Charles Darwin: His Life, Ideas and Influences

Wednesday 24^th February 2016  7.30pm

The Green House Hotel, 4 Grove Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AX

With Natural Science Lecturer David Croman.

What drove Darwin, a quiet respectable gentleman who was a pillar of his parish, to develop and embrace one of the most radical ideas in the history of human thought?

In this entertaining and informative presentation, David Croman will be bringing to life the extraordinary adventures and achievements of Charles Darwin. He will cover highlights of Darwin’s formative years and the ‘Beagle’ voyage, as well as considering the controversies surrounding the publication of Origin of Species and its effects on Victorian society. We will bring the evening to a close with an examination of Darwin’s continuing relevance and importance in our lives today.

David Croman is a psychologist, natural science lecturer, author, and wildlife photographer. His previous talks for Dorset Humanists on Sigmund Freud, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Robert Fitzroy were well received, and we're sure this one will be too.

“Join us for a fascinating evening as David Croman relates the extraordinary life and achievements of Charles Darwin”

 Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

 

(The Green House Hotel can also be accessed by car and on foot via its rear entrance in Gervis Road. The hotel has a small onsite car park, and roadside parking is also available in Gervis Road).

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:
http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/
You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Being Human

Wednesday 26^th August 7.30pm
The Green House Hotel,  4 Grove Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AX

With Dr Fiona Coward.

What does it mean to 'be human', and what is it that makes us unique as a species? Is it even possible to identify a single, critical, and universal human characteristic that explains the essence of our uniqueness?

Charles Darwin’s ground-breaking theory of evolution showed that we share common ancestry with other great apes, and the fossil record and archaeological finds clearly demonstrate that modern humans didn’t emerge from ancestral apes in a single step, so when did populations along the way become distinctively ‘human’?

In recent decades scientists have been surprised to discover that many other animals demonstrate some of the skills we once thought were exclusively 'human', such as making and using tools, living together co-operatively in large groups, communicating in highly complex ways and even using and understanding symbols. In this thought-provoking presentation Fiona Coward will discuss the implications of these findings on how we think about what it means to be human, and will explain when and how some of the most obvious characteristics and behaviours that distinguish us as a species evolved.

“Join us for a highly informative examination of what it means to be human”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

Dr Fiona Coward is Senior Lecturer in Archaeological Sciences at Bournemouth University whose research focuses on how and why humans were able to scale up their social lives from the very small social groups we lived in for much of our prehistory to the global social networks which characterise people’s lives today.

(The Green House Hotel can also be accessed via its rear entrance in Gervis Road. The hotel has a small onsite car park, and roadside parking is also available in Gervis Road).

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

The Difference that Darwin has Made

Thursday 12^th February 5.30pm 
Bournemouth Natural Science Society, 39 Christchurch Rd, Bournemouth BH1 3NS

A Darwin Day Celebration with Professor A. C. Grayling

Join us for a Darwin Day celebration with renowned humanist philosopher A.C.Grayling. Professor Grayling will be explaining how Darwin’s theory of evolution represented a new paradigm in human history, radically changing our understanding of our place in the universe, and that Darwin’s discoveries continue to have a huge impact on our lives due to their ongoing influence on a multitude of scientific disciplines. His talk will be followed by light refreshments.

Note that this is one of a very limited number of ticketed events organised by Dorset Humanists, so please be aware that that you will need a ticket to attend, and availability is limited.

***Update: Please note that all tickets for this event have now been sold***

Booking Information and Ticket Prices

Advanced Booking: Members: £2 per person; Non-members: £4 per person; On the door (if any seats are still available): £5 per person. To check ticket availability and/or purchase tickets please contact Lyn Glass on 01202 558763, or email lyn.glass(at)btinternet.com.

A C Grayling MA, DPhil (Oxon) FRSL, FRSA is Master of the New College of the Humanities, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. Until 2011 he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy and other subjects; among his most recent are "The Good Book", "Ideas That Matter", "Liberty in the Age of Terror" and "To Set Prometheus Free". He is a frequent contributor to the Literary Review, Observer, Independent on Sunday, Times Literary Supplement, Index on Censorship and New Statesman, and is an equally frequent broadcaster on BBC Radios 4, 3 and the World Service. In addition he sits on the editorial boards of several academic journals, and for nearly ten years was the Honorary Secretary of the principal British philosophical association, the Aristotelian Society. He is a past chairman of June Fourth, a human rights group concerned with China, and is a representative to the UN Human Rights Council for the International Humanist and Ethical Union. He is a Vice President of the British Humanist Association, the Patron of the United Kingdom Armed Forces Humanist Association, a patron of Dignity in Dying, and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. Anthony Grayling was a Fellow of the World Economic Forum for several years, and a member of its C-100 group on relations between the West and the Islamic world. His latest books are "The God Argument" (March 2013) and "Friendship" (September 2013).    Anthony Grayling's new book, "The Challenge of Things" will be published in March 2015.

Please help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Alfred Russel Wallace: A Life Explored

Wednesday 27^th February 7.30pm

The Green House Hotel,  4 Grove Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AX

‘The 2013 Dennis Bannister Memorial Lecture’

Join us for a fascinating evening as David Croman relates the extraordinary life and achievements of Alfred Russel Wallace.
Wallace is best known as the co-founder, with Darwin, of the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, but he was also one of the greatest explorers, scientists, intellectuals, and writers of his time.

In this well-illustrated presentation, author and psychologist, David Croman recounts Wallace’s jungle adventures in Indonesia, Malaysia, South America and beyond. He will also be exploring Wallace’s immense contribution to science and evolutionary theory, as well as examining how his odd and sometimes quirky ideas led him down strange avenues.

