2007 Meetings
Monthly Meeting Topic: The Morality in The Odyssey
Sunday, January 14, at 12 noon
Location: The Orient Restaurant
Rescheduled topic from July, 2006. The Odyssey, one of the oldest surviving works of literature, has a remarkably complex and interesting narrative, and the hero must deal with several complicated moral dilemmas. We will discuss some of the moral questions that are raised by the story, and play a tape recording of a lecture by Prof. Elizabeth Vandiver about the book.
Special Interest Group Humanism and Philosophy Topic: Ways of Knowing
Friday, 19 January, 7:30 p.m.
It is often claimed that there are many ways of knowing, with different kinds of knowing appropriate to different subjects. This claim is often invoked against what is sometimes called “scientism,” an attempt to reduce all valid knowing to one model, that of science. Does this claim hold up? We will examine the issues pro and con.
Monthly Meeting Topic: Darwin Day speaker Prof. Sharon Kingsland, professor and chair of the Department of the History of Science and Technology, JHU
Sunday, February 11, at 10:30 am
Location: Baltimore Ethical Society
BES has invited Prof. Sharon Kingsland of JHU for this year's Darwin Day weekend program. She is chair of the Department of the History of Science and Technology at Hopkins. She will talk about Darwin's The Descent of Man. The question will be: What d id Darwin think you could infer from the behavior of non-human species? Did it bring man down to the level of monkeys or monkeys up to the level of man? What do biologists presently think? What does it mean for the status of animals vis-a-vis man that we make these inferences?
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Topic: Apocalypse Then and Now: The Book Of Revelation
Friday, February 16, 7:30 p.m.
The Bible’s final book is in many ways the strangest, which has made it a gold mine for interpreters ever since it was written. Hardly a maverick in its historical context, it represents a type of literature popular in its era and can be better understood by acquaintance with other apocalypses of its times. We will review the context, content and major interpretations of the book, and discuss its checkered history in the history of Christianity, which has ranged from efforts to exclude it from the canon to its promotion as a key to the ultimate secrets of history.
Topic: "Einstein's Big Idea"
Sunday, March 11, at 12 noon
Location: Don Evans's house
We will screen the video of the PBS Nova TV program. The video uses historical recreations to show the historical background of the equation, E=mc2. Prior discoveries by Faraday and Lavoisier are illustrated that laid the groundwork for Einstein. More interestingly, the role of several lesser-known women in the discoveries is shown, including Mileva Maric, Einstein's first wife, and Lise Meitner, who discovered nuclear fission in spite of great difficulties from Nazi persecution.
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Topic: Foundations of Ethics
Friday, March 16, 7:30 p.m.
Philosophers throughout history have been intrigued with questions relating to moral conduct. Does it have clear principles we can identify? How can we defend these principles if someone tries to deny them? Answers have ranged from appeals to supernatural principles, common sense, moral sentiment, the rationality of duty, and the optimization of pleasure. Almost all views on the foundations of ethics date from antiquity and each continues to have its defenders. We will review and compare some principle approaches to this question from antiquity to the present.
Topic: Greg Paul on "Is Popular Religion Good or Bad for the Health of Modern Societies? A Scientific Analysis"
Sunday, April 8, at 10:30 am
Location: Baltimore Ethical Society
Greg will talk about his paper in the Journal of Religion and Society, which was postponed in Feb. 2006 because of the weather. The topic is the correlation between social problems and the amount of religious belief. A link to the paper can be found on the bsh.wash.org website. Following the talk, we will have a discussion with BES members about WASH activities.
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Topic: The Pre-Socratic Philosophers
Friday, April 20, 7:30 p.m.
The history of Western philosophy begins with a group of Greek sages called the pre-Socratic philosophers, who were active in the century preceding Socrates (c. 470-399 B.C.E.). What makes them philosophers as opposed to religious figures is that they were the first Western thinkers to seek naturalistic, non-supernatural explanations for natural phenomena. We will explore both their major ideas and how they have been regarded and interpreted by subsequent philosophers down to the present.
Human Values Network meeting on “Climate Change as an Ethical Issue”
Location: The Charred Rib, Timonium, MD
Bill Creasy will give a presentation and lead a discussion on the ethical issues related to climate change. The talk will be based in part on his article from the February, 2007, issue of WASHline.
Topic: Should Bush be Impeached?
Sunday, May 13, at 12 noon
Location: The Orient Restaurant
Although President Bush has advocated some policies that have shown poor judgement, some of his actions may also be illegal and therefore impeachable. In particular, he has over-used and possibly abused presidential signing statements. Signing statements are comments that a president adds to legislation when he signs it. Bush has made statements indicating that he may not enforce the legislation after it has been passed by Congress, which could be unconstitutional. We will listen to an episode of the NPR show "Justice Talking" in which signing statement are discussed, followed by discussion.
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Topic: Atheism in the Enlightenment
Friday, May 18, 7:30 p.m.
Meeting CANCELLED due to other obligations. The topic will be rescheduled for July.
Topic: DVD of "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room"
Sunday, June 10, at 12 noon
Location: Don Evans's house
How did a multi-billion dollar corporation, once listed as the seventh largest company in America, self destruct in a matter of months? This documentary shows insider accounts of the corporation that the problems of Enron were endemic to the company since the beginning. The discussion raises questions about the faith in free market economics in making companies operate in their long-term best interest. Was the fall of Enron a scandal, or was it just the end result of unregulated companies? We will screen the DVD of the documentary and have a discussion.
