What is the difference?

Christian refuses to remove crucifix (at work): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8265321.stm

Jedi refuses to remove hood (in Tesco): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/18/jedi-religion-tesco-hood-jones

Are the issues the same?

Dawkins on Science

I read this in the Guardian the other day. Though, as students in RPE 201 know (Philosophy, Science and Belief), I am not an ardent fan of his, I do believe he’s absolute right about this, when he writes about scientists,

"Scientists often disagree with one another, sometimes passionately. But they don't go to court to sort out their differences, they go into the lab, repeat the experiments, carefully examine the controls and the statistical analysis. We care about whether something is true, supported by the evidence. We are not interested in whether somebody sincerely believes he is right. There exist objective methods for discovering whether he is, as a matter of fact, right. If he is wrong, the evidence will show it, and – notwithstanding Judge Eadie – be blowed to whether he is sincere in his error or not."

Not quite sure what he means by ‘blowed’, but it’s a pretty accurate description of what scientists do as opposed to pseudo-scientists.

If you want to read more go to http://tinyurl.com/nok3ur

Schopenhauer and Love - by Alain de Botton; and Zizek too...

Interesting - but is it that persuasive?




OR...

Slavoj Zizek about love

The Philosophy Society September 2009

The Philosophy Society has ended its first year with the promise of a successful second year now dawning. We have a new wave of fervour from a long list of Freshers to add to our small, but dedicated, core group. Over the past year we have turned our attention to:

• business ethics by looking at a 1970s article by economist Milton Friedman, "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits" (in other words the business of business is business), and a short story by B. Traven, "Assembly Line"
• political philosophy by reading Machiavelli's The Prince and Thoreau's Civil Disobedience
• Herman Melville's short story Bartleby the Scrivener in tandem with Emerson's The Transcendentalist (which is considered the inspiration behind Bartleby)
• Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, studying the two famous chapters "Rebellion" and "The Grand Inquisitor"
• Paul Caddle, one of our members, led a meeting on paradoxes, which generated a rousing round of comments
• Christopher Norris, a philosopher from the University of Cardiff, who gave a paper entitled, "The New Musicology: What's it all about?", followed by a lively discussion
• Robert Ellis, another guest speaker, who gave a paper, "Moral Objectivity and the Middle Way". For more information, you can look at Robert's web-site at this address: http://www.moralobjectivity.net/
• the philosophical themes underpinning the two films Arlington Road and Primer

For our October meeting we are reading "Before the Law" from Kafka's The Trial found at this address: http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/Kafka/beforethelaw.htm. Also, if you are interested in further study, please read Derrida's "Law of Genre" found at this address: http://mission17.org/documents/Derrida_LawOfGenre.pdf.

The Philosophy Society meets (usually) on the first Thursday of every month at 7pm in The Gallery Room above the SU Bar at Park Campus. However, I am still uncertain whether the meeting will be on the 1st or 8th of October. I will post and send emails with this information in due course.

If you have any queries about The Philosophy Society please contact Shelley Campbell s0510427@glos.ac.uk

Film & Philosophy

Some pictures here of today's induction-week presentations on Crimes and Misdemeanors - but for those still keen to think aobut this movies - there is some useful discussion at the Philosophical Films website, the C&M page is at http://www.philfilms.utm.edu/1/crimes.htm.

There were some really exciting ideas in the presentations this morning - and there is a forum for discussion of them on the RPE ning... (where there are more photos)

d.

Moral Modularity in Buddhism?

If you're keen to get going this term - you could head to the Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy and get the podcast of an intriguing talk: Owen Flanagan (Duke University). The lecture was entitled "Buddhist Ethics and Moral Modularity" and the respondent was Professor Wayne Proudfoot.

The podcast is HERE - enjoy!

Ning?

This is a post just for our current RPE / Philosophy students: we have a social network (with chat, forums, etc) for the course at http://rpeglos.ning.com/ - all level 2 and 3 students should have had an invite to join by now - and level 1 students (who are still in he process of registering this week) will get an invite soon...

If I have missed anyone - just email me from your glos account and I'll add you...
Cheers,
Dave

Bertrand Russell: Comicbook Superhero!

I always knew this was the case, of course. A new comicbook (or graphic novel) called 'Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth' has just been published by Bloomsbury. Described as: 'it's the story of the quest for the foundation of mathematics, starring and narrated by Bertrand Russell, the British logician, philosopher, mathematician, reformer, pacifist, activist, jailbird and chronic womaniser. It's set 50 years ago on 4 September, 1939, when Russell arrived at an American university to lecture on "The Role of Logic in Human Affairs" before a sceptical audience, just after Britain had declared war on Germany. The book delves into Russell's past, his childhood and the first inklings of his search for the certainties upon which maths, and therefore all science, ultimately rest.'

A real page-turner. Move over Batman!

Find more on this at: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/bertrand-russell-the-thinking-persons-superhero-1780185.html

A warm welcome to the new RPE students

It's the start of a new academic year and, hopefully, lots of interesting comments and debates on the RPE blog. Do make your voice heard and I hope you visit this site frequently as it is not only a place for debate, but also for useful information.

Enjoy induction week, and all the RPE staff look forward to seeing you in class.

More details of induction week can be found at:
http://resources.glos.ac.uk/newstudents/induction/fchinduction/index.cfm

Oh, and for Wednesday evening for the Project, the website for the Exmouth Arms can be found at: http://theexmouth.co.uk/

Philosophy Course Map

Now that is exciting..

The Single Honours Philosophy map is now online. Be AMAZED by the new modules; be ASTOUNDED by the route requirements and compulsory courses; be slightly troubled by the enthusiasm of the staff...

