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Join The Santa Monica Philosophy Now Meetup Group
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Vote now for the topic for THIS Sunday's Philosophy Now Meetup! (Nov 11, 2:00 PM, Community Room of the Yahoo! Center, Santa Monica)
| From: | Brian |
| Sent on: | Monday, November 5, 2007 9:02 PM |
Hi Everyone!
Our monthly Meetup ( http://philosophynow.meetup.com/30/ and http://philosophy-in-LA.tribe.net ) is happening this Sunday, November 11, 2:00pm - 4:45pm! We'll be at our usual venue, the Community Room of the Yahoo! center, 2500 Broadway, between Cloverfield & 26th, Santa Monica, 90404, 310-453-0333. Detailed driving directions are at the end of this email. (FYI, these are the dates and times of our next three meetings, all of which occur on the 3rd Sunday of the month at the same location as above: December 9 at 5pm, January 20 at 5pm, and February 17 at 2pm or 5pm. Mark these dates on your calendar!)
Feel free to join us for dinner and more conversation after the meeting at the nearby and good "Earth, Wind and Flour" restaurant. For more info or to be on our regular emailing list, email me at [address removed].
As usual, we're voting on this meeting's topic now. Listed below are five questions or topics suggested during previous meetings or by email. Please reply to this email (soon) with the name of the topic(s) that you would most like to talk about. (Anybody can send in a vote, whether or not you have been to previous meetings.) I will send a meeting reminder Wednesday night or Thursday, letting you know which topic won the vote, and what optional readings we have!
1) WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IRRATIONAL? When you get the impression that someone is acting or being ?irrational,? what exactly do you mean? What are the different meanings of ?irrational?? What are the different categories of ?being or acting irrationally??
2) IS SCIENCE CONVERGING UPON THE TRUTH, or do our various, successful scientific theories merely provide us with ever more useful ways of looking at the world? Is it even necessary for our different theories to be consistent with each other?
3) IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE RATIONALLY PERSUADED TO CONVERT TO A RELIGION? It's often said that people accept their childhood religion, or convert to a new one, for reasons other than a rational appraisal of arguments and evidence. Is it ever rational to convert to a religion? Whether it is or not, some argue that one's religious choices don't need to be rationally justified, that such choices shouldn't primarily be a matter of intellectual justification. Decisions of this sort are, perhaps, akin to questions about one?s preferences for food, music, or jobs.
4) WHAT DOES PSYCHOANALYSIS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT A RATIONAL APPROACH TO ETHICS? If subconscious desires, wishes, beliefs, fears, and so on exist in the way that psychoanalytic theory says, does that make it difficult or impossible to take a rational approach to one's ethical choices and deliberations?
5) ARE DEAF PARENTS MORALLY OBLIGED TO CURE THEIR DEAF CHILDREN WITH COCHLEAR IMPLANTS? Many deaf parents put forth the following objections. First, they fear that giving their deaf children the ability to hear will destroy the close connection between them, causing the children to belong to a different culture than their parents. Second, they object that deafness is not necessarily an impairment; they prefer to see it as differently-abled rather than disabled. Third, they see the requirement to cure deaf children as tantamount to a mandate to eliminate the unique culture (or subculture) and language of deaf Americans.
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Send in a vote for your favorite topic(s) now! If you have any suggestions for future topics, send those, too.
-----------------
DIRECTIONS to the Yahoo! Center (formerly the Colorado Center) Community Room: 2500 Broadway, at 25th st, between Cloverfield & 26th, Santa Monica, 90404-3065, 310-453-0333. From the 405 fwy, take the I-10 fwy toward Santa Monica - go 2.2 mi. Take the CLOVERFIELD BLVD exit, turn Right on CLOVERFIELD BLVD. Go a half mile, turn Right on BROADWAY, go a quarter mile, park near 25th st. Parking is free on Sundays on Broadway & nearby streets, but most of 25th st is off limits; they will ticket you!
The Community Room is directly on Broadway at 25th st, at the corner of the building, a few feet from the "HBO Symantec" sign, right across the street from the LA Art Institute and a bicycle shop. The room is not labeled, but you will notice its glass doors and plenty of windows with blinds on them. If you have trouble finding parking on the street, ample free parking is available in the parking garage beneath the building. The garage entrance is on the other side of the Colorado Center, so take Broadway to 26th st, turn right, take your first right (Colorado ave); the garage entrance is at 2401 Colorado, on your right, just before Cloverfield. When you enter the garage, go straight as far as you can, turn right, go as far as you can and park near the 2500 building, where the "HBO" sign is. Walk up the stairs or take the elevator to "G" (the ground level), exit the building, take the short pathway until you can take a left (tennis courts will be in front of you), stop when you reach Broadway. The Community Room is a few feet to your left. If you input your address & "2500 Broadway" at http://www.mapquest.com or http://maps.yahoo.com/, a map and driving directions will magically appear.
