COMMENSAL ISSUE 101

1. New Members
2. PDG Conference 2000
3. PDGList
4. Philosophy for All - PFA
5. Date of Next Issue (Commensal 102)

The temporary dearth of new members seems to have abated to some extent. So, a very special welcome to :-

There follows a further plug for our conference in May - please come if you can, even if only for a day - this is the reason for the early appearance of this edition of Commensal. Please excuse any repetitiousness from C100 !

As announced last time, Roger Farnworth has kindly volunteered to organise the 2^nd PDG conference at Braziers Park. It is from Friday 5^th - Sunday 7^th May 2000. I would encourage as many of you as possible to attend. Last year’s conference was enjoyable for all who attended and we want to build on that foundation.

The principles are the same as last year. The conference should be highly participatory, with a good number of attendees willing to present a paper. Don’t be frightened by this - we’re a small, friendly crowd (the maximum capacity is of the order of 20 - 30) and non-speakers are as welcome as the more voluble. Thankfully, we appear to have sufficient of you willing to speak to keep us going - if anyone still wishes to speak, but hasn’t let on yet, we can probably fit you in; for instance, I’m down to speak on Saturday but if anyone’s keen to wrest the slot off me, they’re welcome ! While bookings should be made directly with the conference centre (see details below) as we’re short of time, if you do want to speak, or have views on what should be spoken about, please phone Roger on 01208 821 544 or phone or write to me.

Roger’s proposal was that, as last year, we start on the Friday night with a fairly light-hearted debate. However, there don’t appear to be any volunteers to spar, so we’ve decided to open up my "Violation of Integrity" article to further discussion, hoping that this will set the tone for the major ethical theme of the weekend, without being too heavy.

Roger will start us off formally on Saturday morning with a paper entitled "What is Man for ?", in which he will touch on both Kant and Mill, and on Absolute Values and Aristotle’s ideas of virtue. Leslie Haddow will then speak on "What are People for ?" - which turns out to be quite a different debate about the assumptions that lie behind public policy when decisions about whole populations or sectors of society have to be made. In default of anyone else volunteering, I will speak in defence of consequentialism as an ethical principle, while trying to point out the problems of converting this into a utilitarian calculus.

Saturday afternoon affords us the opportunity to explore the countryside around Braziers Park, weather permitting, or otherwise enjoy informal conversation. In the late afternoon we hope to further discuss the issues that have, or ought to have, come up in Commensal or on PDGList - so, if there’s anything you’d like to follow up on - especially those of you who don’t feel comfortable giving a formal talk - here’s the opportunity to raise the issues. We’ll discuss them "in the round" with Roger acting as chairman. Roger suggests such topics as the interface of science, society and our ability or inability to select from future development scenarios. We could discuss genetic engineering, medical ethics and cloning on the one hand, and participatory democracy and the internet on the other. We will then hear an update from Frank Luger who will focus on one aspect of his researches, namely "Anthropocentrism vs. Cosmocentrism: Groping toward a Paradigm Shift".

We propose to continue the discussions in the evening in a less formal way by setting up an impromptu Philosophy Cafe. So, bring a bottle (or a crate).

On Sunday, we have a mixed bag of goodies. Alan Edmonds will provide us with his thoughts on Hi-Q and Mensa, Don Grace, over from Alabama, will briefly lead us in something light, but not too trivial, and John Fenton will conclude the weekend’s presentations with a talk on "Freedom, Information & Utilitarianism", though people are welcome to stay on after lunch to discuss ideas for next year’s conference.

The schedule therefore looks like this, though we have some flexibility provided we stick to the proposed meal-times :-

The conference is to be held at Braziers College, Ipsden, Wallingford, Oxon., OX10 6AN, over Friday - Sunday, 5^th-7^th May 2000.

Braziers College was founded in 1950 as the Braziers School of Integrated Social Research to study practical ways of living in a group. It now operates partly as a community and partly as an adult education college. It has a country-house atmosphere, and is situated in its own attractive grounds in the Chiltern countryside.

The all-inclusive fee, ie. including accommodation and meals, is £95, and early booking is advisable. For the fiscally challenged, or those who don’t wish to attend for the whole weekend, other options are available. Camping is a snip at £5 / night inclusive of breakfast (but you have to bring your own tent). Saturday attendance is £5 with meals extra. Meals are £7.50 each for mid-day & evening.

Apply for further details to the College at the above address (Tel: 01491 680221). A deposit of £20 is payable. Please book directly with the College - I will keep in touch with them periodically to see how things are going. Partners, whether Mensans or not, are welcome.

This is the internet discussion group of PDG and invited guests. To join PDGList you need first of all to log on to http://www.onelist.com and sign up to Onelist. Then you need to apply to join PDGList itself. You can do this by initially doing a search on "pdglist" and then following instructions. Alternatively, and quicker (though you will thereby miss out on all the wonders of Onelist !), you can go directly to http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/pdglist - again, you will need to join Onelist first (it will prompt you). Either way, I then need to accept your application. Once accepted, whenever anyone posts anything to the list, you will automatically receive an emailed copy of the posting. To post something yourself, just email to pdglist@onelist.com and everyone on the list will receive a copy. Why not give it a go ?

NOTE : See C100 for more details on PFA. It has no relationship with PDG or British Mensa.

On every first Wednesday of the month, from 7pm (lecture at 7.30 pm PHILOSOPHY FOR ALL meets at "Kant's Cave" for a lecture, debate and social evening.

We are happy to announce that Kant's Cave has now moved to a fabulous new venue : Kant's Cave meetings are now held at the cellar bar of :-

(3 mins walk from Holborn tube station)

door-charge: £1 (free for PFA members)

The next edition of Commensal (C102) will appear in June. The closing date will be 22^nd May 2000.

Best wishes !

Theo