Swindon Philosophical Society is a society in Swindon, Wiltshire, England that provides a forum for talks and discussions on a range of topics that are philosophical in the widest sense (politics, economics and current affairs, sociology and psychology, science and history) and in the narrow philosophical sense (with popular topics being within ethics, consciousness and the work of specific philosophers).
The society was founded in 1963 and over 1500 society meetings with speakers have been held since then. From 1965 to 2008, meetings were held at the Swindon Arts Centre on Devizes Road. Since 2008 they have convened at the Friends Meeting House on Estcott Hill (having no affiliation with the Quakers other than them as occasional speakers), with the exception of going online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speakers have included:
- various distinguished academics and emeritus academics[1],
- incumbent and prospective local Members of Parliament, particularly in advance of UK General Elections (on political philosophy standpoints rather than party campaigning policies), and members of the House of Lords.
- the Bishop of Swindon, and other people with religious affiliations, and
- many others with particular interests.
Prominent speakers include Baroness Mary Warnock.
The speaker program works to an academic year with the final evening of the year being conjunction with the Swindon Festival of Literature [2] in which there is both a prominent speaker and, since 2012, the ‘Think Slam’. The unique Think Slam is a philosopher’s equivalent of a poetry slam. It consists of a maximum of 8 competitors, with 3 knockout rounds leading to an overall winner. In each round, competitors give a different 3-minute talk in each round on any topic of their choosing, with the event typically hosted by festival host, Matt Holland and judged by him and a guest judge.
References
edit- ^ Cottingham, John. "John Cottingham - Papers given". John Cottingham's Website. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
- ^ Davison, Peter. "Engaging our brains with Swindon Philosophical Society – Nick Cohen and Stefan Collini at Swindon Festival of Literature". Festival Chronicle. Retrieved 23 October 2024.