Wallace spent the final years of his life living in Broadstone, Dorset, and was buried in Broadstone Cemetery after his death 100 years ago in 1913.

This lecture is in memory of Dennis Bannister who gave numerous talks to Dorset Humanists on Darwin, Wallace, and evolution.

David Croman is a local author, wildlife photographer, natural science lecturer and a former Secretary of Dorset Humanists.

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

(The Green House Hotel can also be accessed from Gervis Road, which is better lit and has roadside parking).

Please help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster.

Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

The Extraordinary Life of Robert FitzRoy: Darwin’s Commander

Thursday, 23rd February 7.30pm
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown, Bournemouth. BH9 1TW
Continuing our Darwin theme for February, David Croman will present the life of Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy who achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage.
FitzRoy is often caricatured as the villain in the Darwin story, due to his opposition to ‘Darwin’s dangerous idea’ but in this we do a grave injustice to a talented and colourful character who was one of the last great explorers, a scientific pioneer and a humanitarian. With his roles including naval captain, Member of Parliament, and Governor of New Zealand amongst others, it's not surprising that Darwin himself described him as being 'A very extraordinary person'.
Come and join us for a fascinating evening, as David Croman relates the ‘extraordinary life’ of Robert FitzRoy. David Croman is a psychologist and a former chair of Dorset Humanists, with a keen interest in history.

Everyone welcome! 

Free entry (donations appreciated)

If you can help us promote this event by displaying an A4 poster, please email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF copy.
Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Apes, Angels and Ancestors

Saturday 14th May 2.00pm

Moordown Community Centre Coronation AvenueMoordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW


Even people who accept the evolution of lower animals often struggle to believe our human ancestors also evolved from lower creatures, and turn instead to stories of divine creation. Most scientists find it equally difficult to believe we are not related to the rest of the natural world by descent because we are so similar in all our systems, including our brains.

In this fascinating presentation, distinguished biologist and author Jack Cohen explains how ‘the ape with the curious mind’ arose from creatures that were “just animals”.

Everyone welcome – Free entry

Dr Jack Cohen is an internationally known reproductive biologist who writes, lectures and campaigns to promote public awareness of science. He has written popular biology textbooks, more than 100 research papers, and books exploring complexity, chaos and simplicity with co-author, mathematician Ian Stewart. He is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on hypothetical alien biology and has designed alien creatures and ecologies for top science fiction writers including Terry Pratchett, Harry Harrison and Larry Niven. He is frequently heard on radio and has participated in several TV programmes including for the BBC’s flagship science series, Horizon.

Darwin Day Lunch & Darwin's Sacred Cause with Prof. James Moore

Darwin Day Lunch - Saturday, 26 February, 12.30pm (lunch) 2.00pm (talk)
Fifty Dorset Humanist members & friends have attended the special Darwin Day Lunch gathering for the past three years, so please book your place early. Friends are welcome if there are spaces available after 4th February.

Please complete the Darwin Day Lunch booking form as soon as possible and no later than Friday 4th February 2011.

Darwin's Sacred Cause 

In this fascinating talk after the Dorset Humanists Darwin Day Lunch best-selling author Professor James Moore, a world authority on Charles Darwin, will give a completely new explanation of how Darwin arrived at his famous view of evolution.  There has always been a mystery surrounding Darwin: how did this quiet, respectable gentleman, a pillar of his parish, come to embrace one of the most radical ideas in the history of human thought? With co-author Adrian Desmond, James Moore has written a prize-winning biography of Darwin in addition to "Darwin's Sacred Cause". He is Professor of the History of Science at the Open University and is currently researching the life of Alfred Russel Wallace who lived in Broadstone.

James Moore - Darwins Sacred Cause

source: Google books
In this remarkable book, Adrian Desmond and James Moore restore the missing moral core of Darwin’s evolutionary universe, providing a completely new account of how he came to his shattering theories about human origins.

There has always been a mystery surrounding Darwin: How did this quiet, respectable gentleman, a pillar of his parish, come to embrace one of the most radical ideas in the history of human thought? It’s difficult to overstate just what Darwin was risking in publishing his theory of evolution. So it must have been something very powerful—a moral fire, as Desmond and Moore put it—that propelled him. And that moral fire, they argue, was a passionate hatred of slavery.

To make their case, they draw on a wealth of fresh manuscripts, unpublished family correspondence, notebooks, diaries, and even ships’ logs. They show how Darwin’s abolitionism had deep roots in his mother’s family and was reinforced by his voyage on the Beagle as well as by events in America—from the rise of scientific racism at Harvard through the dark days of the Civil War.

Leading apologists for slavery in Darwin’s time argued that blacks and whites had originated as separate species, with whites created superior. Darwin abhorred such "arrogance." He believed that, far from being separate species, the races belonged to the same human family. Slavery was therefore a "sin," and abolishing it became Darwin’s "sacred cause." His theory of evolution gave all the races—blacks and whites, animals and plants—an ancient common ancestor and freed them from creationist shackles. Evolution meant emancipation.

In this rich and illuminating work, Desmond and Moore recover Darwin’s lost humanitarianism. They argue that only by acknowledging Darwin’s Christian abolitionist heritage can we fully understand the development of his groundbreaking ideas. Compulsively readable and utterly persuasive, Darwin’s Sacred Cause will revolutionize our view of the great naturalist.

Terry Pratchett on assisted dying - BHA YouTube channel

BHA has a YouTube channel. Watch and listen to Terry Pratchett on assisted dying, plus videos on Darwin, Humanism & Science and Dan Dennett.

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1 Adult £12.60 2 Adults at same address £18.90