Guide to philosophy groups and events in the Sydney area
September 7th 2006 06:57
So you're interested in hearing a talk every so often, or having a philosophy chat, or studying some philosophy casually?
Well, in Sydney, there's academic philosophy (occasional conferences, workshops etc). And there's a small "public philosophy" scene.
Mind you, if you're serious about philosophy, none of this is a substitute for sitting down and actually reading the texts. But anyway…
General resources
Hands down, the best place to find information about lectures, workshops, conferences, and other events open to the public is the SydPhil mailing list. Not everything gets announced here, but most will be. Make sure to select "digest" so you won't be spammed.
Second best is the Sydney Talks website, which is for talks in general, not just philosophy. And one thing important to note is that many events that aren't explicitly billed as philosophy will be philosophical -- for instance, the lectures (like those at this site) held by the law faculties of various universities.
Then there's the Sydney wikia.
And there's various mailing lists. The following are the best of the ones I subscribe to, but I sometimes don't know why I bother; they very seldom give me any information I don't get elsewhere: USyd happenings (Sydney Uni-related events), Sydney bioethics seminar series, CHIMP (philosophy and modern physics; but they'll usually announce on SydPhil), and the Philos-L mailing list (which will spam you with international conferences and phil news).
Lectures
Firstly, every university with a philosophy department (eg Sydney, UNSW, Macquarie, Woollongong, Newcastle) will have departmental seminars -- usually weekly, and often with distinguished visiting academics. And non-philosophy departments often have seminars/lecture series of philosophical interest -- for interest, the law faculty at Macquarie, RIHSS at Sydney Uni... Sometimes there are also separate seminars organised by the postgrads of a university. Both sorts tend to get announced on the SydPhil list. They also tend to be inconveniently held during the daytime. So they're open to the public, and free, but are often not especially public-friendly.
The Macquarie University events are not always announced on SydPhil, and information about them can be found at their main philosophy site, and sometimes at the Platonic Society website (the Platonic Society is the uni's student philosophy group).
Currently, the best public lecture series in Sydney (in my opinion) are held at Sydney University. These are the RIHSS key thinkers series (each week, a different key thinker is overviewed), the more general Sydney Ideas series (lectures on original ideas by prominent thinkers), and the guest lectures of the Russellian Society. The first two are large affairs -- held in large auditoria -- and they're not announced on the SydPhil list -- you'll have to keep an eye on the websites. The third is normally announced on the SydPhil list, often has distinguished visiting academics speaking, tends to be smaller, and to supply snacks and drinks.
Also of note are the seminars run by the Unit for the History and Philosophy of Science, and the workshops and conferences run by the Centre for Time, though these might be more technical. And if you're willing to take a train up to the Blue Mountains on a Saturday morning, the Blackheath Philosophy Forum is very good -- about 100-200 people, solid lectures by philosophy academics, and tea and cake. All of these three usually get announced on the SydPhil list.
Steki Taverna, in Newtown, offers something slightly different. It's a small and crowded restaurant, you get served a multi-course Greek banquet, you get to hear a distinguished speaker and ask questions, and you're shown a short play on the evening's theme. I don't think Steki is announced on SydPhil or Sydney Talks, so maybe the best thing is to e-mail the convenor, Dr Edward Spence, directly, and ask to be added to the e-mail or snail mail list. The series is very popular, and has been running for about ten years (and I've attended almost every year since the start).
The St James Ethics Centre occasionally runs conferences. Check out the events section of their webpage. And Cafe Scientific, though it rarely holds talks, normally has something of philosophical interest. These two don't announce on SydPhil either.
There used also to be Philosophy Cafe, held in Berkelouw's bookstore on Norton Street in Leichhardt, and the 2nd Tuesday Philosophy Forum in Crow's Nest. These had a speech-break for tea-Q&A format. The latter always had academic philosophers. But they currently have suspended their activities indefinitely. Also seemingly-defunct is the Sydney Seminar for the Arts and Philosophy, formerly run by the University of Western Sydney.