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Topic: Foundations of Ethics
Friday, June 15, 7:30 p.m.
Philosophers throughout history have been intrigued with questions relating to moral conduct. Does it have clear principles we can identify? How can we defend these principles if someone tries to deny them? Answers have ranged from appeals to supernatural principles, common sense, moral sentiment, the rationality of duty, and the optimization of pleasure. Almost all views on the foundations of ethics date from antiquity and each continues to have its defenders. We will review and compare some principle approaches to this question from antiquity to the present.
Topic: Audiotape of Interview of Daniel Dennett by Bill Moyers
Sunday, July 8, at 12 noon
Location: The Orient Restaurant
In advance of the AAI Conference in September, we will play an audiotape of an interview of Daniel Dennett by Bill Moyers from April 3, 2006. Dennett will receive the Richard Dawkins Award at the AAI Conference. Dennett is author of The God Delusion, is a long-time advocate of atheism, and has studied the problem of consciousness.
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Topic: Atheism in the Enlightenment
Friday, July 20, 7:30 p.m.
For the first time since antiquity, Western thinkers of the Enlightenment seriously proposed a universe without gods. While few in number and always vilified, they set the stage for the growth of the freethought movement in the nineteenth century. We will look at the origins of this movement with special attention to its overt representatives in France, especially the Baron D’Holbach, and to its more subdued expression by philosophers of the British Enlightenment.
Topic: Audiotape of Richard Dawkins
Sunday, August 12, at 12 noon
Location: The Orient Restaurant
In advance of the AAI Conference in September, we will play an audiobook of Richard Dawkins's book The God Delusion, chapter 6, on the natural roots of ethics. The book is read by Dawkins and his wife, Lalla Ward. Although the subject matter may be familiar, Dawkins finds new ways to enliven the topic.
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Topic: The Phenomenological Movement
Friday, August 17, 7:30 p.m.
Phenomenology began in the early twentieth century as essentially a different way of doing philosophy. It concentrates on understanding experience for its own sake, showing little or no interest in such questions as whether or how or to what degree our experience can tell us about “reality” beyond our experience. Its practitioners, beginning with Husserl and including such figures as Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty dominated Continental philosophy for decades. We will survey this movement with an eye to assessing its ultimate value.
Topic: Audiotape of Irshad Manji and Ayaan Hirsi Ali on “The Trouble with Islam”
Sunday, September 9, at 12 noon
Location: The Orient Restaurant
Two prominent feminist critics of Islam gave a joint lecture at the New York City 92nd Street Y to discuss the problems with Islam. They concentrated on its treatment of women, and on what needs to done to reform Islam so that it is compatible with modern society.
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Topic: Is Moderate Religion Harmful?
Friday, September 21, 7:30 p.m.
The harm caused by extremist religious belief and practice is conceded by everyone other than the extremists themselves. But what of more moderate forms of religion? We will examine this question by discussing the nature of religious beliefs, in what ways they may be considered harmful, how “moderate” should be understood in regard to religion, and whether moderate religion rightly qualifies as harmful.
Topic: Audio of Julia Sweeney from “Letting Go of God”
Sunday, October 14, at 12 noon
Location: The Orient Restaurant
Sweeney did a one-woman show on her experiences of the transition from faithful Catholic to atheist, “Letting Go of God,” which is available as audio on CD. We will play most of the second CD. She has an interesting, introspective discussion of the mental transition that she had between thinking that there is a universal God in charge of all existence, to thinking that impersonal, natural laws are responsible for the order that we observe. Location: The Orient Restaurant.
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Topic: David Hume
Friday, October 19, 7:30 p.m.
The Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) was one of the key figures in the Enlightenment and continues to be read and commented on today. We will review the high points of his philosophy, including his epistemology, ethics, and philosophy of religion.
Topic: Video at the home of Stuart and Dianne
Sunday, November 11, at 12 noon
Location: Reisterstown, MD
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Topic: Are Circular Arguments Always Fallacious?
Friday, 16 November, 7:30 p.m.
Topic: Holiday Lunch
Sunday, December 9, at 12 noon
Location: Cafe Spice, 321 York Rd., Towson, 410-583-7770
We will have our usual holiday lunch at Cafe Spice, a new Indian restaurant next door to the Orient. Directions: Take Baltimore Beltway exit 26 or 27 (York Road or Dulaney Valley Road) through the traffic circle to York Road, and go three blocks on the right to the Orient. Cafe Spice is next door. Take a left to the parking garage on Chesapeake.
Special Interest Group
“Humanism and Philosophy”
Reductionism
Friday, December 14, 7:30 p.m.
Reductionism in philosophy involves the attempt to explain things in terms of other things which are taken to be more basic. While no one seriously wants to reduce Beethoven’s music to nothing more than patterns on an oscilloscope, some philosophers insist that at bottom ultimate reality is nothing more than matter and energy in various combinations. While this is fundamentally a metaphysical question about the nature of reality, it also has implications for how we know, and especially the question of whether the methods of science are the only acceptable methods for discovering truth. We will explore some of the ramifications of these questions.
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