Revised Schedule for Season 8 Sept 2017 - June 2018

Next talk: 'CREATION AND DEFENCE OF PROGRESS - HEGEL ET AL' by Dr Phil Walden 13 June 2017

Abstract:

"There was of course progress in philosophy long before Hegel, particularly amongst the Ancient Greeks.  But Hegel's study of the whole history of philosophy enabled him to blend the strong points of previous philosophers and produce what he considered to be a definitive account of progress in philosophy.  To Hegel, this progress in philosophy ensures progress in history - not in a linear way, but in a teleological way.  It was Hegel's immense faith in all this that enabled him to defend the French Revolution even after the Terror had left other intellectuals despairing of a way forward.  Although there are unresolved problems, modern society owes an enormous debt to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.  All this is up for discussion."

Next talk: 'The Rise and Fall of Analytic Philosophy in the 20th Century' by Robin Strachan, 09 May 2017

 

Abstract:

'Analytic Philosophy' was dominant in the early 20th Century, but later was forced to change into different forms.   Analytic Philosophy, a system to allow the study knowledge itself, started as a rejection of traditional Idealism that is as deduced by human thought and incorporated mathematics into a logical technique.  Its leading lights were Wittgenstein and Russell, who went on to have a long and varied relationship including in 1911, the 'search for a hippopotamus' in their room.

In this talk I will discuss what the system of ‘Logical Atomism' was and how it worked, and how the study of the relationships between words and terms became part of a 'Logical System'.   In every 'System' there contained propositions and 'beliefs' which might consist of many 'true' and 'untrue' statements.   

Problems arose however when the analytic technique could not be easily changed into reconstruction of ideas.    By the 1930's the more 'Politics, Sociology and Economics' orientated members of the 'Vienna Circle' were already moving Analytic Philosophy into new forms of thought incorporating broader science.   As Analytic Philosophy continued to be challenged, it led to some infamous public conflicts including the time when Wittgenstein reportedly waved a poker at the Psychologist and Empiricist Karl Popper in 1946. 

I will try to show how there might be 'Systems of Thought' that one day might even permit mathematical analysis of 'Philosophical Positions'.

Next Talk: Plato: 'The Everlasting Legacy' - Dr Barbie Underwood - Tuesday 11 April 2017

Abstract:
The title is a bit worthy.  I debated as other possibilities 'You're everywhere and nowhere, baby' or, better still, 'There's always something there to remind me', but decided to play safe.  The point is that Plato has had a profound influence on Western culture in many areas, its music, religion, philosophy and science.  I will be looking at some aspects of Plato's philosophy and then trying to show how it influenced writers and thinkers as varied as Augustine, Descartes, Nietzsche and Bob Dylan.

Next talk: An Interview on Simone de Beauvour's 'The Second Sex' with Julia Bebington Tuesday 14 March 2017

Abstract:
Simone de Beauvoir (1908 - 1986) wrote The Second Sex in 1949, and it seems is still relevant today.  I will ask Julia questions about the book and de Beauvoir's reasons for writing it.  We will look at de Beauvour's early life and times at the Sorbonne;  her personal and intellectual relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre; and her "take" on existentialism, including whether it differed from that of Sartre and if so in what way.