Philosophy in Pubs Conference

The Adelphi
June 10th to 12th 2011

Reviewed by John Owen

Philosophy in Pubs annual conference held in the Adelphi Hotel over the weekend of 10th, 11th and 12th of June was a surprise to see so many people sitting and listening in rapt attention over the subject matter that ranged from “is their an evil god?” to “what is courage” although late to the proceedings I quickly felt at home in the air of great ideas being thrashed out in the serene tranquility of faded jaded decadent finery of Victorian elegance opulent rooms for the masters of commerce in olden times.

A national gathering of committed regulars each with their own particular style of address and swank or style some more waspish others laid back many atheistic and proud out of the cloisters so to speak others with a hint of agnosticism or obscurantism in praise of the esoteric open ended debate as Socratic as you could possibly be “the more I know the more I know nothing.” being the guiding principle of the moment and the one we are going to run with at the moment.

What was I letting myself in for and ergo why was I even here these thoughts on y mortal existence and the whether or no t hteir was a god or whether the whole thing was just a trick with mirrors this fine and delicate precise theological versus logic of Darwinian nature.

Had we evolved the ability to create fear to circumvent an attack like most of human emotions and reactions they'd been honed down over thousands of years ago when predatory beasties stalked us as we left the cave in search of greater and greater food diversity and more interaction with nature.

Had the very instinct for protection been the part of the brain used to develop the skill necessary to create in our imagination the ability to project creating gods and monsters too where the real monsters with fangs and teeth actually existed the imaginary foes we kind a developed for added insurance.

A well reasoned argument I thought as the medieval church had transcribed the original bible stories from older Hebrew stories of nasty types and dire consequences befalling non believers if they fell foul of the church authority it was a means for mental enslavement like any tradition it needs looking at seriously in the light of new developments, ie the rise of science which was combated all the way by the medieval scholars.

Whether we like or not there is a philosophy for everything, of the boudoir or the tennis racket and the more we investigate things the more we find out our own take on things great as well as small.

Whether the Hegelian dialectic or the Marxian materialist or the Schopenhauer or the Wittgenstein or the dumbing down of culture through television and social media technology or the decline of the novel in English literature whatever gets your goat or whether goats have a soul and feel emotion as we do the human scape and scope of though is immense questions take us further and farther forward than any other species on the planet it surely our duty thought to avoid killing each-other and th planet in pursuit of blind geed and uncontrollable consumerism as we witness the latest shenanigans in the middle east the home of philosophy itself as it was transferred to the Greeks from the east minus the god worship.

To quote Heraclitus “you can never step into the same river twice” as any one knows who've ever been In the Mersey, gods favor the brave but not the stupid.

This is john o signing off for the buffet has arrived again but only in my imagination dreams are free and they cost nothing so im having seconds. Belvedere fetch my haversack and doggy-bag.

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