COMMENSAL ISSUE 91

• Malcolm Burn
• Don Cannons
• Victoria Catterton
• Mr. A Copson
• Chris Dancer
• Anthony Embleton
• Ms Josephine Estaphanos
• Leslie M. Haddow
• Dave King
• Donal Murray
• Valerie Ransford
• Rev. Andrew Rowley
• Alan Smith
• Mr. B. Suitters

Please don't forget that if you are a paying member and your balance falls below 60p you will stop receiving the newsletter after one reminder. I think mentioning people by name, as last time, was a mistake since three of the four of you presumably responded to a reminder before receiving the newsletter. The other had already ignored a reminder, so didn't receive the newsletter. Either way, the warning was of no value to the individuals concerned.

So, we've had two mentions of PDG on the trot in Mensa Magazine ! The first one, rather a notice in passing, resulted in increased interest. Hopefully the second one will do likewise. Well done to Dave Botting for catching Mike Carley's eye with A Sociopath's Guide to Moral Philosophy ! Of course, it helps to get your bit in first as you appear at the front of the newsletter & are more likely to get read - maybe he'd have mentioned Another Helping of Rick Street Soup if Rick had written in a little earlier ? Or maybe not. Talking of which, where is this month's helping, Rick ? Actually, though, I tend to read periodicals starting from the back. I think it's more to do with holding the magazine in my right hand & flipping the pages with my left, rather than any subconscious Semitic influence.

You will have noticed in Mensa Magazine the obituary by Victor Serebriakoff of Eric Hills who had recently joined PDG. Thanks also to Roger Farnworth, Sheila Blanchard & Leslie Haddow for informing me. I’m sure we would all have benefited greatly from Eric’s wisdom. I’ve left in the correspondence ensuing from his piece in C90. As the writer to the Hebrews said of Abel "he being dead yet speaketh" (Heb. 11:4).

Both of the above notices indicate how important it is to read Mensa Magazine - it’s not top of my reading queue, I must say, but the latest edition wasn’t that bad.

One of the events Eric Hills used to organise was Mensa at Braziers. The next gathering is still on (8th-10th May 1998) - when I phoned (27th February) there were six places (of twenty maximum) free, so phone 01491-680221 and make a reservation if you want to go. Send £20 deposit (full cost is £92, £54 including meals for non-residents) to ...

I’ve signed up for my place. Roger Farnworth & Leslie Haddow will also be there. The subject this time is Learning from Life. The generalised schedule of events is as below. Doubtless a more detailed plan of the sessions will be issued nearer the time.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

(Visitors staying overnight on Sunday at the end of the course should note that tea will be at 16.15 and a buffet supper in hall at 18.30.)

For those who can’t get in this time round, there’s another Mensa at Braziers conference in September on Crime and Punishment.

While we’re talking about getting away from it all for a spot of philosophising, recent PDG joiner Malcolm Burn has alerted me to the above courses. While they do not require attendees to have any prior qualifications, they are serious affairs, with lots of pre-course reading and an essay to produce before you get there. You also have the benefit of individual tutorials, which those of you who’ve benefited from an Oxbridge education may or may not want to re-live ! The courses last a full week and cost £540 full board if you want a single room (£390 for a twin; £295 non-residential but including lunch & dinner). There are several philosophy courses, ie :-

You can get more information (including course synopses & preparatory instructions) from :-

I may be there for the Plato course, or even one of the others if the family holiday comes to nought, as seems likely. Any other enthusiasts ? I’d have preferred Mind and Consciousness, but it was fully booked when I enquired. The course on David Hume looks rather difficult (though interesting) but for me clashes with another engagement.

I hope you will excuse me if I include a plug for another Hi-Q society I belong to & which I’ve alluded to from time to time. I’m clearly not trying to entice you away from Mensa, else there’d be no-one to write in to PDG ! However, it’s another opportunity for fun, and, with only 717 members in 37 countries, a bit like a SIG by way of intimacy. There are about 40 of us in the UK.

The affirmed purpose of the society is :-

Maybe a bit idealistic and gung-ho for ears this side of the Atlantic, but respectable enough nonetheless. If you’re interested, write to :-

A slight catch is that you have to demonstrate a score in the top 0.1% in an IQ test (ie. "one in a thousand"). This equates to 150 on the Stanford-Binet scale, 172 (I think) on the Cattell. If you didn’t demonstrate this on entry to Mensa, they have their own test you can take. Why not have a stab at it ?

Anthony Owens pointed out an obscurity concerning my remarks on the interrelationship between PDG & PhySIG :-

My plan is anything but cunning. If you want to talk physics per se (ie. not philosophy of science), you have to join Physics SIG. Sorry.

