Religion & Science radio shows

There are some very interesting radio programmes on Religion and Science from Wisconsin Public Radio at http://www.wpr.org/book/061119a.html - lots to think about here..

(spotted via our friends in Florida at http://unfspb.wordpress.com/ - thanks)

D.

Can the mind exist independently of the body?

The University of Southampton has launched the AWARE project in a scientific attempt to determine what happens when we die. People often talk of having Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) but there are lots of rational explanations that can be givien for such experieinces, but what this new project is aiming to do is find more empirical evidence for NDEs. One experiment involves placing images in the hospital that can only be seen from above and then asking patients that have been in a 'flatline' state whether they 'saw' anything unusual in the theatre and to describe it. The results may prove interesting. Presumably if it turns out that thousands of people do report seeing these same images this would raise interesting philosophical issues concerinig the relationship between the physical brain and a seemingly non-physical mind?

What is natural?

Ok - we are about to head to Westonbirt again for our induction trip...

The topic to ponder is the question 'What does it mean to call something Natural?'

The term can be explored at http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=natural and follow the links from last year at http://r-p-e.blogspot.com/2007/09/natural.html

Some pictures from last year can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/58244916@N00/ - the RPE Flickr gallery... The picture here is the cafe/teashop - where we can shelter if the weather lets us down...

Dave

New Academic Year

Well, another 'summer' has passed, and we are all running around getting ready to welcome a new cohort of Religion, Philosophy & Ethics students. The blog has been rather
quiet over the summer - but is ready to get busy for another year: new and existing students are very welcome to browse the archives - and even re-start old arguments and debates!

I found this picture at http://flickr.com/photos/charliebtuna/54336183 - presume it belongs to one of our students?

Well - let's hope FCH campus looks like this for Induction week (which starts 15th September) - new students looking for details of that event should go to http://resources.glos.ac.uk/newstudents/induction/fchinduction/index.cfm

Cheers,
Dave

Philosophy Reading Group News

Hello,

The Philosophy Reading Group has been formally upgraded to a shiny university society. We will now be known as 'The Philosophy Society'. The benefits are unlimited, the greatest one being that we now have a comfortable venue for the year - The Gallery Room above the SU Bar at The Park Campus. We will meet on the first Thursday of every month, the first will be 2nd October 2008.

'The Philosophy Society' will have a stall at The Freshers' Fayre in September. I am looking for somebody to help man the table with me - if you are interested please email me.

Books discussed in last year's group included works by Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Tom Stoppard and Sartre. Our first meeting will be to brainstorm possibilities for the '08-'09 year. All ideas will be greatly welcomed.

Any questions or ideas can be sent to me. My email address is: s0510427@glos.ac.uk

Until then,

Shelley

The solution to Britain's knife crime and gang problem - Vicars?

Switch the T.V or Radio on right now and you are bound to soon hear about the latest tragic inner-city youth stabbing or person being shot dead for having a slightly different postcode or belonging to a different gang. Britain certainly seems to be having a problem at the moment, and coming from a south London council estate myself I find it very concerning.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on what can solve this problem, usually involving a long prision sentence (or worse if you listen to some TalkSport callers) but I found the suggestion from a group called "Churches together in England" to be quite interesting. They are suggesting that clergy move into some of the most badly affected areas and act as role models to those perpetrating the crime and belonging to the gangs.

Could this work? I genuinely believe that one of the major reasons some young people involve themselves in activities like this is because they have not had strong enough role models in their lives, and as such have looked at Gangster rappers and 70's Gangster movies (just two examples) to provide templates, as well as "Ghetto" life in the USA, but I dont believe this is the primary cause.

Could these clergy really have such an effect that teenagers all over London and elsewhere who arm themselves because they are GENUINELY scared would be willing to follow a different path? or would an influx of white middle class men (or women) be seen merely as do-gooders and interferers, and put themselves in danger spreading a message that could be seem as other-wrodlty and completely out of sync with everyday life in these areas?

story can be found here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2307209/Vicars-should-move-to-inner-cities-to-combat-knife-crime%2C-church-report-says.html

The Churches Together report is at: http://www.churches-together.net/Publisher/File.aspx?ID=27798

Digital Adventures in Milton Keynes

Tuesday saw me off, with colleagues from across the University, on a road trip to that most mystical and romantic of destinations: Milton Keynes.

