Julian Baggini Talk: All Invited

Popular Philosopher Julian Baggini will be giving a talk on communitarianism in Britain. In a recent piece for Prospect magazine, he writes that while the elite of Britain remains liberal, much of the rest of the population adopts communitarian views. This finding derives from his book Welcome to Everytown. You can hear him talking about his book and the recent Prospect article on the BBC Radio 4 programme Start The Week.

The talk will take place on 7th February from 6pm in the CEAL Building (CE102).

You can read more on the philosophy of communitarianism at the Stanford Encyclopaeda of Philosophy entry.

Podcast on Buddhism for RPE208

Those of you doing RPE208 - Indian Religions - may wish to download the Four Noble Truths podcast that I talked about in class.

You can find it at http://r-p-e.blogspot.com/2007/02/buddhism-podcast-2-four-noble-truths.html - and download via a link there.

You may also wish to browse some other bits of the blog that have Buddhist material on.

Cheltenham Ladies College Event - 2008

Cheltenham Ladies College is having its annual Religious Studies Event - and as last year (see the report by RPE students HERE) they have kindly invited RPE students to attend should they wish.
Details are below - but let me (dwebster@glos.ac.uk) know if you are interested in attending (it is free!).
Cheers,
Dave
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9.00am – 3.45 pm Thursday 7th February 2008
The Cheltenham Ladies’ College
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Why Study Religion, Philosophy and Ethics?

Philosophy seems more popular in Schools than ever. [As noted HERE by Nigel Warburton]

In Scotland, the Herald newspaper has considered this - causing a number of its online readers to comment HERE about the value of philosophy. The comments are worth a glance as they reveal something of the public attitude to philosophy.

I wanted to ask our students (and other readers) to comment as to:

• Whether there was any value in studying philosophy (to both individuals and society in general)
• Whether academic disciplines such as Philosophy and Religious Studies should have to demonstrate a 'usefulness' in order to be considered worthwhile
• What reasons motivate individuals to study these subjects. [See HERE for previous posts on this topic]
• Why has there been such a rise in the numbers studying Religious Studies and Philosophy (often including ethics) at AS/A2 ('A' level to older people like me) here in the UK?
  

GLOUCESTERSHIRE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 2008

Here are the upcoming Gloucestershire Philosophical Society sessions-

1. 16th. January, 2008. Chris Eddy, Swindon Philosophical Society. :"Why I am not an atheist".

Chris Eddy accepts Philip Kitcher's challenge, in 'Living with Darwin', to articulate a form of belief in God which makes no occult claims, yet is also clearly distinct from secular humanism. The object of the talk is to counter "the meritocratic, ideological bullyings of Dawkins, et al.".

2. 30th January, 2008. The Annual GPS Dinner will be held in the evening - further details of venue to be circulated.

3. 13th.February, 2008.Dr. Roberta Stevenson, University of Gloucestershire. "The meaning of old age in the 21st. Century: why we need a feminist and literary gerontology".

Roberta Stevenson has been involved in a study of this issue over the past few years.

4. 27th. February, 2008. Leckhampton Seminar at the Brown Jug, Bath Rd. Cheltenham, 10.30.a.m.”Modernisation: a vacuous concept?"

5. 12th. March, 2008. Dr. Roy Jackson, University of Gloucestershire: "Nietzsche and Islam".

Roy Jackson considers the important influences that Nietzsche's teaching has had and continues to have on the evolution of Islamic spirituality.

Meetings scheduled for 16 January, 13 February and 12 March will be held at 7.30 p.m. in room HC203 Francis Close Campus, University of Gloucestershire, Swindon Road, Cheltenham.

Blogging the Qur'an

"How should Islam's sacred book be read in the 21st century? How should non-Muslims interpret its message? In a year-long project, Ziauddin Sardar will read the Qur'an from beginning to end, discussing its verses, themes, language and meaning." Sardar is a Muslim reformist and you can read his first entry at Guardian Online.

Kant Attack Ad

Those who observe US political campaigning will be familiar with the 'Attack Ad' - the vicious, personal TV ads that assualt viewers with assertion and implication. This is a nice spoof version on Kant: enjoy.....
Dave

New Year's Resolutions

According to an article I read today, the practice of making New Year's Resolutions dates back to Babylonian times:

Four thousand years ago in Babylonian times, resolutions were made with the
intention that what was done on the first day of the New Year would be reflected
in the remaining days of the year. Incidentally, the Babylonian New Year
was celebrated in March to coincide with the planting of the spring crops.
The Babylonians were in touch with the rhythms of the seasons and farming.

