BACKGROUND INFORMATION & RESOURCES
An initial briefing document (prepared by Colin Wilson) was put before the Inaugural Meeting of potential members of the group on the 26th February 2018 for review and discussion. The document provides a useful background against which the group can consider and develop its own appropriate framework for future learning to suit its members. See link to document in the right margin (or at the page bottom on a phone).
Key aspects of the Inaugural Meeting
Those attending felt they needed to work within some sort of framework going forward and the quasi-historical framework of Collin's option D (see link to initial briefing document) was considered to be a good starting point for the new group.
In principal the suggestion was to select one philosopher, consider the society in which he lived, the methods of enquiry, questions asked and the relevance of those questions to us today. It was agreed that group members would prepare for each meeting by doing a little digging and it was considered that Wikipedia & other internet sources would be a useful base for this.
It was suggested that the group begin by researching 'Socrates' as this was a reasonable point historically with which to edge new participants into the subject. Preparing questions such as "Who was Socrates, why is he important and what did he discuss?" would help the process of the group learning together.
Philosophers – Who are they?
Many programmes on radio and some on TV have a philosophical angle. Philosophers - List 1 (see link), is based on 50 philosophers included in website information relating to the BBC Radio 4 programme 'In Our Time'. However the list of those deemed to be important philosophers could no doubt extend to hundreds or thousands! Further research into such listings can be included in the Philosophy Group's webpages in due course.
ACCESS TO OTHER RESOURCES
Northumbria Region U3A advises that Newcastle U3A Philosophy Group is also open to all Northumbria members, but please contact them before joining a meeting. See link to right side of this webpage (or at the bottom if on a phone).
Philosophy websites
There are a range of websites providing information on the subject of philosophy from broad overviews to those dealing with more specific matters such as branches, doctrines, movements and schools of thought. See links in the right hand margin (or at bottom of phones) for access to some of these; additional sites will be added from time to time.
'Wikipedia' notes: 'Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. The term was probably coined by Pythagoras.'.......See link to Wikipedia.
'The Basics of Philosophy' provides what it says but in fact also provides considerable detail in many areas. .........See link to The Basics of Philosophy.
'The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy' (IEP) (ISSN 2161-0002) ‘was founded in 1995 to provide open access to detailed, scholarly information on key topics and philosophers in all areas of philosophy. The Encyclopedia receives no funding, and operates through the volunteer work of the editors, authors, volunteers, and technical advisers. At present, the IEP has over a million visitors per month, and about 20 million page views per year. The Encyclopedia is free of charge and available to all users of the Internet world-wide. The staff of 30 editors and approximately 300 authors hold doctorate degrees and are professors at universities around the world, most notably from English-speaking countries.’
See link to The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
For links - see the right-hand sidebar of this page (or the page bottom on a phone).