South Solihull u3a Philosophy Group 1
INTRODUCTION
Of the two philosophy groups, this one discusses general topics in philosophy (the other looks at topics with scientific themes.)
The groups meet monthly, usually on the third Friday of the month, starting at 10:00 a.m. You can see dates & details of the next meetings and what we have been discussing on our Philosophy Blog, or just contact Richard Batchelor.
New members are always welcome - most of started with no previous formal education in philosophy and you are welcome to just come and see what it's like if you might be interested. It's a good time to join: in the main group we're looking at Julian Baggini's "Ethics, The Big Questions" addressing practical issues around our behaviour.
We meet monthly to discuss Philosophy. We read about what questions various philosophers have addressed, the subject areas of philosophy and tools and methods. We have some set basic texts, but everyone is encouraged to explore other books or the internet and bring anything further of interest to share at the discussion. It may sound very intense and cerebral, but actually we are just looking for readily accessible ways to get hold of the best attempts to answer the questions that have been asked through the ages and still puzzle us now.
NEW TOPICS
The group started a new topic on Tuesday mornings from 10th May. Click here to visit the webpage.
As above, we also just started (from 10th June) reading Julian Baggini's "Ethics, The Big Questions"
We take things slowly - we just watch the videos or read a chapter or two then discuss one week of the course each month. If these topic might interest you, contact Richard Batchelor.
The group started a new topic on Tuesday mornings from 10th May. Click here to visit the webpage.
As above, we also just started (from 10th June) reading Julian Baggini's "Ethics, The Big Questions"
We take things slowly - we just watch the videos or read a chapter or two then discuss one week of the course each month. If these topic might interest you, contact Richard Batchelor.
ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE
We watched and discussed a series of podcasts on Ethics by Marianne Talbot of Oxford University. Then we decided we wanted a broad if fairly shallow study of philosophy, so we chose to work through Nigel Warburton's Little History of Philosophy. We then identified The Philosophy Book published by Dorling Kinnersley and read from that to take our studies into the modern and contemporary era. We moved on to The Philosophers Toolkit by Baggini and Fosl, and then we read and discussed various philosophical topics and gravitated through Aesthetics and the philosophy of beauty and art to Identity and Personhood. We completed a MOOC on Modernism and Postmodernism and studied Indian Philosophy. We went back to Ancient Greece.
We have discussed and debated Julian Baggini's essays on Ethics. We are studying a MOOC on Metaphysics and Ontology.
PHILOSOPHY BLOG
Summary Reports of our meetings and dates for our forthcoming meetings can be found on our Philosophy Blog page
