21 January

19 February

John Clarke on 'Culture: What is it? What is its value'

A discussion of issues concerning culture following a recent series of broadcasts on Radio 4 produced by Melvin Bragg

19 March

John Clarke on 'Russell & Wittgenstein: Makers and Shakers of Modern Philosophy'

An examination of the ideas of and relationship between Russell and Wittgenstein, and their contribution to 20th century Anglo-American philosophy

16 April

Gideon Calder on 'Richard Rorty, Pragmatism and the Unfamiliar'

An examination of the ideas of and relationship between Russell and Wittgenstein, and their contribution to 20th century Anglo-American philosophy

21 May

Steve Eddy on 'What is the I that I am? Explorations of Human Identity'  

18 June

Jim Cross on 'Copernicus, Galileo and Newton. New Thinking against Old Ortho

16 July

Debate on the question 'Is Democracy an Illusion? With Judith Stares and Dimitri Batrouni

17 August 2015

Annual philosophical tea party hosted by Val and Arthur Ormrod. John Clarke and Vanessa Dodd on 'Nature Philosophy in the 19th Century: German Idealism and American Transcendentalism'  

17 September

Bashir Kahn on "A Beginners Guide to the work of Theodor Adorno and the Changing Reception of Art in History"

Theodor Adorno (1903-1969) was a German philosopher of the Frankfurt School who was also classically trained pianist, and is widely regarded as one of the 20th century's foremost thinkers on aesthetics and the philosophy of art.

15 October

Lorraine Cavanagh on  "Faith in a secular age: good and bad religion and how to tell the difference "

The talk examines some of the ways in which distorted ideas of faith have led to violence and exploitation, and to a dangerous politicising and secularising of religion in general. It argues that what is needed today is a new understanding of faith, and of what we call religious truth, which will help us make sense of our lives in a world where faith plays such an important part.

19 November

John Clarke on "Freud versus Jung: clash of world views"

Though Freud and Jung are well known as the founders of psychoanalysis, they were both steeped in philosophy, drawing on philosophical traditions in developing their ideas, not only concerning the human mind, but also in relation to moral, social and religious questions. The talk will focus on the ways in which their ideas represented two opposing philosophical perspectives on life, a clash mirrored in the tragic personal conflict that brought to an end their early close friendship.

17 December

Tim Cross on " What is there? Ontology and how we think about reality"

Ontology examines what it means to say that something 'is' or 'exists' and in what senses things are.  It underlies and relates to almost every other branch of philosophy - logic, moral philosophy, epistemology, and all the 'isms'. Ontology goes to the heart of what philosophers do. Can we say anything about how the world 'is' or are we really talking about our own views? What are the categories of reality (if any)? Does science represent the world or describe it?