There are other groups that occasionally give lectures of philosophical interest, for instance Gleebooks, the Humanist Society, Politics in the Pub, the so-called Centre for Independent Studies, the Shalom Institute, the Macquarie Christian Studies Institute, the Aquinas Academy, the CG Jung Society, and the State Library of New South Wales.
Discussion groups
For something more informal, there's a variety of small groups that get together to talk philosophy. And there's always various reading groups that form among university students. For example, there used to be (there might still be) groups based at Sydney Uni that got together weekly to discuss texts on critical theory and free will and metaphysics, there was a Buddhist reading group at Macquarie, there was an epistemology reading group at UNSW, and there was a group in Parramatta that discussed continental philosophy. I won't give any contact information here, but feel free to drop me a message if you want more info.
The two main discussion groups I'm going to plug are the Russellian Society discussion group and Philorum, because I attend both of these, and I organize the former. The emphasis in both groups is very much on discussion rather than lecture, and there is opportunity for anyone to stand up and give a presentation and have their ideas critiqued. The Russoc group discusses a different philosophical text every fortnight (no reading required -- just rock up). Normally at most a dozen people at both groups, and they normally meet fortnightly.
The Platonic Society (student philosophy group of Macquarie University) has casual meetings at the bar (never attended; can't comment), and often screens philosophy-related films. The Continental Philosophy Group (have only attended once) seems to be about discussion of papers presented by participants. The St James Ethics Centre used to do "ethics circles" (don't know if they still run them), where chairs are set up in Martin's Place, and all and sundry are invited to come and discourse. Another activity of theirs is ethics helplines, where you can ring up and discuss ethical problems.
A recent group (formed around mid-2006) is Philo Agora. I think it's ex-Philo Cafe people. Format is 15-minute talk, Q&A, then microphone passed round the room. They meet every second Tuesday, 7.30pm, currently in the Fair Trading Cafe in Glebe, and they announce their events on the SydPhil list.
Another new group is Socrates Cafe. Its current status is unclear. It meets twice a month (currently second Sunday at 4.30pm and last Wednesday at 6.30pm) at Berkelouw Books (70 Norton Street, Leichhardt) to discuss philosophy in a moderated format. A topic is picked from participant suggestions. The best way to follow their activities is through signing up to the announcement list at Meetup.
Recently, a "Beer and philosophy" group, meeting every Thursday, has started up at the anarchist bookshop in Newtown, on Enmore Road. I don't have any other details as yet.
And there are other not-strictly-philosophy and often-not-philosophy groups, for instance the Humanist Society (including, now, a reading group, and open forum discussion every Wednesday), the political Sydney Shove and the Australian Skeptics, which also holds casual pub discussions, and various groups that announce on Meetup, including an atheist discussion group.
Courses
There's a variety of places around Sydney that run courses that are billed as philosophy. I won't mention most of these, because of my personal biases -- I think they're either too allied to religion, or are too far from mainstream philosophy.
The best place for casual courses (in my opinion) is Sydney University's Continuing Education centre. There are day-courses (the ones by Dr Ray Younis used to be very good, and Ray is one of the best teachers I've ever met; he even has "disciples" who follow him around), and longer 8-week, 10-week etc courses (often run by Dr Kerry Sanders).
The Continuing Education centre also gives you the option to enrol in any of the courses taught in the university proper.
Radio
In Australia, there's The Philosopher's Zone at Radio National on Saturdays and Wednesdays. MP3 archives are available. I don't listen, but it seems very good. There's also Ghost in the Machine, but I don't know if this is still running (and, if it is, you might need to live out West to pick it up).
But the best philosophy radio (in anyone's opinion) is online rather than off. There's the Philosophy Talk show, the Guerrilla Radio Show, and the indefinitely-suspended La Trobe show. There's also a huge array of philosophy MP3s online. Episteme is trying to build links to these; and hopefully they'll succeed.
