Shaftesbury & Gillingham

University of the Third Age

SGU3A Registered charity No. 1078452

©SGU3A 2010

Updated: 2010-10-05

Philosophy

What do we do?

We are just finishing a long course in Political Philosophy . We have studied Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Machievelli, Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Bertrand Russell, Herbert Marcuse, Hannah Arendt and many other political philosophers.

In the remaining months of the political course we will study Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Peter Singer and Julian Baggini. Then, from April 2009, we are starting a course in Moral Philosophy and will again do this chronologically as we did with Political Philosophy, again starting with Plato and Aristotle.

We shall include Spinoza, Leibniz, Voltaire, Hume, Kant, Nietsche, Mary Woolstonecroft, Karl Popper and many others. Moving in this historical way through the ages, we see each philosopher and their philosophy as relevant to the age in which they lived.

Each meeting one member of the group prepares an introduction on the philosopher of their choice and, so far, this has worked out very happily.

What level of knowledge is required?

Although this is an academic subject, all that is required is a love of philosophy and a basic knowledge of the subject.

How many in the group, and are there any vacancies?

There are currently 12 of us in this group.

Where do the meetings take place?

We meet on the 4th Thursday of each month from 10.30 – 12.30 in the Friends’ Meeting House, and the whole of that 2 hours is taken up in animated lively discussion.