We were there to visit the Digilab of the Open University. It is a 'showcase for tools, technologies and resources illustrating how today's technology can nurture tomorrow's learners' - as their website says. It is mainly a resource for the OU staff who design course materials.

They had an impressive array of games consoles (wii fit boards, 360s, PS3s, PSPs, DS Lites - etc), Mobile phones, PDAs, Macs to access Second Life on (with OU avatars to show visitors the educational islands), and much more. While we were there, some staff were working with the real-time, interactive education tool Elluminate, which looked very interesting.

I hope we can get more of this technology into our teaching - I just need to read a book I saw there called Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning Professionals....

Cirencester Philosophy blog

Our friends at Cirencester College have just started blogging at http://www.philosophycirencester.blogspot.com/ - and we hope their students will respond - as ours do (during term-time at least).

Their blog aims to be 'A place to share and discuss current issues, moral and philosophical questions.' - Worth exploring...

Dave

Philosophy & Ethics Reading Group

Some developments for the Philosophy & Ethics reading group we run:

We're hoping to set it up as an official student society which will give us additional benefits, and more importantly, a regular place to meet.

For this to be set up, it needs an official committee (of which Shelley Campbell has kindly volunteered to chair), and at least 10 signed up members.

Can you let Shelley know if you are willing to sign up (obviously you need to be a member of the University of Gloucestershire) by emailing her on s0510427@glos.ac.uk

We are also hoping to get a stand at the Freshers' Fayre in order to widen our membership.

Please let myself or Shelley know if you have any other questions.

How ethical are you?

The Times newspaper is linking to 'how ethical are you' test/quiz at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/article4300898.ece - you may be interested to see where it places you! It says I am a 'guardian' - I like the law...
Cheers,
Dave

Ethics, Cheap Clothes and tough decisions?

Recent publicity here in the UK has focussed attention on the phenomena of very cheap clothing for sale in the UK. The spotlight recently fell on Primark - which defends itself robustly at http://www.ethicalprimark.co.uk/ - after the BBC showed a number of claims regarding the fashion chain's alleged use of child labour: you can watch the programme below..




Is it appropriate for us to worry about this? Do we have a duty to take responsibility for the origins of that we buy? I am asking this, first, of some visiting Year 9 pupils (14 year olds) - who will make some comments - but comments from all are welcome..

See http://blogs.independent.co.uk/independent/2008/06/the-devil-wears.html for some interesting debate on this issue

Dave

Ethics in Sport?

Following previous discussions on the blog about the nature of sport, I came across a past episode of Philosophy Talk. You can listen to this online at http://www.philosophytalk.org/pastShows/EthicsinSport.htm and the same page has a range of links useful to those interested in ethical issues related to sport.

Cheers, Dave

Dead Philosophers and Public Philosophers

The Radio 4 programme Start the Week had a philosophical representaiton in its 9th June edition with Simon Critchely talking about his new book which is a catalogue of the weird and wonderful ends that philosophers have met over the last three thousand years. Also Kate Soper discusses the role of the philosopher and philosophy in public life both in the UK and on the continent. Worth a listen!

Vicar of Baghdad visits Stroud

Canon Andrew White, Vicar of Baghdad, will be coming to Stroud on July 13th.

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/12-15pm-Vicar-Baghdad-visit-county/article-191109-detail/article.html

While conflict in the Middle East has a religious undercurrent, Andrew White, uses religion for diplomacy and aid, as a link not a division.

http://www.frrme.org/

Here is an opportunity to not only hear a crusading humanitarian but also come to sunny Stroud and it's free (with a gift basket).

Shelley

Peter Singer on Comedy Show?

Is this the only place philosophers can get airtime in the USA? Peter Singer talks about animals, food and the usual - but on the Comedy Central show 'The Colbert Report':