Author: PhilSoc

Week 7 events

Tuesday 1st March; 7pm; Usher’s, West Nicolson St. (Map)
Topic: Legality and Morality
We’re normally at the back table. 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. 
Thursday 3rd March; 2pm until 4pm; Room 6.01, Dugald Stewart Building.
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.
Thursday 3rd March; 6:15pm; Lecture Theatre 1, Appleton Tower.
Speaker: Dr. Tillmann Vierkant, University of Edinburgh
Title: TBC
AGM
Our Annual General Meeting will be held Thursday 3rd March, immediately after the weekly lecture in lecture Theatre 1. More details can be found under the AGM post under the  Events tab or on our Facebook. The AGM can be your chance to put yourself forward and become a key member of the society.

AGM

Annual General Meeting 2016
Thursday 3rd March; 7:30pm; Lecture Theatre 1, Appleton Tower.
The AGM will take place immediately following our guest lecture by Dr. Tillmann Vierkant. The AGENDA for the evening will be as follows:

1) COMMITTEE ELECTIONS 2016

We will be electing the following committee positions for the upcoming academic year 2016/17. There are a large number of roles available and you do not need to have had committee experience before, nor do you need to have been heavily involved in the society already. However, in order to stand for election, you must be 1) A PhilSoc Member and 2) A Matriculated Student of The University of Edinburgh. If you are not currently a member, you are welcome to join at any point before the AGM begins.

Please find a full description of the positions available here. Whether you would like to run our guest lecture series, gain financial experience, organise socials and parties, tutor students, manage our library, or market the society, there is a role for you! Being on the committee gives you a fantastic insight into how academic events are run and the opportunity to personally communicate and work with philosophers throughout the UK! Of course, it also offers great skills and experience.

The following roles will be elected at the AGM.

  • President (Executive Role)
  • Vice-President (Executive Role)
  • Secretary (Executive Role)
  • Treasurer (Executive Role)
  • Chairperson
  • Discussion Group Organiser
  • Reading Group Organiser
  • Academic Support Officer
  • Department Liaison Officer
  • Social Secretary
  • Marketing Officer
  • Webmaster
  • Librarian

If you wish to stand for election, we ask you to prepare a few words (about 2 minutes long) about why you would like to stand. This will be followed by elections by secret ballot by all members in attendance. Some of these roles can be available as shared positions.

2) REPORTS

The following reports from the committee will be presented:
2.1: The President’s Report 2016 (Rishabh Malu)
2.2: The Financial Report 2016 (Vivian Uhlir)

3) MOTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION

In addition to the committee elections, we will be voting on any motions that members would like to bring forward for the coming year. This can include constitutional amendments (current constitution attached). Please submit all proposals to contact@euphilsoc.com. If you would like more information about being on the committee, please visit our website or feel free to contact a member of the committee.

Innovative Learning Week Events

Pub Quiz
Monday 15th February; 7pm; Greenmantle, 44 Westcross Causway (Map)
Free for members / £1 for non-members
Join us for our ILW Pub Quiz! We’ll be running a few rounds in the Greenmantle pub. Attendees will also get 30% off food during the night. Come along and test your knowledge against us. We look forward to seeing you there.
AGM
We’d also like to announce that our Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 3rd March, immediately after the weekly lecture. More details will follow soon, but start thinking about which position you’d like to take up in next year’s committee. This will be your chance to put yourself forward and become a key member of the society.

Week 3 Events

Hoodies (and other apparel) will be available for collection during our academic support office hours on Thursday.

Please note that during Semester 2, our Reading Group is on Monday, and our Discussion group is on Tuesday.

Reading and Film Group

  • Monday 25th January; 7pm; Usher’s, West Nicolson St. (Map)
    This week’s reading: Heidegger’s “Building Dwelling Thinking”
    Next week’s reading: Heidegger’s “The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking”
    Our Reading and Film Groups begin with a film every three weeks, followed by two weeks of readings on a related topic. NO assumed knowledge.

Discussion Group

  • Tuesday 26th January; 7pm; Usher’s, West Nicolson St. (Map)
    Topic: Evil
    We’re normally at the back table. 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 28th January; 2pm until 4pm; Room 6.01, Dugald Stewart Building.
    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 28th January, 6:15pm; Lecture Theatre 1, Appleton Tower.
    Speaker: Prof. Michael Ridge
    Title: “Commitments, Rules and Aims: Games For Scoundrels, Spoilsports and Saps.”

Semester 2, Week 2 Events

Discussion Group

  • Tuesday 19th January; 7pm; Usher’s, West Nicolson St. (Map)
    Topic: Desire
    We’re normally at the back table. 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. 

