Autonomy and the Other

St Mary’s University

Autonomy and the Other

A Day Symposium and One Day Workshop

Monday 30th June 2014
Socratic Dialogue on Autonomy and the Other
Time: 10am-4pm
Place: Room D121
Lunch and Refreshment will be provided

Please note: Participation is limited, and participants are expected to participate the full day.

Deadline for Registration: 23rd June 2014

Socratic Dialogue offers participants the opportunity to philosophise rather than learn about philosophers. No previous knowledge is necessary, only a desire to examine personal experience. In a Socratic Dialogue a group of six to twelve participants try to answer a philosophical question together. They do so in constant reflection on personal experience. They investigate what their opinion is and the reasons for holding this opinion. A facilitator is present, but unlike Socrates in Plato’s dialogues, he or she does not take part in the actual dialogue. The facilitator intervenes only to strengthen the philosophical investigation of the personal experience.

A Socratic Dialogue is not a debate; there are no winners, or losers. It is a collaborative investigation where participants try to work together and understand each other’s position. This does not mean that they will agree in the end. The success of a Socratic Dialogue is not measured as much by the outcome, the answer to the question, but rather by the intensity of the investigation and the realisation of the complexity of the question. As a collaborate activity of thinking individuals, it allows participants to consider the issue of autonomy, both in reflection and in practice.

Tuesday 1st July 2014

Day Symposium on Autonomy and the Other

Time: 9.30am-5pm

Place: Shannon Room 1

Lunch and Refreshment will be provided

Deadline for Registration: 23rd June 2014

Autonomy is central to bio-medical practice and, arguably, has become the dominant principle governing bioethical decisionmaking. Practitioners are legally (and morally) required to respect the autonomy of patients, i.e. to regard patients as rational beings who will employ their own free will in making decisions about their health in terms of lifestyle and therapy. Yet, the concept of a solitary rational individual making his or her own free decisions has been questioned in recent years. On the one hand, an argument has been made to support a more relational concept of autonomy. On the other hand, it has been questioned whether any attempt to live autonomous lives is an illusion. This day conference will approach these issues both from historical and contemporary, as well as practical perspectives.

For further details including how to register for both events please contact Anna Westin – [email protected]

Waldegrave Road, Strawberry Hill, London