Bachelor of Theology Update

The program outline for the new Bachelor of Theology (BTh) is now finally available here.

While there are no Philosophy courses listed as being compulsory, a few have made their way into the directed elective list, so it's not a dead loss for us.

Philosopher’s Carnival, No. Forty-six

The 46th Philosopher’s Carnival is presently be hosted at The Space of Reasons.

Worth noting, and reading if you’ve the time, is ‘Higher Order Truths about Chmess’, a keynote address by Daniel C. Dennett.

History of the Philosophy Club

A while back I had started to look into the history of our Philosophy Club. After giving up on individuals memories I recently had a dig through the archives under Auchmuty Library. I didn't find much, as I suspect that there is more material relevant to this gathering dust in various parts of McMullin building, but I did manage to extract a few key facts.

Officially, the Philosophy Club was founded in early 1966. I don't know if this is older than the Engineering Fraternity, which claims to be the oldest social club on campus, without ever giving an actual foundation date. (I doubt any of their members/ex-members can remember that far back). But I think we can safely claim to be the oldest Academic club on campus, even if we don't pre-date Autonomy (1965) as I had previously speculated.

As for the Dialectic journal, I have yet to pin down a firm first issue date, but the 2nd volume was published in 1968, so I think it seems fair to assume that Volume 1 was created in 1967. The archive has Volume 2, Number 1 (Feb 1968), the archivists and myself would be very keen to track down anything earlier.

I have been investigating other clubs similar to our own via the web, and many seem to have only lasted a few years, with a high rate of attrition apparent in over the last 10 years or so. In light of this, the age of 41 is an impressive figure.

Sam Douglas.

Mugs

Ok, time to decide on mugs. To do about 6 of them, I may want to keep the number of screens down to save time because I don't want it to be a multi-week epic. I have been trying to have new screens each week, because time is limited in how long I have access to the equipment. So if there is any aesthetics ideas, remember that 2 or three colours is best, 3-4 colours probably absolute maximum, but 1 seems too easy from the exercise point of view.

As I said before, I am planning to do: Foucault, Nietzsche, Kant, Hegel, Wittgenstein, and Russel. If there are any better suggestion, now is the time to put them forward. Schopenhauer would be good. So would Satre maybe.

Otherwise we need quotes for each. I will hopefully be making the screens next Tuesday.

Politics at the Pub – Moral Panic

This month’s Politics at the Pub looks at moral panic and the exploitation of fear for political gain. This discussion is in conjunction with the Newcastle launch of Outrageous! Moral Panics in Australia, co-edited by George Morgan who, with Shane Homan (University of Newcastle), will be on the panel of speakers. Morgan's book looks at various moral panics in Australia.

Politics at the Pub will be at the Hamilton Station Hotel (Beaumont St, Hamilton), on Tuesday 17th, at 6.30.

Easter 2007

Perhaps, at this auspicious time in the Christian calendar and after some recent discussions, it’s time for the divine hand to smite some heathens …

Happy Easter.

Review Notices

Two recent NDPR reviews – Alan Schrift’s Twentieth Century French Philosophy and Jason Powell’s Jacques Derrida.

Call for Papers - Religion in a Secular Age

Finders University is hosting a conference on religion in a secular age later in the year. The organisers have called for papers.

Philosopher’s Carnival, No. Forty-five.

The 45th Philosopher’s Carnival is presently being held at Ainslee Hooper’s blog.

Blog Notice – The Restraint Project

The Restraint Project – James Franklin, author of Corrupting the Youth, and Cathy Legg are charting the progress of their study of restraint in Australia.