to a present reality away from the abstract of animation as a thought process; what would it be like if good conquered evil? Looking briefly at Christianity, with heaven described as a place of eternal bliss and happiness, void of evil, would this be as Megamind describes…boring? Another issue that I find problematic when trying to identify what is evil, is that if there is no such thing as evil than surely there can be no concept of good. Existence would just become existence and therefore extremely mundane with potentially no purpose. Megamind brings light to this issue by showing that from the super hero to the super villain there is a mixture of characteristics showing that no one is wholly good or evil.

The notion of good and evil that I find particularly problematic is defining what it actually means to be evil. If arguing it is people’s actions, surely this is subjective; not only just within opinion yet also culture and time have a great impact. Throughout the film, Metro Man (Brad Pitt) plays the super ‘hero’.  Within the eyes of the citizens, he is a treasure; the man of the city.  But when looking through the introduction of the film and watching the two characters grow up together, he can be seen to be supressing Megamind and forcing him to become evil. Can it not be interpreted that Megamind was just trying to gain the same respect that the arrogant Metro Man was receiving.  Therefore could it not be that through Metro Man’s actions of always trying to one up and revel in his own glory that he forced Megamind to become evil? So even from the onset of the film it provides insight that ‘good’ has the capacity to create evil. The playing on the ideas of good and evil throughout the film show the lack of clarity and contrast defining what it is to be good. It shows that perhaps one cannot just be evil, only certain actions or perhaps characteristics can be. There is a real emphasis on the problematic idea of labelling something either way. 

Alex Griffiths is a second-year History and RPE student. He has his own blog at: https://alexlgriffiths.wordpress.com

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[1] Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Symposium 173c, Vol. 9 translated by Harold N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925

[2] Megamind, dir. Tom McGrath, DreamWorks, 2010

Applicant Day - February 18th for Religion, Philosophy & Ethics applicants.

This coming week, on Thursday 18th February, we'll be holding the first of this year's Applicant Visit Days. If you've applied to start RPE in September 2016 - these events are for you!

 If you haven't booked for this (or the the 10th March applicant day) - you can do this at: http://www.glos.ac.uk/visit/pages/applicant-days.aspx

There will be a 'taster' session with Dr William Large, Course Leader for RPE:

The Examined Life – Plato famously said that an unexamined life was not worth living. But what is an unexamined life? How would you live a life that had no Religion, Philosophy and Ethics in it, and if you did would that really be a problem?

There will also be lots of opportunity to find out more about the RPE course and community here at facebook.com/groups/RPEglos  or on Twitter at @RPEatGlos. As well as the academic side of being a student, there will also be the chance to ask about finance, accommodation and the social aspects of student life! 

Gloucestershire. You can also see our Facebook group at

See you there..

Dave.

Students on the Spain field trip module..

On the road with Dr Peter Vardy

For the last week and a half, I've been off campus as part of Dr Peter Vardy's Candle Conferences Ethics tour..

My wonderful colleagues Dr Ben Trubody and Professor Melissa Raphael have been covering my teaching at the University (lucky students!), and I've been using Skype as much as train/hotel wi-fi will allow!


By the end of this week I'll have given my 'I Kant' talk to nearly 4000 A-level students from around 200 Schools / Colleges. I apologise for the meme-filled slides (you can find a copy via twitter, where I am @davidwebster, if you really want to see them).

It's been really interesting talking with students and teachers - and I hope some of you are excited by what we do on the RPE course here. While I have found all the travel, and big audiences exciting, but slightly tiring - but Peter has enough energy for the whole audience- and has always made sure the debates have been very lively!

Dr Peter Vardy - in London.

You can also see me in conservation with Dr Vardy at http://wp.me/p2xWwL-ew 

The Third Degree - RPE staff versus student on Radio 4 quiz..

Last week, Radio 4's The Third Degree recorded an episode of the quiz show (that pits University staff agains their students) at Gloucestershire.

The teams included an RPE student (Rob Alexander) and RPE staff member (David Webster - me). The show won't be broadcast till April - so I will keep the result a secret - but here are a few photos from the event..

Rob and Dave either side of the host, Steve Punt.

Dave 'thinking'...

Before the hostilities..

Death! (Exhibition and visit, and a cat pub too..)

A week or so ago, RPE students (with a few from other courses joining us too) popped down to Bristol to visit the Death: The Human Experience exhibition, at the city museum. We then popped down to the Bag of Nails  pub - famous in Bristol for the free range cats wandering (mostly, to be honest, sleeping) around the pub..

There are some pictures below (click them to enlarge) - but the exhibition blurb is worth reading:

death: the human experience is about the most universal of experiences that we

will encounter.
Hundreds of incredibly diverse objects – from a Ghanaian fantasy coffin to a Victorian mourning dress – reveal captivating stories from cultures across the world, from the earliest human societies to the modern day.
The exhibition encourages you to consider ethical issues, different attitudes to death and how different cultures have dealt with the end of life.
As a society we are reluctant to talk about death and dying. death: the human experience is about helping to start that conversation.

Our HM6502 Love, Sex and Death module deals with these issues - and it was fascinating to learn more, and see examples of some of the material we discuss in class.

only a matter of time..

Sunset in Bristol

Student plus cats..