In case you can't wait to click through... here it is:

Philosophy (Single Honours Degree) Course Map

To achieve your award you must pass the correct number of CAT points at each level and meet all award requirements (see UMS Regulations) as well as passing ALL compulsory and core requirements, including:

Level I: RPE101, RPE102, RPE107 and PHI190 plus either RPE104 or RPE105

Level II: RPE207

Level III: RPE307 and PHI333

Notes: N/A

Level I Modules:

Code and Title	CAT Points	Study Period
PHI190: Studying The Humanities: Learning And Personal Development Restrictions: Cannot be taken with EX160, or any other module coded 190	15	N/A
RPE101: Philosphical And Ethical Arguing	15	SEM1
RPE102: Religion In The Contemporary World	15	SEM1
RPE103: Contemporary Ethical Issues	15	SEM2
RPE104: Introducing Islam	15	SEM2
RPE105: Judaism	15	SEM1
RPE106: New Religious Movements	15	SEM2
RPE107: Western Philosophy	15	SEM2
RPE108: Greek Philosophy	15	SEM1
RPE136: Overseas Study Visit Restrictions: Cannot be counted with OTC136 Overseas Study Visit or OTC116 Overseas Study Visit	15	N/A

Level II Modules:

Code and Title	CAT Points	Study Period
PHI201: The God Of Philosophy	15	N/A
PHI202: The Rationalists	15	N/A
PHI204: Critical Philosophy	15	N/A
PHI299: Scholarly Project	15	N/A
RPE201: Philosophy, Science And Belief Prerequisites: Pass RPE101	15	SEM1
RPE206: Ethical Traditions Prerequisites: Pass RPE101	15	SEM1
RPE207: 20th Century Western Philosophy	15	SEM1
RPE209: Philosophy Of Mind Prerequisites: Pass RPE101	15	SEM2
SPX208: Ethics And Morality In Sport I Restrictions: Cannot be taken with SV201	15	SEM1
SY232: Social Theory: Major Shifts In Modern Society Restrictions: Cannot be counted with SY227 or SY228	15	SEM1

Level III Modules:

Code and Title	CAT Points	Study Period
PHI301: Buddhist Philosophy Restrictions: None. However, students are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with the basic teachings and practices of Buddhism before the start of the module.	15	N/A
PHI302: Islamic Philosophy Restrictions: None. However, students are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with the basic teachings and practices of Islam before the start of the module.	15	N/A
PHI333: Dissertation	30	N/A
PHI398: Indpendent Study	15	N/A
RPE301: Love, Sex And Death	30	YEAR
RPE304: Ethics And Reason Prerequisites: Pass RPE201, or RPE207, or SY22x	30	YEAR
RPE305: Philosophy And Literature Prerequisites: Pass RPE2XX, or EX2XX	15	SEM2
RPE307: Philosophical Close Reading	15	SEM1
SY319: Research, Epistemology And Philosophy Restrictions: Cannot be taken with SY310	15	SEM1

Swings and Roundabouts...

Some changes to let people know about this summer...

Some minor changes to the RPE Course have taken place, and we have also launched a straight Philosophy programme as well.

The role of Course Leader has passed from myself to Dr Roy Jackson - who now takes on the role - and good luck to him with all those annual reports, programme change committees and student questions...

In addition to that - we have a new member of staff as well. Dr William Large has joined us and will be teaching from Spetember. I expect Will to introducue himself on here soon, but if you can't wait his profile at his previous job is still live HERE - but probably not for long...

Simon Critchley on Heidegger - on Guardian Website

Over at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jun/05/heidegger-philosophy you'll find Simon Critchley offering an intro to Heidegger: which is worth a read. He is going to blog more on this - so may be worth a look...

You may also enjoy the wide range of comments that have been posted (!)

d.

The 'Other' Hay Festival

How The Light Gets In is the UK's first philosophy and music festival in Hay on-Wye which runs over the same ten days, 22-31 May, as the Hay Literary Festival. For the first time ever in the UK, music and philosophy collide as top thinkers, leading musicians and pioneering artists explore the issues that matter through debate, music and live performance. With the overall theme: ‘Crunch. Values and Belief in a new era’ the Philosophy Sessions examine where we are and where we might go from here. The festival brings together a celebrated cast of speakers including philosophers Simon Blackburn, Susan Neiman, AC Grayling, sociologists, Steve Fuller, Zygmunt Bauman, and political theorists Will Hutton, Phillip Blond, Geoff Mulgan. Evenings are host to musical sets from performers including Michael Nyman, Baka Beyond, Stephen Fretwell and many more; and daily comedy sketches come courtesy of the likes of Ed Aczel and Robin Ince.

Excellent Buddhist Podcast

Taken from http://www.cbs.columbia.edu/weblog/2009/05/cbss-podcast-fredrick-m-smith.html :

"Fredrick M. Smith from the University of Iowa presented his talk on "Indian Buddhist Sociolinguistics and Buddhist Notions of Possession: A Fragment from the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa" on April 30, 2009 as part of the Columbia University Buddhist Studies Seminar series."

The podcast is at http://www.cbs.columbia.edu/files/cbss_podcast_smith.mp3

The Centre for Buddhist Studies at Columbia University (New York) has some excellent material online - start at its blog at http://www.cbs.columbia.edu/weblog/

enjoy..
d.

Baggini's Philosophy Monthly

Julian Baggini, editor of The Philosopher's Magazine and previous speaker at our University, has launched a new monthly podcast which is available on iTunes. Episode 1 featured a talk with the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks and Julian's visit to the Hobbes festival in that sweet little Cotswold town of Malmesbury. The second edition has just come out and features an interview with the former Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries on whether Christianity is a force for good.

...oh, and while you're at it, check out the Bristol Festival of Ideas podcast!