The winter holiday season has finally drawn to a close, and we at PhilSoc wish you all the best with the term ahead. Come kick off the new year with our regular line-up of fantastic events this week!
Reading and Film Group
Monday, 16th January; 7 pm, The New Amphion, Teviot Row House (Map)
Reading: The Repugnant Conclusion, part 4 of Derek Parfit’s Reasons and Persons.
(Next week’s reading: Patricia Churchland’s ‘Epistemology in the Age of Neuroscience’)
Our Reading and Film Groups begin with 2 weeks of readings followed by the screening of a film on the third week. This is the first week of the first block for this semester. NO assumed knowledge. This block’s theme is The Future .
Discussion Group
Topic: The Existence of God
Grab a coffee/pint and join us for some philosophical discussion. NO assumed knowledge and all are welcome! You can also follow the discussion on twitter.
Academic Support Office Hours
Thursday, 19th January; 2 pm until 4 pm, Dugald Stewart Building (DSB), Room 5.01.
Our academic support officer will be holding Open Access office hours. Open to all undergraduate Philosophy students with focus on pre-honours. Come along at any time with queries such as class content (including Logic), tutorial readings, class essays and exams, and general peer support.
Guest Lecture
Thursday, 19th January; 6.15 pm, David Hume Tower, Lecture Theatre B.
Speaker: Prof. Robin LePoidevin, University of Leeds
Title: ‘Modal Horrors‘
Abstract:
A legitimate reaction to the idea that other possible worlds are concretely real is horror at the thought of truly hellish worlds existing not just in the imagination but in reality. But is this reaction of any significance when it comes to assessing the truth of the hypothesis? In general, do appeals to emotional attitudes have a place in metaphysical debates? In this talk I examine a well-known attempt to derive a metaphysical conclusion, concerning the passage of time, from emotional attitudes and pursues a parallel (and, I suggest, more successful) argument concerning the nature of possibility. I attempt to explain why appeals to emotion are more common in ethics than metaphysics, and offer a (very!) speculative hypothesis about the origin and purpose of thought about the possible.