Current Groups
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Huxley's Perennial Philosophy
An informal reading group on Aldous Huxley's The Perennial Philosophy, being, as the first edition put it, "an attempt to present the Highest Common Factor of all theologies by assembling passages from the writings of those saints and prophets who have approached a direct spiritual knowledge of the Divine." The aim of the discussion is to help participants crystalize their personal beliefs on these topics through free-flowing discussion. Meeting: At Medowie, on a regular day and time to be decided. Contact: For further details of this group, or to join, please contact Brian with your email address and a message that includes your name . . . |
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The Nature and Existence of God
An informal discussion group nominally meeting for a couple of hours twice a month, focused on questions about the nature and existence of the God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Discussions are reason-based with no special status accorded to religious texts, or other forms of possible divine revelation. Meeting: 7.00pm on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month, at Medowie, though meeting may be cancelled if there will be a shortage of attendees. Contact: For further details on dates and location, or to join, please contact Brian with your email address and a message that includes your name . . . |
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Previous Groups
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The Feminist Philosophers
An academic reading group meeting on the second Tuesday of the month, over drinks and snacks with the option of a meal afterwards, to understand and evaluate the leading Feminist philosophers and ideas. Planned schedule for 2023: 8 Feb – Why Feminist Philosophy? 8 Mar – Rousseau vs Wollstonecraft : Nature vs Reason 14 Jun – Taylor and Mill: Feminism and Liberalism 12 Jul – Virginia Woolf : Women’s Writing 8 Aug – Marxism and Feminism : Gender and Labor Relations 12 Sep – Simone de Beauvior : Woman as Other 10 Oct – Radical Feminism : Firestone and beyond 15 Nov – Carol Gilligan : the Ethics of Care 12 Dec – Why Feminist Philosophy? – Reprised Meeting: From November, 4.00pm for 4.15, 2nd Wednesday of the month, at Casa Nova Italian, 1 Honeysuckle Dr, Newcastle Contact: For further details about this group, or to join, please contact Nicole with your email address and a message that includes your name . . . |
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The Continental Philosophers
An academic reading group meeting in the second Thursday of the month, over drinks and snacks with the option of dinner afterwards, to understand and evaluate leading philosophers in the Continental tradition. Planned schedule for 2022: 10 Mar – Kant, What is Enlightenment? 12 May – Marx, 'Alienated Labor', from Economic and Political Manuscripts 9 Jun – Husserl, Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology, Book 1, Part 2, Chaps 1-2 14 Jul – Camus, excerpts from The Outsider, and 'An Absurd Reasoning', from The Myth of Sisyphus 11 Aug – Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism 8 Sep – Horkheimer, 'Means and Ends', from The Eclipse of Reason 13 Oct – Habermas, 'Technology and Science as Ideology', from The Analysis and Critique of Modern Society 10 Nov – Foucault, 'We Other Victorians', and excerpts from The History of Sexuality, vol. 1 8 Dec – Foucault, What is Enlightenment? Meeting: 5.00-6.30pm, 2nd Thursday of the month, at The Landing, 1 Honeysuckle Dr, Newcastle Contact: Joe, via Email or Contact Page |
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David Hodgson on Free Will
An informal reading group on David Hodgson's 2011 book Rationality + Consciousness = Free Will, which provides an extensive argument for the existence of free-will, as well as broaching issues such as morality, retributive and restorative justice, and many others. Hodgson was an Australian appeals court judge who also published in philosophy, and the aim of the discussion is to help participants crystalize their personal beliefs on these topics through free-flowing debate. Meeting: 7.00pm on the last Monday of each month, at Medowie, to discuss one chapter. Contact: For further details, or to join and specific location, please contact Brian with your email address and a message . . . |
