| INTERACTIVE SEMINAR |
| PHILOSOPHY |
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
3 Day Introduction to Philosophy
If you are one of those people who always start asking questions that make people run
away because they cannot answer them then philosophy is the subject for you. This short
introductory course looks at key questions that philosophers have debated for centuries and
through a mixture of group debate, contemporary film and good old fashioned thinking you
are guaranteed to want to know more about the fascinating topic of philosophy. You will be
supplied with all material for the course including a booklet of guided reading and workbook.
Day 1: Do we know anything at all and are you real?
For the first day we will start you off thinking about whether you are actually real or
whether you are living in a reality created by others to fool us into thinking we are real. If
this is not enough to contemplate we will then be debating whether we are all born with
knowledge or that the only way we gain knowledge is through our senses. To top this off
the key question we will be trying to grapple with is: “If I leave the room and no one is
looking at it does the room cease to exist?” Prepare for lots of debate and confusion with
this topic. Key films we will consider will be The Matrix and Inception.
Day 2: Are you really free?
The second day takes a different philosophical turn to the first as we are not questioning
political freedom but your personal freedom to create ideas and live you life how you want.
If you ask most people they claim that they are free but what if it turned out that everything
you thought you were doing ‘freely’ had already been set in motion prior to your birth? As
if this is not enough to debate about we will also be considering where moral responsibility
fits into free will and determinism with the following key question: “if my life is determined
by causes outside of my control and I commit a crime then surely I am not morally
accountable as I could not help it?” Key films we will be considering to help us debate are
Minority Report and Groundhog Day.
Day 3: Am I a person based on my body or my mind
or am I not a person at all?
On the final day we will be tackling the problem of what is a person. Most people when
asked always confuse human with person but philosophy sees things differently and you
will be presented with some interesting stimulus material questioning whether animals and
machines are just as much persons as you are. One of the key questions to begin thinking
about is whether your pet thinks it is your owner and just lets us run around after it to fool
us? Then we will move on to the idea of memory theory and question what part of who you
are is based on what you remember and even more importantly if you cannot remember
something does that mean it was not you who did it? The key questions we will be debating
is: “If I take your brain and transplant it into another person who are you?” Key films to get
us in the mood will be I Robot and Memento.
If you are one of those people who always start asking questions that make people run
away because they cannot answer them then philosophy is the subject for you. This short
introductory course looks at key questions that philosophers have debated for centuries and
through a mixture of group debate, contemporary film and good old fashioned thinking you
are guaranteed to want to know more about the fascinating topic of philosophy. You will be
supplied with all material for the course including a booklet of guided reading and workbook.
Day 1: Do we know anything at all and are you real?
For the first day we will start you off thinking about whether you are actually real or
whether you are living in a reality created by others to fool us into thinking we are real. If
this is not enough to contemplate we will then be debating whether we are all born with
knowledge or that the only way we gain knowledge is through our senses. To top this off
the key question we will be trying to grapple with is: “If I leave the room and no one is
looking at it does the room cease to exist?” Prepare for lots of debate and confusion with
this topic. Key films we will consider will be The Matrix and Inception.
Day 2: Are you really free?
The second day takes a different philosophical turn to the first as we are not questioning
political freedom but your personal freedom to create ideas and live you life how you want.
If you ask most people they claim that they are free but what if it turned out that everything
you thought you were doing ‘freely’ had already been set in motion prior to your birth? As
if this is not enough to debate about we will also be considering where moral responsibility
fits into free will and determinism with the following key question: “if my life is determined
by causes outside of my control and I commit a crime then surely I am not morally
accountable as I could not help it?” Key films we will be considering to help us debate are
Minority Report and Groundhog Day.
Day 3: Am I a person based on my body or my mind
or am I not a person at all?
On the final day we will be tackling the problem of what is a person. Most people when
asked always confuse human with person but philosophy sees things differently and you
will be presented with some interesting stimulus material questioning whether animals and
machines are just as much persons as you are. One of the key questions to begin thinking
about is whether your pet thinks it is your owner and just lets us run around after it to fool
us? Then we will move on to the idea of memory theory and question what part of who you
are is based on what you remember and even more importantly if you cannot remember
something does that mean it was not you who did it? The key questions we will be debating
is: “If I take your brain and transplant it into another person who are you?” Key films to get
us in the mood will be I Robot and Memento.