Why Philosophy Matters

James Garvey (Royal Institute of Philosophy)

Why Philosophy Matters

James Garvey (Royal Institute of Philosophy)

Ashmolean Museum Education Centre (nearest entrance from St Giles), Oxford

Wednesday March 12 2014, 18.00

(drinks and nibbles from 17.45)

In Association with the Royal Institute of Philosophy, Oxford Brookes University

&  Bloomsbury Publishing

All Welcome – Free Admission – No Registration Required

Abstract: Philosophy has had a hard time in the press lately.  It's said that philosophy is dead, that is is without content, that it has made no progress in nearly two and a half thousand years.  Philosophy departments have been closed by those who say it's an unjustifiable expense.  Philosophers, memorably, have been called the gym teachers of academia.  Philosophical chestnuts like the problem of free will are said to have scientific solutions, not philosophical ones.  Is this criticism justified? Does philosophy still matter?

Dr. James Garveyworks for the Royal Institute of Philosophy and is editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine.  He is the author of The Great Philosophers and The Story of Philosophy: A History of Western Thought (both with Jeremy Stangroom), The Twenty Greatest Philosophy Books, and The Ethics of Climate Change. he is also editor of The Continuum Companion to the Philosophy of Mind and co-editor of the Think Now series of books on social and political philosophy.  James' books have been translated into Portuguese, Korean, Russian, French, German, Spanish, Indonesian, Italian and Persian. He has published papers in academic journals, and I’ve written for the Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement, The Huffington Post, The New Statesman,  and the Times Higher Education. He also does voluntary work for Thames Reach and Crisis, and teaches  jiu jitsu. He is actually doing all of these things right now. He never rests.

http://jamesgarveyactually.wordpress.com/

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