Philosophy
PHILOSOPHY at Seaton U3A - Contact David Morling on 01297 625045
We meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 10.30 am until 12.00 noon at Seaton Methodist Church, Valley View.
The word Philosophy is derived from the ancient Greek words - philo - ‘to love’, or ‘to pursue in love’ and - sophia - wisdom. Thus, philosophy, by the definition of the words, is to love or pursue wisdom.
You will hear philosophers say again and again, “You do not study philosophy, you DO philosophy.” This is basic to the way our group explores ideas. If we are to enjoy our philosophy our approach must be:
FUN, CHATTY, IN LITTLE BITES AND RELEVANT (to our experiences and knowledge)
There are three basic approaches to doing philosophy:
1. to examine the ideas of particular philosophers
2. to try to develop an history of philosophy and
3. to explore possible answers to particular great questions or problems of human thought We base our sessions around the third approach and encounter named philosophers,
where relevant to the ideas we are thinking about. A one and a half hour session per month means there is a limit to what we can achieve. However, there is a lot we can do: We can:
• encounter some themes often explored in philosophy,
• think about how to structure our arguments with care,
• get to understand some of the technical terms used by philosophers,
• meet some of the thinking of the famous philosophers of the past and
• share our ideas and relate general ideas to specific contemporary issues.
Above all it is intended that we should enjoy these sessions; enjoy learning and enjoy sharing. There are a lot of fun ways of getting into the subject matter and philosophy is not an abstract study – it is about the realities of what is around us. Our basic resources are the experiences and the knowledge of all of us in the group. We must not, at any time, put anyone on the spot to have to react. You speak up only when you want to and if you want to. If you are coming only to listen and think, that is fine.
We began our sessions some years ago with the basic philosophical question, How do we know what we know? That is (Technical word warning!) – Epistemology.
Some examples of the things we have discussed for far:
• Descartes and Scepticism .
• Ethics
• Approaching Philosophy like Socrates. Dialogue.
• The Enlightenment – Social Contract. Rousseau and Locke. The American Constitution.
• Some Issues about language
At Present we are exploring POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY from Plato to Modern Times.
We will move forward based on group feedback so say what you think.