Reading and Film Group

  • Monday 18th January; 7pm; B.57, Old College
    This week’s film: The Act of Killing (2012; dir. Joshua Oppenheimer)
    Next week’s reading: Heidegger’s “Building Dwelling Thinking”
    Our Reading and Film Groups begin with a film every three weeks, followed by two weeks of readings on a related topic. NO assumed knowledge.

Academic Support Office Hours

  • Thursday 21st January; 2pm until 4pm; Room 6.01, Dugald Stewart Building.
    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 21st January, 6:15pm; Lecture Theatre 1, Appleton Tower.
    Speaker: Prof. Michael Devitt, The City University of New York
    Title: “Testing Theories of Reference”

Our First Guest Lecture of Semester 2

PhilSoc Lecture Series: Prof. Timothy Williamson – “What if the Impossible were True?”

If Hobbes had succeeded in secretly squaring the circle, would sick children in the mountains of South America at the time have cared? The orthodox view is that if X is impossible then all conditionals of the form “If X had been the case, Y would have been the case” are true, but this view seems to face counterexamples. I will explain the important role of such “counterpossible” conditionals in several philosophical debates. Some philosophers have invoked “impossible worlds” to explain how they can be false. I will defend the orthodox view and suggest how the apparent counterexamples to it may result from a convenient but fallible heuristic on which we tend to rely.

Suggested Reading:
Williamson, T., “Counterpossibles” (Can be found here: http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/37756/Counterpossibles.pdf)

This talk will begin at 6.15pm, and we recommend you get there five to ten minutes early. Lectures are free for members of the Edinburgh University Philosophy Society, and £2.50 for non-members.

—

Appleton Tower Lecture Theatre 1

Week 11 Events

Discussion Group

  • Monday 30th November; 7pm; Usher’s, West Nicolson St. (Map)
    Topic: Philosophy of Humour
    We’re normally at the back table. 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.

Reading and Film Group

  • Tuesday 1st December; 7pm; Usher’s, West Nicolson St. (Map)
    This week’s film: Imitation and Gender Insubordination by Judith Butler
    Our Reading and Film Groups begin with a film every three weeks, followed by two weeks of readings on a related topic. NO assumed knowledge 

Drop-in Logic Revision Workshop

  • Wednesday 2nd December; 6pm until 7:30pm; LG.09, David Hume Tower
    In this Drop-in Logic Revision Workshop, students are welcome to bring any and all questions they have about logic, from derivations and terminology to the outline of the exam. We will have tutors from the course Logic 1 there to help answer these questions.
    Don’t be shy! Understanding the material is important to your education, and we don’t bite, so come along!

    This event will replace our regular Thursday drop-in hours this week. If you have any questions or simply want to be kept up to date, please see our Facebook event.

Guest Lecture

  • Thursday 3rd December, 6:15pm; Lecture Theatre 4, Appleton Tower.
    Speaker: Prof. Nicholas Davey, University of Dundee
    Title: “Why Read the Same Book Twice?” Repetition and Recursion and the Arts/Science Question Revisited.

Week 10 Events

Discussion Group

  • Monday 23rd November; 7pm; Usher’s, West Nicolson St. (Map)
    Topic: Relations (Metaphysics)
    We’re normally at the back table. 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.

Reading and Film Group

  • Tuesday 24th November; 7pm; Location TBC Monday 23rd on our website and Facebook group.
    This week’s film: Irreversible (2002) dir. Gaspar Noé
    (Warning: please be aware that this film contains an extended rape scene.)
    Our Reading and Film Groups begin with a film every three weeks, followed by two weeks of readings on a related topic. NO assumed knowledge. 

Academic Support Office Hours

  • Thursday 26th November; 2pm until 4pm; Room 6.01, Dugald Stewart Building.
    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 26th November, 6:15pm; Lecture Theatre 4, Appleton Tower.
    Speaker: Prof. Fraser MacBride, University of Glasgow
    Title: “Relations: their reality and nature”

PhilSoc Xmas Party

  • Friday 27th November; 8pm; Southside Social, Buccleuch Street. (Map)
    We’re having our Xmas party a little early this year so you can fit us in before your exams. Join us upstairs in Southside Social (formerly Moo Bar/Meadow Bar) for drinks, chat and a last chance to forgo studying before becoming a shut-in for the festive season.
    This year’s costume theme is ‘Absurd.’ Whether that means coming as the Cheshire Cat, a fat ballet dancer, or someone wearing a Christmas jumper in November, it’s up to you. We’re giving you a lot of leeway with this one, so get creative and impress us. Person with the best costume gets a free drink!Check out the Facebook event here to let us know you’re coming.