Jermyn Street Theatre, London, SW1Y 6ST. In this cartoon-strip comedy philosophy and politics meet show-stopping song and dance! A new play by award-winning playwright William Lyons, inspired by Aristophanes. Find out more and book tickets online at www.socratesandhisclouds.com. Download the poster for this play.
Organizers: Edward Harcourt (Oxford), Tim Chappell (Open University)
Download this information in PDF format [7 KB]
The last few years have seen a huge expansion in demand for philosophy in schools and colleges, whether in the context of Philosophy or of Religious Studies A and AS levels. But many schools and colleges lack the resources for specialist philosophy teaching, not to mention the inherent challenges of adapting the open-ended character of philosophical inquiry to the demands of post-16 qualifications. Funded by the Royal Institute of Philosophy and led by philosophers from Oxford and from the Open University, this intensive one-day workshop aims to address these concerns by providing post-16 philosophy teachers with the opportunity to join in dialogue with academic philosophers, to raise questions about the post-16 curriculum, and to enrich their teaching practice with unfamiliar materials and approaches. The organizers also hope to use the workshop to
The workshop will consist of
The workshop, which is limited to 40 places, is open to any post-16 teacher teaching philosophy, whether as part of Philosophy or Religious Studies A or AS level. Attendance, including a sandwich lunch, is free of charge. The organizers regret, however, that they cannot cover any travel costs. To apply to take part, please email ruth.dry@keble.ox.ac.uk, giving your name and institutional affiliation, by 14th September 2012. Decisions will be communicated to applicants by 15th October 2012.
One of the selling points of religion is that it offers hope in a heartless world. Does that mean those without religion are also without hope? Read Julian Baggini's article online.
The Anscombe Centre is holding a conference in Oxford on 18 June on 'Human Dignity in Healthcare'. Details of speakers and booking information is available online.
All welcome. Further details from h.watt@bioethics.org.uk
Nick Cousins, who completed the OU Ma in Philosophy in 2007, writes:
I thought you might be interested to know that following my enquiry in March about publication of a work of political philosophy I have been able to get it published. The fact I was able to write the book was thanks to the opportunity the Open University gave me to undertake an MA in Philosophy. I completed the MA in 2007 after 3 years hard study. My MA with the Open University thus inspired me to write and publish The Ark in Space: A Political Philosophy with a Green Agenda. I continue to teach A Level Philosophy as well as A Levels in Classical Civilisation and History at Brockenhurst FE College in Hampshire.
'The Ark in Space' is a work of political philosophy and set in the context of man's exploitation of planet Earth to fulfil his various needs. The work offers a hypothesis - that planet Earth has a finite capacity to sustain man's manipulation of his environment and the natural resources associated with it. On the basis of this hypothesis the work suggests that the political consequences of planet Earth having only a finite productive capacity relative to what man may desire entails revisiting the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity and delivering a fair model of distributive justice. The hypothesis in order to resonate employs a metaphor designed to encapsulate the finite ability of planet Earth to accommodate the ever increasing demands that man places upon it to facilitate the ‘good life’. The Earth is thus viewed metaphorically as The Ark in Space. If the Earth is an Ark, then the actions of all individuals in the Ark must in some way affect the Ark itself, given that as far as current knowledge is concerned no one can exist outside of it.
I have created a Facebook page about the work The Ark in Space: A Political Philosophy with a Green Agenda.
Keynote Speakers:
The conference aims to bring together philosophers and non-philosophers - from psychologists and sociologists to economists and public policy practitioners - to discuss the philosophical foundations of the use of measures of subjective well-being in public policy. There are many philosophical issues involved in such a practice, which have so far been relatively unexplored. These include:
These issues have been largely unexplored in part because of the lack of dialogue between philosophers and non-philosophers working on the role of subjective well-being in public policy. This conference seeks to bridge that gap, offering a unique opportunity to promote inter-disciplinary dialogue on how well-being research might best be applied to policy-making.
For more information on conference topics and speakers, please visit the conference website.
Registration is now open. To register for the conference, please do so either directly by going to the relevant page on the IDEA CETL website here or through the 'registration' page on the conference website.