Well, in Sydney, there's academic philosophy (occasional conferences, workshops etc). And there's a small "public philosophy" scene.
Mind you, if you're serious about philosophy, none of this is a substitute for sitting down and actually reading the texts. But anyway…
General resources
Hands down, the best place to find information about lectures, workshops, conferences, and other events open to the public is the SydPhil mailing list. Not everything gets announced here, but most will be. Make sure to select "digest" so you won't be spammed.
Second best is the Sydney Talks website, which is for talks in general, not just philosophy. And one thing important to note is that many events that aren't explicitly billed as philosophy will be philosophical -- for instance, the lectures (like those at this site) held by the law faculties of various universities.
Then there's the Sydney wikia.
And there's various mailing lists. The following are the best of the ones I subscribe to, but I sometimes don't know why I bother; they very seldom give me any information I don't get elsewhere: USyd happenings (Sydney Uni-related events), Sydney bioethics seminar series, CHIMP (philosophy and modern physics; but they'll usually announce on SydPhil), and the Philos-L mailing list (which will spam you with international conferences and phil news).
Lectures
Firstly, every university with a philosophy department (eg Sydney, UNSW, Macquarie, Woollongong, Newcastle) will have departmental seminars -- usually weekly, and often with distinguished visiting academics. And non-philosophy departments often have seminars/lecture series of philosophical interest -- for interest, the law faculty at Macquarie, RIHSS at Sydney Uni... Sometimes there are also separate seminars organised by the postgrads of a university. Both sorts tend to get announced on the SydPhil list. They also tend to be inconveniently held during the daytime. So they're open to the public, and free, but are often not especially public-friendly.
The Macquarie University events are not always announced on SydPhil, and information about them can be found at their main philosophy site, and sometimes at the Platonic Society website (the Platonic Society is the uni's student philosophy group).
Currently, the best public lecture series in Sydney (in my opinion) are held at Sydney University. These are the RIHSS key thinkers series (each week, a different key thinker is overviewed), the more general Sydney Ideas series (lectures on original ideas by prominent thinkers), and the guest lectures of the Russellian Society. The first two are large affairs -- held in large auditoria -- and they're not announced on the SydPhil list -- you'll have to keep an eye on the websites. The third is normally announced on the SydPhil list, often has distinguished visiting academics speaking, tends to be smaller, and to supply snacks and drinks.
Also of note are the seminars run by the Unit for the History and Philosophy of Science, and the workshops and conferences run by the Centre for Time, though these might be more technical. And if you're willing to take a train up to the Blue Mountains on a Saturday morning, the Blackheath Philosophy Forum is very good -- about 100-200 people, solid lectures by philosophy academics, and tea and cake. All of these three usually get announced on the SydPhil list.
Steki Taverna, in Newtown, offers something slightly different. It's a small and crowded restaurant, you get served a multi-course Greek banquet, you get to hear a distinguished speaker and ask questions, and you're shown a short play on the evening's theme. I don't think Steki is announced on SydPhil or Sydney Talks, so maybe the best thing is to e-mail the convenor, Dr Edward Spence, directly, and ask to be added to the e-mail or snail mail list. The series is very popular, and has been running for about ten years (and I've attended almost every year since the start).
The St James Ethics Centre occasionally runs conferences. Check out the events section of their webpage. And Cafe Scientific, though it rarely holds talks, normally has something of philosophical interest. These two don't announce on SydPhil either.
There used also to be Philosophy Cafe, held in Berkelouw's bookstore on Norton Street in Leichhardt, and the 2nd Tuesday Philosophy Forum in Crow's Nest. These had a speech-break for tea-Q&A format. The latter always had academic philosophers. But they currently have suspended their activities indefinitely. Also seemingly-defunct is the Sydney Seminar for the Arts and Philosophy, formerly run by the University of Western Sydney.