There has been some small progress with putting Commensal on the Web. Not a lot of opinion expressed so far, however. Anthony Owens & David Taylor seem generally happy with the idea, but Mike Rossell warns against. Any other opinion ? I’ve written to Mike Carley, the SIGs Officer, to determine the options. I’ve also checked out the Mensa Web Page & corresponded with the Mensa Web Master. Some SIGs do seem to have Web pages already. Pam Ford, the previous SIGs Officer, was very much against the use of the Web, fearing it might lead to a two tier society. I suppose this is possible in the short term, and we must be careful that those without email or Web access - doubtless the vast majority, even in Mensa - are not disadvantaged. However, over the longer term - and especially given the ever-declining cost and increasing value of PCs - this must surely be the way to go ?

Talking of Web sites - I’ve recently discovered EJAP - the Electronic Journal of Analytic Philosophy. It’s free - all you need is Web access. Their address is http://www.phil.indiana.edu/ejap/ejap.html - and if you know what you’re doing you can find the downloaded files on your hard drive after a quick browse & can print them off for a leisurely read or off-line review. It’s produced, or at least hosted, by the University of Indiana and seems to be quality, if fairly technical, stuff. It appears rather infrequently, about once a year, and has been going since 1993.

The latest issue (Spring 1997) is on Ontology which, for those not in the know, "is the study of what exists, with special attention paid to the different ways of existing possessed by different kinds of things". It includes the following tasty subjects :-

• The methods of ontology
• Carnap, Quine and the fate of metaphysics
• Quine on matters ontological
• Julius Caesar & the number 2
• Ontological categories and how to use them
• The formal ontology of boundaries
• CYC : a case study in ontological engineering

The paper on CYC leaps in as though the reader will know what CYC is. It seems that "the most ambitious attempt to build an intelligent system is the huge computer knowledge base called CYC". What this acronym stands for is left obscure. I did a quick Web search and found a site telling me all about CYC, but not what it stood for ! It came up with various Yacht Clubs & Youth Collectives as well !

At the suggestion of Professor Anthony O’Hear (how many names can you drop in one editorial !), I've been along to some of the Royal Institute of Philosophy's Friday evening lectures. These have been dealing with German-language philosophers. We've had distinguished speakers on Hegel, German analytic philosophy since Kant, Frege & the later Wittgenstein (Peter Hacker), Carnap & the Vienna Circle, German philosophy of mathematics from Gauss to Hilbert and the influence of German philosophy on British analytical philosophy. The lectures have seemed to get easier, though I'm not sure whether this is more due to the subject matter becoming more appealing to me or with my increasing re-familiarisation with listening to lectures while sat on uncomfortable chairs (or, in one case, the floor) ! There have been lots of other lectures (eg. on Nietzsche) that for various reasons I’ve not attended. The last one in this year’s series was on Friday 13th March & was by Jurgen Habermas in person. Unfortunately, I was too busy at work to attend; a poor set of priorities, no doubt.

Apologies for alerting you to these lectures too late (you have to be a member of the RIP to attend - but that’s no problem - see C90). They start up again in October - I don’t know the subject of the next series - and are held at 14 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0AG. The nearest tube is Euston Square.

I’ve been corresponding with Professor Oswald Hanfling on and off over the last couple of months. I'm trying to induce Professor Hanfling to act as Mentor for PDG, maybe with some success. He's volunteered to give a series of lectures, though there's a fair amount of organisation required before that comes to anything. As for what Mentoring might involve (and please note, this is not the same as moderating !), here’s an extract from a recent letter of mine to him :-

He has a couple of Commensals to look at to see what involvement he can suggest. He was in sympathy with the paragraph above.

Professor Hanfling was also kind enough to comment on my review, in C90, of his article in a recent edition of Philosophy. He wasn’t uncomplimentary, but didn’t agree with many of my observations ! I don’t think I’ve the right to reproduce any of his comments in Commensal, though, so this will have to remain enigmatic.

Finally, I’ve been importuned by Ralph Ellis of Edfu Books (and Mensa) who’s had difficulty, it seems, advertising his book Thoth, Architect of the Universe in Mensa Magazine. I’m not too excited by the book myself, but I attach a snippet from their web site http://freespace.virgin.net/kena.edfu for your edification.

I received a paper extracted from the book claiming that the Avesbury stone circle was a map of the world. I remain to be convinced.

Please could all of you remember to cross-reference your comments to the previous (or whatever) edition of Commensal. Most of you are doing this but some forget, and it’s a pain for me to do it for you.

Please let me know if there’s too much "internet" in this issue ! It’s one of my enthusiasms, as you may have guessed, so I may be going over the top. Also, as this edition is desperately late, I’ve had to truncate my commentary somewhat, restricting it in the main to responses to comments on my own comments & thoughts. Grovelling apologies, as usual.

As you will have guessed, the closing date for submissions to the May 1998 edition of Commensal (C92) is 15th April 1998. By way of accommodating the forgetfulness of some of you, the deadline now appears on the bottom of every page (except, perversely, the cover).

Incidentally, one SIG member expressed a preference for monthly newsletters. Any strong feelings either way ?

Best wishes,

Theo