On the 15th April 2011, the Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied CETL will be hosting a one day workshop on theories of rights, with papers from Matthew Kramer (University of Cambridge), Rowan Cruft (University of Stirling), and John Skorupski (University of St Andrews). This workshop was originally scheduled for December 2010, but was postponed, due to the bad weather.
See our website for more details, speaker abstracts, and to register.
We have a limited number of places so please don't delay if you would like to register. There is a registration fee of £20 (£10 students/retired) and we have a limited number of bursaries for postgraduate students. See the link above for details.
We'd like to invite you to attend the launch the Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP) network in the UK to be held at the University of Birmingham May 23rd 10am to 5pm.
The meeting will be opened by Thomas Pogge and Luis Cabrera and its purpose will be to discuss specific research/intervention proposals. Current proposals are:
1) Giving What We Can (Toby Ord, Oxford University)
2) Clean Trade in Natural Resources [PDF] (Leif Wenar, King's College, London)
3) Health Impact Fund (Thomas Pogge, Yale University)
If you would like to submit a draft proposal of your own or simply register to attend the event (for catering purposes), please contact: Luis Cabrera (University of Birmingham Political Science and International Studies) a.l.cabrera@bham.ac.uk
Confirmed participants: Thomas Pogge, Yale; Simon Caney, Oxford; Toby Ord, Oxford; Kalypso Nicolaidis, Oxford; Sonia Bhalotra, Bristol Economics; Thom Brooks, Newcastle; Darrel Moellendorf, San Diego State; Ashok Acharya, University of Delhi; Heather Widdows, Birmingham; Tom Sorell, Birmingham; Paul Jackson, Birmingham; Meena Krishnamurthy, Dalhousie University; Elizabeth Ashford, St. Andrews; Christien Van den Anker, UWE; Avia Pasternak, Reading; Hennie Lotter, Johannesburg; Zofia Stemplowska, Warwick; Suzanne Uniacke, Hull; Teresa Hayter, Riseup; Garrett Wallace Brown, Sheffield; Gilad Tanay, Yale; Don Flynn, Migrant Rights Network
Heather Widdows, Professor of Global Ethics, Department of Philosophy, Deputy Director College of Arts and Law Graduate School University of Birmingham. Global Ethics: An Introduction *FORTHCOMING*
Messages to the list are archived at http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/philos-l.html.
Prolonged discussions should be moved to chora: enrol via http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/chora.html.
Other philosophical resources on the Web can be found at http://www.liv.ac.uk/pal.
A lie's a lie, right? But what if it wasn't that simple? Play this game from The Open University and find out which philosopher you're most like when it comes to your moral responses to different lies. Play the game now...
Something to think about in a time of cuts: an open letter to the President of SUNY Albany
by Gregory A Petsko
http://genomebiology.com/2010/11/10/138
One extract: "Perhaps my own background will interest you. I started out as a classics major. I'm now Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry [at Brandeis]. Of all the courses I took in college and graduate school, the ones that have benefited me the most in my career as a scientist are the courses in classics, art history, sociology, and English literature. These courses didn't just give me a much better appreciation for my own culture; they taught me how to think, to analyze, and to write clearly. None of my sciences courses did any of that. "
(Thanks to Stephen Clark for drawing my attention to this)
As Tate Modern prepares to unveil its blockbuster exhibition, “Gauguin: maker of myth”, Nigel Warburton considers what role luck plays in moral judgement. Had Gauguin been an artistic failure, would he have been a worse person? This podcast is available online now from Prospect’s website.
Meeting room 8, Open CETL, East Perry
Coffee from 10:30 for 11:00 start – through till 16:00
Lunch provided
Many researchers across the OU are working in and around the areas of socially responsible law and management. But this work is happening in separate pockets, often as a part of very different programmes or projects. Linked together, we would present a considerable, inter-disciplinary research capability and a rich support network. This meeting is a chance for researchers in this general area to share interests, make connections, and explore what a research theme in this area might do and how it would work. Follow this link for more information (including what to do if you're interested but can't attend on the day) [PDF, 29 KB]
A synthetic life special edition links to reactions to the the announcement by Craig Venter about his synthetic bacterium. These include Nigel Warburton’s interview with Julian Savulescu, Director of Oxford University’s Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, about the ethical implications of this development.
For older news items, see our news archive.
Follow this link for details of talks and papers by the Centre's director.