Philosophy Classes

Join the London School of Philosophy for the following 10-week philosophy courses on Tuesday evenings starting Tuesday 24 April.

Religion and Politics

Summer Term 2018, Tuesdays, 11:00 – 13:00, ten weeks starting 24^th April

Course Tutors: Anja Steinbauer and John Holroyd.

“Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.” – Thus argues Mahatma Gandhi. This course will consider philosophical explanations of what religion is, how its social and political effects can be described, and how it relates to political action, organisation and violence. We will discuss relevant thinkers and draw examples from traditions as diverse as Islam and Buddhism.

Kant Reading Group

Summer Term 2018, Tuesdays, 14:00 – 15:00, ten weeks starting 24^th April

Course Tutor: Anja Steinbauer.

An interactive reading group. This year we will study Immanuel Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals (1797-98) [NOT the Groundwork to the Metaphysics of Morals]. The term-fee is only £20, reflecting the shortness of the meetings.

An interactive reading group. The term-fee is only £20, reflecting the shortness of the meetings.

Hellenistic Philosophy

Summer Term 2018, Tuesdays, 15:00 – 17:00, ten weeks starting 24^th April

Course Tutor: Anja Steinbauer.

How stoic were the Stoics? Was Epicurus only interested in pleasure? Why did Diogenes live in a barrel? Hellenistic philosophy is complex, fascinating and rewarding to read, yet often an afterthought of our philosophical education. We will engage with the ideas of diverse and compelling thinkers – emperors, slaves and bohemians – and study their arguments concerning ethics, logic, metaphysics and the meaning of human life.

Agamben: Language, Death, History

Summer Term 2018, Tuesdays, 17:00 – 19:00, ten weeks starting 24^th April

Course Tutor: Georgios Tsagdis.

The experience of language attests to a split between its abstract purity and its articulated, voiced materiality, in which the very possibility of ethics, politics and history is founded. Moreover, if the human is the animal that speaks, it is also the only animal which does not merely perish, but experiences death as death. We follow Agamben in his exploration of the genealogies and interrelation of the human prerogatives of death and language, and his examination of the function of negativity, absence and the inoperative.

Moral Philosophy and Applied Ethics

Summer Term 2018, Tuesdays, 18:00 – 20:00, ten weeks starting 24^th April

Course Tutor: Shahrar Ali.

Are we genuinely capable of non-egoistic, altruistic action? What are our responsibilities to future generations? What claim do starving populations have on us? When, if at all, is torture justified? Is free speech an unconditional right? Is whistleblowing an act of greater corporate loyalty? Is lying worse than other forms of intentional deception? Should euthanasia be legalised in the UK? When is it legitimate, or required, to challenge authority? We will address these and other questions within a moral philosophical framework and test our intuitions about equality, obligation and rights.

Nietzsche, Freud and Heidegger on Violence

Summer Term 2017, Tuesdays, 19:00 – 21:00, ten weeks starting 24^th April

Course Tutor: Keith Barrett.

There is an alternative history (yet to be written) of Western philosophy as a response to the problem of violence. We will examine the inception of both Ancient and Modern Western philosophy from this perspective, then study the problem of violence as it emerges as a theme – or remains tantalizingly beneath the surface – in the work of three great contemporary theorists of the human condition; Nietzsche, Freud and Heidegger. The course will be informed by contemporary philosophical perspectives on violence – especially those of Foucault, Girard and Zizek.

To enrol, please email Anja (anja[at]philosophynow.org), Georgios (georgiostsagdis[at]outlook.com), Shahrar (shahrar[at]londonschoolofphilosophy.org) or Keith (keith[at]londonschoolofphilosophy.org) as appropriate.