Philosophy

The Group meets on the second Tuesday of the month at the Scout Hut upstairs rooms at 2.00. Please contact the organiser if you wish to join this group.

Meetings are on 2nd Tuesdays, 9 December, 13 January, 10 February and 10 March at 1400 in the upstairs room.

We have almost finished working through a U3A Online Course: Introduction to Western Philosophy (see below). December will finish the unit on Ethics, January will cover Political Philosophy, February will cover the last unit of this course on The Meaning of Life. In March there will bea meeting on the philosophy of mental illness as an example of ‘applied philosophy‘, the program after that is still up for discussion. New members are still very welcome

There are eight units to Introduction to Western Philosophy as follows: -

1. About Philosophy - Why study philosophy? What is the relation of philosophy to religion and science
   
2. In the Beginning - about Socrates and the beginnings of philosophy in ancient Greece.
   
3. Two Theories of Knowledge - those of Plato and Aristotle.
   
4. Epistemology - What is Knowledge - about the Rationalists and Empiricists of the C17 th and C18 th .
   
5. The Question of Identity -- Who Am I? - How are the mind and body related - some major theories.
   
6. The Philosophy of Religion - arguments for and against the existence of God.
   
7. Ethics: What is it to Live a Moral Life? - facts versus values; freewill; ethical relativism; and some theories of what morality is and how it is based.
   
8. The Meaning of Life - Some answers to questions about meaning and purpose; religious and atheistic existentialism.

Group members are welcome to suggest group for discussion or to present ideas of their own.

Please see the newsletter for details of the leader