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Sandel on The Tyranny of Merit
An academic reading group on Michael Sandel's 2020 book The Tyranny of Merit, which examines the philosophical legitimacy of meritocracy, and the political effects of this ideology. It will proceed two chapters per session through the book, with the option for additional sessions to follow up issues of particular interest to participants. The Planned Schedule is: 30 Sep – The Moral History of Merit, ch.s 1 & 2 28 Oct – The Rhetoric of Rising and the Ethics of Success, chs 3 & 5 25 Nov – The Credentialist Sorting Machine, chs 4 & 6 14 Dec– What is to be Done? Recognizing Work and the Common Good, ch. 7 & Conclusion Meeting: 7.30-9.00pm, Generally on Last Thursday of the month, over Zoom Contact: Joe, via Email or Contact Page, for details and/or Zoom Invitation |
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Nietzsche's Revaluation
An academic reading group meeting on the second Wednesday of the month, over drinks and snacks with the option of dinner, to understand and evaluate the works and ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche, as selected by members. Planned schedule for 2021: 10 Feb – Nietzsche's Apology : Ecce Homo 10 Mar – Art in Life : The Birth of Tragedy 14 Apr – Truth and Metaphysics : "On Truth and Lies in a Non-Moral Sense", and Human, All Too Human, chapter 1 ("Of First and Last Things") 12 May – The Free Spirit, and the State : Human, All Too Human, selections from chapters 5, 8 and 9. 9 Jun – Yes to Life after the Death of God : The Gay Science, selections from books 3 and 4 14 Jul – Good News from the Mountain : Thus Spoke Zarathustra, selections from books 1 to 3 11 Aug – Will to Power and the New Philosophers : Beyond Good and Evil, books 1 and 2, and selections from books 6 and 7 8 Sep – Revaluing Good and Evil : On the Genealogy of Morals, selections from books 1 and 2 13 Oct – Revaluing Religions : The Antichrist, selected passages 10 Nov – The Idols of Reason : Twilight of the Idols, selected sections Meeting: 5.00-7.00pm, 2nd Wednesday of the month, at The Landing, 1 Honeysuckle Dr, Newcastle Contact: Joe, via Email or Contact Page 
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Themes from Aristotle
An academic reading group meeting on the second Wednesday of the month, over drinks and snacks, with the aim of understanding and evaluating a broad range of Aristotle's works, as selected by members. Planned schedule for 2020: 12 Feb - The Categories 11 Mar - Politics, I [the Household] 8 Apr - Physics, I-III.3, VII.1-2 [Cause and Change] 13 May - Physics, VIII.3-10 [The Unmoved Mover] 10 Jun - On Generation and Corruption, I.9-II.1-11 [Alteration and Persistence] 8 Jul - On the Soul [De Anima], II.1-6, III.1-6, and maybe III.7-9 [Psychology] 12 Aug - Nicomachean Ethics, I-II, III.1-5 [Moral Virtue] 9 Sep - Nicomachean Ethics, VIII-IX [Friendship] 14 Oct - Politics, I.1-2, III.6-13, IV.8-12 [Constitutions] 11 Nov - Rhetoric, I.1-7, I.10-13, II.1-7, and maybe II.8-17 [Modes of Persuasion] 9 Dec - Metaphysics, VII-IX [Substance] Meeting: 4.30-6.30pm, 2nd Wednesday of the month, at The Landing, 1 Honeysuckle Dr, Newcastle Contact: Joe, via Email or Contact Page
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Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
A reading group meeting mid-monthly, over coffee for a couple of hours on a Thursday, with the aim of understanding and evaluating the early sections of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Planned schedule for 2019: 16 May - Preface; Introduction (to A16/B30) 13 June - Transcendental Aesthetic (to B73); Transcendental Logic (to A64/B88) 18 July - Transcendental Analytic: Book I, Analytic of Concepts (to A131/B170) 15 Aug - Analytic of Principles, to the Analogies of Experience in general (to B224) 19 Sept - The three Analogies of Experience, and Postulates of Empirical Thought (to B294) Meeting: 10.00am @ Jack's Hideout, Shop 5, 103 Tudor St, Hamilton Contact: Joe, via Email or Contact Page |