What does it mean, in contemporary societies, to be religious? At last night’s Cardiff Philosophy Café, Francesca Montemaggi offered some insights from her PhD research, conducted via interviews with members of Welsh evangelical churches. Studying religion sociologically, as Francesca represented it, has several aims: to understand how people who profess to be religious see the world and their relationships with other people, to explore how religiosity changes the way people behave, and to examine whether our “common-sense” assumptions about what being religious means stand up to scrutiny. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb
14
Next Cafe: Being religious, for better or worse
Following on from January’s Open Session on “Does Morality Need God?”, this month’s Cafe examines the nature of religiosity, and how “being religious” changes individual lives and the societies in which they’re lived in a contemporary world where “secularization” is often assumed to be a dominant trend.
Image via Wikipedia
Drawing on empirical social scientific research conducted among members of evangelical churches in Wales, Francesca Montemaggi (City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University) will suggest that religion is not just a matter of belief, and can be both socially beneficial and harmful in certain circumstances.
Further, in response to the idea that what motivates people to “do good” doesn’t matter so long as “good gets done”, she will consider, based on her research, whether religion motivates voluntary action in ways that secular values can’t match, and if so, how this happens.
As usual, the Cafe is free to attend, and takes place on Tuesday 21 February 2012, from 8.00pm at The Gate.
Jan
18
Last Night’s Café: Does morality need God?
At last night’s Open Session, the audience voted to discuss whether we need God if we want morality. In the contemporary world, where science tends to be taken as a benchmark for valid knowledge, this question can be particularly pressing. Religious (and sometimes non-religious, e.g. deist) concepts of God have been thought to provide a source of ultimate authority or purpose for human lives, and to gather all the prescriptions and proscriptions by which we live our lives into something approaching a coherent whole.
The Decalogue (Image via Wikipedia)
Our discussion was accompanied, for the first time at Cardiff Philosophy Café, by TXT2, an interactive installation set up and overseen by Glenn Davidson of Artstation. Participants were able, by texting messages to a mobile phone number, to register thoughts, reflections and provocations that were then projected on the wall of the Café Bar at the Gate, creating a constantly changing counterpoint to the main discussion. You can view the complete list of contributions (in the order they happened…) by clicking here [PDF]. TXT2 will feature again in future Cafes – details will be confirmed nearer the time.
Jan
10
Next Cafe: Open Session
Image via Wikipedia
This month’s Cardiff Philosophy Cafe is one of our semi-regular open sessions, when the topic up for discussion will be chosen by the audience and members of the mailing list.
Suggestions can also be left in comments below.
Join us on Tuesday 17 January from 8.oopm at The Gate for some philosophizing on the fly!
Suggestions so far:
- What comes after capitalism?
- Does morality need God?
- What kind of knowledge does science give us?
- To what extent are humans “part of nature”?
- What is the difference between faith and reason?
- Has liberalism become a new “religion”, and if so, is this good or bad?
- Is evolutionary biologythe key to understanding the human condition?
UPDATE: This Tuesday, Glenn Davidson from Artstation will be running TXT2 at the Cafe. TXT2 is a live interactive installation, in which participants can use their mobile phones to text comments or thoughts live to be projected on screen as an accompaniment to the proceedings: a running commentary on the evening’s debates, unexpected provocations, memorable reflections? You’ll need to join us to find out -but TXT2 means you don’t need to be there to join in…
The mobile number you’ll be able to text comments to between 8 and 10pm on Tuesday night (even if you can’t be in the Cafe in person) is 07565 202 513. We’ll look at archiving comments for inclusion later on the blog.
Nov
10
Next Cafe: Autism, Aspergers and Being Human
In this Cafe, poet and musician Yap offers a philosophical reflection on the experience of someone with Asperger’s
Source: National Autistic Society
Syndrome, and looks at how this might shed a different light on the human condition, as well as on the possibility of continuing human evolution. We also look at some broader ethical issues surrounding how society views autistic spectrum disorders (ASD), and how these might force us to question the definition of “disability” more generally. Are conditions like ASD necessarily disabilities requiring therapy or cure?