Well, maybe: You can read some philosophical musings on the topic at http://theologica.blogspot.com/2007/12/new-years-resolutions-guest-post-by.html

Is it true that the making of resolutions, as the post linked to here suggests, reflect "a sensed need for moral reformation". I guess the two extremes are seeing Resolutions in this serious, moral sense, and the view that they are petty, trivial and to do with a banal self-obssessive expression of dissatisfaction and self-disgust. I guess the two might be not so far away from each other as they seem.

Me? I think 'returning essays to students on time' does not seem exceptionally moral as a goal - but may be a popular one...

Any philosophical resolutions from readers of the blog?
Happy New Year, Dave

Festive Philosophy?

Well - 'tis the season to tolerate the tabloids feigning outrage at the alleged suppression of Christmas traditions in the name of political correctness (see HERE for an example, and HERE for an article from the Guardian on the topic.).

For a more recent account see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/2007/12/13/faxmas113.xml

We discussed this last year (see: http://r-p-e.blogspot.com/2006/12/christmas-banned.html ), so will leave it for now: but I did wonder, amidst the songs, the tinsel and the crowds in the shops this week: Is it morally acceptable to lie to children about the existence of Father Christmas / Santa Claus ?

Leaving asides cheap jibes about believing in a fictional old man, who you can't see: why do we perpetuate this falseshood? An interesting discussion at http://urbansemiotic.com/2005/09/12/lying-to-children/ also (as well as mentioning the Tooth Fairy) takes it on to a more serious note with discussions of how much doctors should or should not reveal to seriously ill children. I suppose a number of questions emerge from thinking about this:

- Is it somehow less wrong to lie to children? Is our (apparent) epistemological superiority sufficent warrant for us to deceive them? Would it be wrong to lie to an adult for the same reason.

- When we tell children things about Santa that are not wholly factual - is it for their benefit (the magic of Christmas) - or our own - an attempt to recapture our own lost innocence?

How would/should we react if someone were to tell us that they were going to always be honest with their children - including about the Tooth Fairly and Father Christmas? (or the culturally-specific equivalents)

Of course, you can always read Stephen Law's The Philosophy of Christmas, if you really want to think more deeply in a festive vein...

ps - comments still welcome on the School Uniform debate at: http://r-p-e.blogspot.com/2007/11/sir-sir-its-causal-fallacy-school.html

Philosophy & Ethics Reading Group

Our next book is Dostoevsky's 'The Double'. A short description can be found on the wordpress site: readingphilosophy
Our next meeting will be Tuesday 5th February. Time and place to be confirmed.

Got A Complaint?

Philosopher Julian Baggini is currently writing a book on Complaint and asking as many people as possible to contribute by completing a short online survey. After taking the survey you may also want to read his piece for Comment is Free in which he sets out his stall for the book. Incidentally, Julian will be giving a talk on religion and ethics at Cheltenham Ladies College in February and has agreed to also talk at FCH (more details to follow).

Christmas meal final details

Well - chaos and confusion rule - but Shajaat has finally sent me the FINAL details:

I'm really sorry, but among all the chaos and confusion the situation has been resolved. Due to David Webster's talk at the Beehive at 19:30-20:30 on Monday 10th December, the meal at 18:00 would have been too rushed. Therefore, we can still meet at 18:00 for drinks in a pub in the Montpellier area (Suffolk Arms?). Then go to David's talk at the Beehive Pub on Religion being Good or Evil followed by a meal afterwards...21:00-21:30 (Possibly Spice Exchange?) .

Cafe Scientifique, 10th December '07: Religion - Good or Evil?

The people from Cafe Scientifique have persuaded me to do an evening talk on Monday 10th December at the Beehive pub, Tivoli, Cheltenham: see http://cafescientifique.org/cheltenham.htm or download details at http://cafescientifique.org/downloads/religion%20good%20or%20evil1.pdf

The topic is Religion: Good or Evil? So, nothing too heavy then...
Come along and heckle if you must - free wine is rumoured..
Dave

RPE Xmas meal

change of plan
Just to let you know that the RPE Christmas Meal will be on Sunday 9th December at Spice Exchange Indian Restaurant, Clarence Parade, Cheltenham @ 18:00.

please let me (or one of the level 3 student reps) know if you would like to come...
dave

Robots, AI, Ethics and Military Technology

Now, we rarely post articles (or links to) from the US Armed Forces Journal on this blog, but I was sent the link to an interesting one, entitled: Fast Forward to the Robot Dilemma. This talks about the ethical issues involved in placing AI (Artifical Intelligence) systems in control of military technology...

He (Major David Bigelow) concludes: It is unethical to create a fully autonomous military robot endowed with the ability to make independent decisions unless it is designed to screen its decisions through a sound moral framework.

Which sound moral framework, I wonder, would that be though? I thought RPE blog readers may find his piece of interest....
Dave