Conscious Realism

Posted on: August 23rd, 2023 by mlpEditor

Look around you and you become conscious of different objects occupying space as time passes.  That’s the way the world is.  Or is it?  Once you start interrogating that intuition it begins to get decidedly shaky.

All you actually know about is your own consciousness of the world – not the world itself as it is when you stop observing it.  You just assume it consists of independent physical stuff.  But some philosophers don’t!

Psychists believe that reality is only consciousness.  One such is Donald Hoffman, a world-renowned professor of cognitive studies.  Wacky?  Maybe.  But remember that consciousness is all you ever know…

This is the second Forum of a double bill on metaphysics, presented by Christopher Burke.  The first session in October, Seeing is believing…but believing what?, deals with Hoffman’s related theories about perception.  But these will be covered quickly in this particular Forum so the topic of Conscious Realism can be considered independently.

 

Good to know: We take pride in putting the fun back into serious philosophy through our friendly and respectful discussions involving different levels of experience of philosophy.  The Lit & Phil Philosophy Forum is all about collectively exploring interesting and exciting ideas from different viewpoints … not winning arguments!

The focus paper Conscious Realism should be read before the Forum to enrich and guide our discussions. You’ll get a lot more about of the discussions if you read the paper beforehand.

We are usually oversubscribed, so if you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else. Thank you.

Seeing is believing…but believing what? Reality: virtual vs veridical

Posted on: August 23rd, 2023 by mlpEditor

What is reality? Is it exactly how it looks, sounds and feels to us?  In other words, is our perception veridical?  Perhaps.  But there are compelling reasons for thinking otherwise.

Perceiving the world is not like taking holiday pics.  So if our perception doesn’t tell us the way reality ‘really’ is, what does it tell us?  Many neuroscientists, psychologists and philosophers think perception is virtual: it gives us only the representations of reality we need for survival.

At this Forum, presented by Christopher Burke, we will explore a version of this theory proposed by Donald Hoffman, a world-renowned professor of cognitive studies.  Welcome to the world of fitness-payoffs and interfaces!

This is the first Forum of a double bill on metaphysics.  The second session, Conscious Realism, follows on from this one and takes place on Thursday 2nd November. It deals with Hoffman’s view of what the reality behind our perceptions actually is.  His startling conclusion is that it is not physical but just pure consciousness!   Each topic can be considered independently, but they enhance one another.

Good to know: We take pride in putting the fun back into serious philosophy through our friendly and respectful discussions involving different levels of experience of philosophy.  The Lit & Phil Philosophy Forum is all about collectively exploring interesting and exciting ideas from different viewpoints … not winning arguments!

The focus paper Seeing is believing should be read before the Forum to enrich and guide our discussions. You’ll get a lot more about of the discussions if you read the paper beforehand.

We are usually oversubscribed, so if you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else. Thank you.

I’m an absurdity – get me out of here! Absurdism and Albert Camus

Posted on: July 5th, 2023 by mlpEditor

What is the meaning of existence? The famous French-Algerian author and philosopher Albert Camus (1913-60) believed that life had no meaning. His philosophical view was called existentialist absurdism. And who has not at some point thought that life is absurd?

We each span a few decades between two oblivions on a speck of a planet in an inconceivably vast purposeless cosmos.  The omnipotent God who once granted purpose to human life is now gone from most Western people’s beliefs.  And we each get thrown into this situation … no-one asked to be born.

Is this not all an absurdity with no ultimate meaning? Albert Camus bravely faced up to this head on. Yes – existence was ultimately meaningless.  But despite this, can we still gain any meaning in our lives? Is there a possibility of hope? Let’s explore that together.

 

Good to know: We take pride in putting the fun back into serious philosophy through our friendly and respectful discussions involving different levels of experience of philosophy.  The Lit & Phil Philosophy Forum is all about collectively exploring interesting and exciting ideas from different viewpoints … not winning arguments!

Bobby Mears’ focus paper I’m an absurdity – get me out of here!  should be read before the Forum to enrich and guide our discussions.

We are usually oversubscribed, so if you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else. Thank you.

 

A surrealist’s guide to reality

Posted on: May 25th, 2023 by mlpEditor

Surrealism: the 20th century art movement where dreams and waking reality combined into a new strange ‘super-reality’.

The most cerebral of the surrealists – the man who painted philosophy – was René Magritte, a magician who conjured up a weird and wonderful world of images.

Look at his paintings, seemingly so elegant and simple at first, and you are soon sucked into a vortex of deep symbols and wry jokes about the human condition.  Magritte’s pipe painting, which paradoxically states that it is not a pipe, is one of the most famous images of all time.  But if it is not a pipe, what is it?

The focus paper A surrealist’s guide to reality is your travel guide to the representational ‘hall of mirrors’ you have just entered by asking that question. Can we decode the beautiful strangeness of Magritte’s work?  We can try…but prepare to be discombobulated!  Some of the paper is an easy read and some a bit harder.  But don’t worry if all is not clear; this is tricky stuff … just the way René liked it!

 

Good to know: We take pride in putting the fun back into serious philosophy through our friendly and respectful discussions involving different levels of experience of philosophy.  The Lit & Phil Philosophy Forum is all about collectively exploring interesting and exciting ideas from different viewpoints … not winning arguments!

The focus paper, by Christopher Burke, is for reading before the event, to enrich and guide our discussions.

We are usually oversubscribed, so if you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else. Thank you.

Lessons from Medieval Science, and Science-Theology Today

Posted on: May 15th, 2023 by mlpEditor

Although governments claim to ‘follow the science’, the activity we call ‘science’ and the community of ‘scientists’ can still seem cut-off, strange and remote to most people. And there is also a commonly-repeated idea that science is fundamentally opposed to religious faith.

