News from Queen's College Socratic club

In the last week of the Michaelmas Term Mrs Mitra, who teaches Religious Studies at Queen's, gave an inspiring talk on Socrates, addressing the question of why we would want to name a club after a dead philosopher who never wrote anything. She reminded us that in his own lifetime Socrates personified calmness, detachment and the pursuit of knowledge even in the face of universal opposition. Furthermore his dialectic teaching method showed that seeking rather than finding, right thinking rather than right conclusions, are the marks of a true philosopher. Lastly Socrates saw himself not as a teacher transmitting information; instead he wanted to help others to recognize on their own what is real, true and good. All of this is very much in keeping with the underlying ethos of Queen's College and its founder FD Maurice.

Please note a change to our programme: on Wed 13 January Mrs Davies will give a talk on Apartheid in South Africa. Anybody interested in issues of prejudice and discrimination is welcome to join us at 4.00pm in the Waiting Room. The 'response to creationism' led by II Senior philosophers will be rescheduled.

Posted: 8 Jan 2010