There are other groups that occasionally give lectures of philosophical interest, for instance Gleebooks, the Humanist Society, Politics in the Pub, the so-called Centre for Independent Studies, the Shalom Institute, the Macquarie Christian Studies Institute, the Aquinas Academy, the CG Jung Society, and the State Library of New South Wales.
Discussion groups
For something more informal, there's a variety of small groups that get together to talk philosophy. And there's always various reading groups that form among university students. For example, there used to be (there might still be) groups based at Sydney Uni that got together weekly to discuss texts on critical theory and free will and metaphysics, there was a Buddhist reading group at Macquarie, there was an epistemology reading group at UNSW, and there was a group in Parramatta that discussed continental philosophy. I won't give any contact information here, but feel free to drop me a message if you want more info.
The two main discussion groups I'm going to plug are the Russellian Society discussion group and Philorum, because I attend both of these, and I organize the former. The emphasis in both groups is very much on discussion rather than lecture, and there is opportunity for anyone to stand up and give a presentation and have their ideas critiqued. The Russoc group discusses a different philosophical text every fortnight (no reading required -- just rock up). Normally at most a dozen people at both groups, and they normally meet fortnightly.
The Platonic Society (student philosophy group of Macquarie University) has casual meetings at the bar (never attended; can't comment), and often screens philosophy-related films. The Continental Philosophy Group (have only attended once) seems to be about discussion of papers presented by participants. The St James Ethics Centre used to do "ethics circles" (don't know if they still run them), where chairs are set up in Martin's Place, and all and sundry are invited to come and discourse. Another activity of theirs is ethics helplines, where you can ring up and discuss ethical problems.
A recent group (formed around mid-2006) is Philo Agora. I think it's ex-Philo Cafe people. Format is 15-minute talk, Q&A, then microphone passed round the room. They meet every second Tuesday, 7.30pm, currently in the Fair Trading Cafe in Glebe, and they announce their events on the SydPhil list.
Another new group is Socrates Cafe. Its current status is unclear. It meets twice a month (currently second Sunday at 4.30pm and last Wednesday at 6.30pm) at Berkelouw Books (70 Norton Street, Leichhardt) to discuss philosophy in a moderated format. A topic is picked from participant suggestions. The best way to follow their activities is through signing up to the announcement list at Meetup.
Recently, a "Beer and philosophy" group, meeting every Thursday, has started up at the anarchist bookshop in Newtown, on Enmore Road. I don't have any other details as yet.
And there are other not-strictly-philosophy and often-not-philosophy groups, for instance the Humanist Society (including, now, a reading group, and open forum discussion every Wednesday), the political Sydney Shove and the Australian Skeptics, which also holds casual pub discussions, and various groups that announce on Meetup, including an atheist discussion group.
Courses
There's a variety of places around Sydney that run courses that are billed as philosophy. I won't mention most of these, because of my personal biases -- I think they're either too allied to religion, or are too far from mainstream philosophy.
The best place for casual courses (in my opinion) is Sydney University's Continuing Education centre. There are day-courses (the ones by Dr Ray Younis used to be very good, and Ray is one of the best teachers I've ever met; he even has "disciples" who follow him around), and longer 8-week, 10-week etc courses (often run by Dr Kerry Sanders).
The Continuing Education centre also gives you the option to enrol in any of the courses taught in the university proper.
Radio
In Australia, there's The Philosopher's Zone at Radio National on Saturdays and Wednesdays. MP3 archives are available. I don't listen, but it seems very good. There's also Ghost in the Machine, but I don't know if this is still running (and, if it is, you might need to live out West to pick it up).
But the best philosophy radio (in anyone's opinion) is online rather than off. There's the Philosophy Talk show, the Guerrilla Radio Show, and the indefinitely-suspended La Trobe show. There's also a huge array of philosophy MP3s online. Episteme is trying to build links to these; and hopefully they'll succeed.
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