Philosophy in a Day

A One-Day Introduction to Philosophy - 30th November 2013

Philosophy in a Day is a combination of lectures and discussion designed to introduce some key philosophical ideas and is ideal for those with little or no prior knowledge of the subject. 

The day will be led by Nigel Warburton, author of A Little History of Philosophy and Philosophy: the Basics, and interviewer for the popular podcast series Philosophy Bites (which has had over 19 million downloads). 

Julian Baggini, author of The Pig that Wants to Be Eaten, and The Ego Trick, and frequent contributor to BBC Radio 4, The Guardian, etc. will be giving a guest lecture in the afternoon.

This event will take place at Portland Hall, 4-12 Little Titchfield Street, London W1W 7UW, a 3 minute walk from Oxford Circus Underground Station.

The day will begin with registration from 10am. The first session will be at 10.30am and the last will finish by 4.30 p.m. with a break for lunch (there are many local cafés). 

Booking for this course is now closed...

Outline of the Course

10 am doors open (NB all tickets have to be purchased in advanced - none can be sold on the day)

 

10.30 am - 11.30 am Introducing Philosophy

Socrates’ Wisdom and his idea that the unexamined life is not worth living

John Stuart Mill on Dissent

Descartes on Appearance and Reality

 

11.30 am – 11.45 am break

11.45am  – 12.45pm Happiness

Should we pursue it? Do we even want it?

Aristotle vs Bentham

 

12.45 pm  – 1.45 pm – lunch break (lunch not included, but there are many excellent local cafés and restaurants within a few minutes' walk of Portland Hall)

 

1.45 pm – 2.45 pm Guest Lecture Julian Baggini on Thought Experiments in Philosophy. 

Julian is author of many books and newspaper and magazine articles, including The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten and 99 Other Thought Experiments. He's a regular contributor to BBC radio programmes and co-founder of The Philosopher's Magazine.

 

2.45.pm – 3.30.pm What is a Person?

John Locke, David Hume, Derek Parfit 

 

3.30 pm – 3.45 pm break

3.45 pm  – 4.30 pm Is ‘Art’ a Family Resemblance Term?

Wittgenstein and problems of definition

 

4.30pm ends

 

Background Reading

You don't need to do any reading before attending this course, but might find some of the books below useful. 

Thomas Nagel What Does It All Mean? (Oxford University Press)

Nigel Warburton Philosophy: The Basics 5th edn (Routledge)

Nigel Warburton A Little History of Philosophy (Yale University Press)

Julian Baggini The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten (Granta)

Stephen Law The Philosophy Gym (Headline)

David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton (ed) Philosophy Bites (Oxford University Press)

David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton (eds) Philosophy Bites Back (Oxford University Press).

For more detailed suggestions about introductory reading in Philosophy, see this interview for Five Books

You might also like to listen to some of podcast interviews with philosophers on Philosophy Bites (also avaialable via iTunes and as an iPhone/iPad app).