Summer on Campus

Just took this (effect via InstaGram) as I walked across campus...

Lively debate..

You can tell all essays are in: our students have become very lively over on the course Facebook page at http://bit.ly/rpeglos

Lots of discussion of brain-gym, the ebacc and Religious Studies in schools, philosophy in schools and more. All are welcome to join the Facebook group and join in..

D.

Philosophy dead?

Stephen Hawking, in a Telegraph piece this morning, declares that Philosophy is dead:

But almost all of us must sometimes wonder: Why are we here? Where do we come from? Traditionally, these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead

There is a series of comments attached to the piece itself: my initial reaction was he has a very narrow sense here of what philosophy is, and what it is for....


Do others agree? (for comments via our Facebook group see: http://bit.ly/rpeglos )


The nice people at Philosophy Now have taken a response by Chris Norris from behind their paywall - so we can all read it - http://www.philosophynow.org/issue82/Hawking_contra_Philosophy - thanks to them...

d.

Gloucestershire Philosophical Society- The Politics of Human Nature: A Study of Power and Authority"

Gloucestershire Philosophical Society

 Wednesday, May 11th., 7.30.p.m. at FCH Room HC203

Harry Cowen, University of Gloucestershire, will give a talk on

 "The Politics of Human Nature: A Study of Power and Authority".

The talk will focus on the conservative orientation towards power relations and authority, unpicking the 'human nature' assumptions that underpin tradition, power and social change.

 

All welcome.


FCH Campus is in Cheltenham.

Sai Baba dies...

Obituary at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13153536

Eulogy to re-launch

Those of you who have done, or will do next year, the module RPE301 - Love, Sex and Death, may be interested to note that the :

The world’s first ‘death magazine’ is set to re-launch with a new website, masthead and strap-line

It launched, and then seemed to stall - but the re-launched version may have some interesting content


see: http://www.eulogymagazine.co.uk/ for details...

Reminder..

Staff and Students at the end of last year...

Just to let people know that even though term may be coming to an end - this blog - and especially the Religion, Philosophy & Ethics course face book page are still active.

Most of the discussion seems to have moved to the facebook page, from the blog: but comments are welcome via both. Also - anyone with a general interest in our course (be you a teacher, A level student, member of the public!) can join the facebook group...

Cheers, Dave

New blog next door

Our colleagues in English Literature here at Gloucestershire are working on a blog too - see http://eng-glos.blogspot.com/

Cheers,
Dave

Philosophy at Play Event

Hi - this event is next week: see http://insight.glos.ac.uk/academicdepartments/dse/news/pages/philosophyatplayconference.aspx

Abstracts are at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2157704/listofabstracts.pdf

I hope those coming find it useful...

Religion, Philosophy & Ethics student profile on YouTube!

Cordoba March 2011 Field Trip Report…

If it’s March – it must be the Spain trip…

[ more pics at  http://on.fb.me/cordoba_glos  ]

12^th March – 2.30 am – some very sleepy students and staff  meet at the FCH campus refectory – for a 3am coach to Bristol Airport…  Oddly – everyone is on time, and has their passport…

The Avant train waits to take us to Cordoba

We get to Bristol, and take off at 6.30am – and then once we are in Malaga, we get the local train to the main Malaga station: 

We lurk here till our 14:30 train sweeps us north, then a short (!) walk takes us to Los Patios – our home from home for the week.

People are a little weary, so a short orientation tour, via Plaza de Corredera, is enough for most – followed by an early night…

Sunday 13th March

Long day starts with short walk to Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos .

Then, we head to the Torre de la Calahorra museum - where we get a rather rosy view of the history in the 'Golden Age' of Al-Andalus... Here is the annual picture on the roof terrace:

Followed by a wander to the newly refurbished Archaeological Museum - which has a new underground section on the Roman theatre, and some much more sophisticated accounts of the region's history. 

Monday 14th

RAIN. plus everything was closed. More rain. Card games. More rain.

Tuesday 15th

Early train to Seville...

Our usual Seville meeting point...

We walked to the historic centre (without getting lost) – and began with the Alcázares Reales de Sevilla  - which has interesting internal buildings – and stunning gardens: an amazing place.

It takes most of a morning to explore the Seville Alcazar – then lunch

Seville Cathedral is huge! It has treasure rooms, and a lot to see – also – test your cardiovascular endurance – and walk to the top of the tower – the views are worth it.  

Seville Cathedral 

Wednesday 16th

Medina Azahara - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medina_Azahara is 8 miles west of Cordoba.

Students at Medina Azahara

A short walk to a daily tourist bus - and off we went... Once there – there is a great museum – brand new, and interactive – with lots of resources: and the ruined city itself.

 And back on the bus...

We then went to the Museum of Jewish life  Casa de Seferad - to explore the Jewish heritage of the city – in the heart of the Jewish quarter. We had a short talk here, and saw some new exhibits on how Jews fared during the Spanish Inquisition (which we didn't expect) 

At 2pm We met Imma – our expert tour guide – for the tour of the Mezquita / Cathedral – which is a highlight of the trip for many.

Thursday 17th...

5am - meet in reception of Hotel - for 5.30am coach to airport - then home at FCH by 3pm...

Looking back at the Mezquita as we leave for the coach..

Off to Cordoba...

As part of RPE136 module, we are off to Cordoba, Spain for the field trip.... (leaving in 4 hours from now...)  Follow us via http://on.fb.me/cordoba_glos 


Cheers,


Dave

Bodhisattva Superstar...

Interesting?

Heidegger and Evolution

Hello everybody,

In an attempt to stop bothering my supervisors (i'm not in care) and instead bother other people i would be interested in people's comments on essay ideas i have. I tried to be as original as possible which maybe a weakness, but anyhow, in the spirit of learning i'm putting my ideas 'out there' to be criticised. Let me know what you think or possible areas for development.

Here's an extract from an essay/idea i'm considering (apologies for the length)

I would like to argue that Heidegger’s philosophy of ‘Being and Time’ presents an intuitive framework for understanding ‘evolution’. Not just biological evolution but evolution as a process, a state of becoming. In the same way that simple single cell organisms become complex multi-cellular life, or that elementary particles become heavy metals, or that spinning hot balls of gases become clusters of galaxies, each has the potential for the other. I do not want to infer any teleology in this framework, i.e. that human intelligence was a necessary step or that some design is required. More in the Heideggarian sense that all things carry their evolutionary past with them to be projected into a potential future, that evolution is Being and being, in that objects that exist are a part of evolution and evolution as a system allows those things to exist or go extinct placing them in the background of nothingness. Heidegger’s ‘Dasein’, ‘being there’ and ‘being with’ applies to all things, he intended it only to refer to humans but I think it can be applied to all objects that are subject to evolution, that are in the world and by definition of evolution interact with their world. As a result of evolution objects carry with them the history of their ancestors and so are always ‘being with’ as well as ‘being there’. ‘Throwness’ is essentially an evolutionary idea, in that all things do not choose the fundamental aspects of their being, where and how they were created, what past they are created into, we do not control what events we run into or what events will shape us. In the same way that every human is thrown into a biography not of their choosing be it their country of origin, ethnicity, host language or sexual orientation so to generations of organisms are thrown into a process that chooses them but they did not choose.

This is just a first mashing of ideas so don't get hung up on the grammar.

Death - Symbolism in Holbein's Ambassadors

For those on the RPE301 Love, Sex and Death module - we were talking about this in class, on Tuesday...