Philosophy

[close] A monthly reading book club for all books science, philosophy or sceptical. From Carl Sagan to David Hume to Richard Dawkins and beyond.

[close] There are many groups belonging to Philosophy in Pubs (known as PiP) throughout the UK. This is a selection of books (and films) that are referred to when we take part in enquiries so that we can be informed and so that we can continue the discussion.

[close] Haslett TE 16-17 interns

[close] In this group we will embark on the intellectual journey of reading in roughly chronological order the major philosophers of the western tradition. The concept of "major" is to be be quite broadly construed so that we will be spending time with many philosophers who are often skipped over in the mad rush from ancient to modern philosophy and beyond. Starting with the Pre-Socratics, we will take our time reading Plato, Aristotle, and all the rest of the ancients down to the Neo-Platonists Plotinus; after which we will cover the Christian philosophy of Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages, from Augustine through Aquinas (and more). It will be a long time before we reach the typically designated starting point of modern philosophy, Rene Descartes, much less the crown jewel of the modern philosophers, Kant, but hopefully the reading that goes before him and the rest of the modern era will lay the groundwork for a depth of understanding that cannot otherwise be obtained. This is to say nothing of the payoff that a historical method will provide once we reach thinkers such as Nietzsche and Heidegger--the latter might well actually require such a depth of historical reading in order to be properly understood. Even there our journey will not be complete. Post Heidegger Continental and Anglo philosophy will have many treasures for our historically fertilized minds to ponder over and contextualize in light of our familiarity of the two and half thousand year conversation that proceeds them.