Learning to Live Well Together

Saturday 14^th April 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW

With Dr Allan Hayes

Taking his title from a recent book on interfaith diversity by Tom Wilson and Riaz Ravat, lifelong humanist Allan Hayes is concerned that, at a time when we need to bring people together, we are instead dividing children by religion, allowing the divisions between science and religion to deepen, and failing to promote a shared understanding of humanity. What can we do about it? In this enlightening presentation Allan will be highlighting some of the ways in which we can all engage constructively with diversity. He will also address how religious education can be reformed and improved.

Former Church of England choirboy Allan Hayes became a lifelong humanist from the age of 14. He has taught maths at Massachusetts Institute for Technology, Purdue University Indiana, and at the University of Leicester. He has served on the boards of the British Humanist Association, the Sea of Faith Network, All Faiths and None, and Leicester Secular Society.

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

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. Please email Chairman@dorsethumanists.co.uk for a PDF copy for you to print and display.

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

Libertarianism

Saturday 14^th January 2017 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW
With Senior Lecturer in Philosophy Arif Ahmed



The libertarian philosophy associated with F. A. Hayek, has its philosophical roots in the classical liberalism of the nineteenth century and in the philosophical views of Hume, Smith and Tocqueville. Libertarians emphasise freedom of the individual and the rule of law, preferring limited government and a small state. They tend to oppose welfare because they claim the poor are better served by high-growth economies than with handouts. However, their detractors suggest libertarians are indifferent to community needs and the suffering of the poor, and that they protect big business and those who aim to enrich themselves with little concern for others.
In contrast to the claims of the critics, philosopher Arif Ahmed, a self-described libertarian, believes that libertarian ideas can contribute to a good society, and he will help us gain a fuller and more nuanced understanding of libertarianism, focusing on the philosophical basis of these ideas and their relevance to a range of modern-day ethical, political and economic issues such as immigration, taxation, euthanasia, drug control, gay marriage, government surveillance, and free speech.
Arif Ahmed is a senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He studied mathematics at Oxford University, and Philosophy at Sussex and Cambridge. He has worked at Birmingham University and held visiting
positions at Sydney University, Central China Normal University, the Australian National University and the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.
He is now Reader Philosophy at Cambridge and a fellow of Gonville and Caius College. He writes mainly on rational choice, but also has an interest in religion and has debated the subject against William Lane Craig, Tariq Ramadan, Rowan Williams and others. He is an atheist and a libertarian and his personal philosophical outlook is most closely allied with those of David Hume and Friedrich Hayek


“Join us for a thought-provoking examination of Libertarianism”
Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!
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 Human Scale

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

With English and History of Architecture Tutor John Hubbard

John Hubbard will explore our relationships with our houses and homes. While many animals seek refuge and shelter or create spaces and territories for rearing their young, humankind is unique in the variety and intricacy of the places it calls home. However, our homes are so familiar that we often take them for granted, and ignore the collections they house, which are often museums of the self and a map of our connections to the world. What we do with interior space is as significant as our movements in the wider, less controlled exterior.

John will consider the evolution of the concept of the private home and through the history of architecture, gardens, gender, and material culture, will explore the similarities that even the grandest and most humble of houses share, and reflect upon what these say about our concept of ourselves as a species and as individuals existing in a complex evolved society. The buildings considered will range from Kingston Lacy, Longleat, Wilton, and Stowe to local family homes in flats and houses.

John Hubbard has taught English and History of Architecture at Bournemouth School and Bournemouth School for Girls. He spent a sabbatical year researching the Bankes/Kingston Lacy archive at the Dorchester History Centre. He is a published poet and has given many interesting talks to Dorset Humanists over the years, including an enthusiastic exploration of Thomas Hardy’s ‘poetry of unbelief’.

“Join us for an enjoyable exploration of our relationships with both the grandest and most humble of our houses and homes”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

(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.

Ancient Stoicism and Modern Humanism

Saturday 14^th May 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW

With Emeritus Professor of Ancient Thought Christopher Gill.

Is Stoicism compatible with a modern humanistic outlook, and can it help us live better, happier lives today?

In the popular imagination, a Stoic is someone who represses their emotions, but Stoic philosophy is much richer than this misconception suggests. Believing that material things alone are insufficient to guarantee happiness, the Stoics placed great value on wisdom, justice, moderation, courage, and living in harmony with our communities and the natural world around us.

Christopher Gill will outline the Stoics’ key ideas on virtue, happiness, and social development, and explain how Stoic practices can improve our life satisfaction, and help us flourish as human beings.

Christopher Gill is Emeritus Professor of Ancient Thought at the University of Exeter, and has played a leading role in ‘Stoicism Today’ which presents Stoicism to a modern audience as an aid to human flourishing. His publications related to Stoicism include a translation with introduction and commentary of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations Books 1-6, and a complete modern translation with commentary of Epictetus’s Discourses entitled Epictetus: Discourses, Fragments, Handbook

“Join us for a stimulating exploration of Stoic principles and practices, and learn how they can help us live better, happier lives”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

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.