Join us at The Gate on Tuesday 15 November, from 8.00pm. Entry is free.
Oct
31
Next Cafe: The Ethics of Artificial Meat
In vitro meat is a potential application of stem cells science, in which cells from living animals are used to “grow” muscle tissue, intended for consumption.
“Dressing the Meat of Tomorrow”, James King (Museum of Modern Art)
Groups such as PETA have argued that this application of biotechnology may reduce animal suffering, by rendering farming animals for meat obsolete. It could also conceivably lead to enormous reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases.
Are these good reasons to develop artificial meat? What other consequences might this have, both for human society and for our relationship with the animal world?
In this Cafe, part of the ESRC’s Festival of Social Science, Dr Neil Stephens (Cesagen, Cardiff University) will talk about his research on the social implications and significance of this emerging technology.
This Cafe is an extra event in our usual schedule, and will take place on Friday 4 November. As usual, things get going at 8.00pm, at The Gate. More info available at www.philosophycafe.org.uk.
Oct
20
Cafe Report: Whats the Point of Private Property?
At Tuesday’s Cafe, Chris Groves surveyed some attempts to provide an answer to this question, which represent private property as essential to human dignity and liberty, a support for identity and mental wellbeing, and the basis of providing efficiently for human needs.
Image via Wikipedia
Judging by the straw poll at the end of the session, most of those in attendance found these answers (offered by thinkers ranging from John Locke to Friedrich von Hayek) unconvincing! Only 3 people out of the 55 in the Cafe Bar thought that private property did not produce unjust inequalities. Out of the remaining 52, roughly two-thirds agreed that the inequalities resulting from private ownership of goods were unjust.
What were the “answers” that people found unconvincing? Read the rest of this entry »
Oct
12
Poll: What’s the point of private property?
Image via Wikipedia
Ahead of the next Cafe on Tuesday October 18th at The Gate, we thought you might like to try this poll.
It seems that, alongside the right to vote, the right to private property is almost universally accepted as the basis of a democratic society. Yet in all such societies, economic inequality appears to be a feature. Are such inequalities
- unfair features of societies whose economic life is centred on the private ownership of goods,
- or simply the fair outcome of many individual choices and actions, for which individuals are ultimately responsible?
Vote below on whether or not you think private property necessarily leads to injustice. Comments, reflections (or criticisms of the poll question!) can all be added beneath this post, and the latest results will be displayed after you vote.
Oct
03
Next Cafe: What’s the Point of Private Property?
Image by chrisjohnbeckett via Flickr
If we listen to politicians, then prosperity, security and even happiness would seem to be impossible without owning things – and, moreover, owning lots of them.
Others suggest, however, that without private property, there would be no inequality, and more social solidarity – not only making us happier, but producing a more just way of living together. The proposition that owning things is basically antisocial and even immoral is summed up nicely in Pierre Joseph Proudhon’s infamous phrase, “La propriété, c’est le vol“.
In this cafe session, led by Dr Chris Groves (Cesagen, Cardiff University) we’ll explore the historical roots of the concept of private property, consider arguments from its supporters and detractors, and reflect on what exactly “having stuff” contributes to our well-being.
The event will take place at The Gate, Keppoch Street, Roath, from 8.00pm on 18 October. Entrance is free.
Sep
21
Cafe Report: Economics vs Ecology?
Image via Wikipedia
In last night’s Café on “Economics versus Ecology”, Richard Jones outlined key elements of how economists see the world around them before suggesting that there are huge differences between the economic picture and that drawn by ecological views of the world. Ecology, he suggested, is a way of thinking and picturing which is built on the idea of a whole, self-enclosed and self-regulating system. Such systems (ecosystems) are composed of functional parts, each of which plays a vital part in keeping the whole system working. Understanding the relationships between one part (say, a predatory species) and other parts (prey species, plants, fungi, and so on) is a complex matter. Precise laws which predict how changes in one part (say, the disappearance of a plant species) may affect other parts (predator species) are not easy to state. Things become even more complex when ecosystems are placed in relation to other natural systems (geological, climatic and so on) to build up a picture of a whole of wholes, the Earth as such.