We could arguably learn better ways of thinking about science by studying scientific thinking, and its context, from a time when it was much more integrated into learning and thought, in both these senses.

In this talk – part of the Catherdal Lecture series (2021) – Tom McLeish reported on a remarkable project involving scientists, medieval scholars, and theologians. These unusual collaborators are exploring the fascinating, perceptive, and surprisingly mathematical, work on light, colour and cosmology by Oxford master Robert Grosseteste, in the 1220s.

The project has stimulated new scientific research today, and helped explore new ways of thinking about the relationship between science and Christian faith.

What is science?

Posted on: April 26th, 2023 by mlpEditor

Everyone knows what science is … or, at least, they think they do.  Try to define it and things get a bit less clear.

The word comes from the Latin ‘scientia’, which just means ‘knowledge’. So, is science knowledge about how nature really is? How can that be true when scientific theories themselves change over time, when the reality they address surely doesn’t?  Is science just a way of thinking about the world to build a body of theories – hypotheses based on observations?  Or is it a process, a way of acquiring facts?  And what makes a scientific fact true?

Considering the importance of science in our lives, we should arguably have a clearer picture about what it is.  So, the Lit & Phil Philosophy Forum is seeking clarification from three major philosophers of science of the 20th century: Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn and Imre Lakatos.

The seminar will be presented by Richard Remelie

 

Good to know: We take pride in putting the fun back into serious philosophy through our friendly and respectful discussions involving different levels of experience of philosophy.  The Lit & Phil Philosophy Forum is all about collectively exploring interesting and exciting ideas from different viewpoints … not winning arguments!

Richard Remelie’s focus paper What is Science?  should be read before the Forum to enrich and guide our discussions.

We are usually oversubscribed, so if you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else. Thank you.

 

Getting back to moral basics

Posted on: March 23rd, 2023 by mlpMemberAdmin

Studies have shown that children develop an innate sense of fairness and justice from a very young age. But if you look around the world today, you’ll find little evidence that this carries over into adulthood. So, can we really claim to know the difference between right and wrong, to know what is just and what isn’t?

Seemingly not.

Ethics and its social application, political philosophy, have been areas of philosophical study for thousands of years. In the 1970’s, however, the moral philosopher John Rawls came up with a very simple, effective and influential idea for assessing what’s fair. In doing so, he developed a robust theory of justice. After many decades of increasing inequality in our society, could his theories provide us with an ethical antidote?

We will be looking at the age-old concept of justice through the lens of egalitarianism. This philosophical approach attempts to reduce the impact of social inequalities to ensure a fair distribution of resources.

Good to know: We take pride in putting the fun back into serious philosophy through our friendly and respectful discussions involving different levels of experience of philosophy. Collectively exploring interesting and exciting ideas from different viewpoints is what the Lit & Phil Philosophy Forum is all about.

Please read John Pickersgill’s focus paper Getting Back to Moral Basics before the 30th of May to enrich and guide our discussions. Don’t worry if you find some of it difficult, ethics is a minefield!

We are usually oversubscribed, so if you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else. Thank you.

The Self – body, mind or illusion?

Posted on: February 15th, 2023 by mlpEditor

The most essential and intimate puzzle of our lives – what is the self? What is our nature? Are we just a body with a brain as its central controller? Can we think about our self in the same way as we think about the rest of the universe? Or is the self a ghostly manifestation of the brain’s workings, a secret ‘soul’ which only we know?

Why do we feel that we are one thing, one person, one self? Perhaps instead are we like an orchestra with many different parts, each coming to the fore at different times … but hopefully in harmony?

Can we ever know our self? Many philosophers, both Eastern and Western, consider the self as an illusion. But are they saying we are not really here?

This month the Forum takes a selfie.

Good to know: We take pride in our friendly and respectful discussion involving different levels of experience of philosophy. This session will be based on a focus paper The Self – body, mind or illusion for reading before the event. Don’t worry if you find some of it difficult … everybody does!

We are usually oversubscribed, so if you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else. Thank you.

The philosophy of emotions and the elephant in the room: ‘free will’

Posted on: January 10th, 2023 by mlpEditor

What role do emotions play in our lives?  Are they purely subjective and thus beyond the reach of science? Can we control our emotions?  In which case, what is the interplay between emotions and rationality?  And where does ‘free will’ fit into the picture?

Consultant psychiatrist Professor Bob Johnson (a member of the Lit & Phil who has far more letters after his name than in it!) will lead us into this philosophical jungle.  Dare you enter with him?

Our friendly and respectful discussion will be based on a focus paper – The Philosophy of Emotions – written by Bob, and for reading before the event.

Good to know: If you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else.  Thank you.

Celebrating thinking differently: a special screening of Young Plato

Posted on: December 13th, 2022 by mlpEditor

To celebrate the Manchester Lit & Phil’s 242nd birthday, we’re putting on a special screening of Young Plato, a film that is all about thinking differently.

About the film:

Young Plato is an observational documentary set in post-conflict Belfast’s Ardoyne, where a marginalized, working-class community has for generations been plagued by poverty, drugs and guns.

This film charts the dream of Headmaster Kevin McArevey and his dedicated, visionary team illustrating how critical thinking and pastoral care can empower and encourage children to see beyond the boundaries and limitations of their own community.

We see how philosophy can encourage them to question the mythologies of war and of violence, and sometimes challenge the narratives their parents, peers and socio-economic group would dictate.

A trailer of Young Plato can be viewed here.

Event schedule:

  • 10am – HOME opens and refreshments are served in the foyer.
  • 1030am – Welcome in the film screening room (Marina’s Cinema)
  • 1040am – Film begins
  • 1230pm – Film ends. Attendees who have purchased a ticket that includes lunch should proceed to the restaurant.