----
If you weren't with us last time, you missed our discussion of the pros and cons of a world government. Don't miss this month's meeting!
Brian
Our monthly Meetup ( http://philosophynow.meetup.com/30/ and http://philosophy-in-LA.tribe.net ) is happening this Sunday, November 11, 2:00pm - 4:45pm! We'll be at our usual venue, the Community Room of the Yahoo! center, 2500 Broadway, between Cloverfield & 26th, Santa Monica, 90404, 310-453-0333. Detailed driving directions are at the end of this email. (FYI, these are the dates and times of our next three meetings, all of which occur on the 3rd Sunday of the month at the same location as above: December 9 at 5pm, January 20 at 5pm, and February 17 at 2pm or 5pm. Mark these dates on your calendar!)
Feel free to join us for dinner and more conversation after the meeting at the nearby and good "Earth, Wind and Flour" restaurant. For more info or to be on our regular emailing list, email me at [address removed].
As usual, we're voting on this meeting's topic now. Listed below are five questions or topics suggested during previous meetings or by email. Please reply to this email (soon) with the name of the topic(s) that you would most like to talk about. (Anybody can send in a vote, whether or not you have been to previous meetings.) I will send a meeting reminder Wednesday night or Thursday, letting you know which topic won the vote, and what optional readings we have!
1) WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IRRATIONAL? When you get the impression that someone is acting or being ?irrational,? what exactly do you mean? What are the different meanings of ?irrational?? What are the different categories of ?being or acting irrationally??
2) IS SCIENCE CONVERGING UPON THE TRUTH, or do our various, successful scientific theories merely provide us with ever more useful ways of looking at the world? Is it even necessary for our different theories to be consistent with each other?
3) IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE RATIONALLY PERSUADED TO CONVERT TO A RELIGION? It's often said that people accept their childhood religion, or convert to a new one, for reasons other than a rational appraisal of arguments and evidence. Is it ever rational to convert to a religion? Whether it is or not, some argue that one's religious choices don't need to be rationally justified, that such choices shouldn't primarily be a matter of intellectual justification. Decisions of this sort are, perhaps, akin to questions about one?s preferences for food, music, or jobs.
4) WHAT DOES PSYCHOANALYSIS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT A RATIONAL APPROACH TO ETHICS? If subconscious desires, wishes, beliefs, fears, and so on exist in the way that psychoanalytic theory says, does that make it difficult or impossible to take a rational approach to one's ethical choices and deliberations?
5) ARE DEAF PARENTS MORALLY OBLIGED TO CURE THEIR DEAF CHILDREN WITH COCHLEAR IMPLANTS? Many deaf parents put forth the following objections. First, they fear that giving their deaf children the ability to hear will destroy the close connection between them, causing the children to belong to a different culture than their parents. Second, they object that deafness is not necessarily an impairment; they prefer to see it as differently-abled rather than disabled. Third, they see the requirement to cure deaf children as tantamount to a mandate to eliminate the unique culture (or subculture) and language of deaf Americans.
---------------------------
Send in a vote for your favorite topic(s) now! If you have any suggestions for future topics, send those, too.
-----------------
DIRECTIONS to the Yahoo! Center (formerly the Colorado Center) Community Room: 2500 Broadway, at 25th st, between Cloverfield & 26th, Santa Monica, 90404-3065, 310-453-0333. From the 405 fwy, take the I-10 fwy toward Santa Monica - go 2.2 mi. Take the CLOVERFIELD BLVD exit, turn Right on CLOVERFIELD BLVD. Go a half mile, turn Right on BROADWAY, go a quarter mile, park near 25th st. Parking is free on Sundays on Broadway & nearby streets, but most of 25th st is off limits; they will ticket you!
The Community Room is directly on Broadway at 25th st, at the corner of the building, a few feet from the "HBO Symantec" sign, right across the street from the LA Art Institute and a bicycle shop. The room is not labeled, but you will notice its glass doors and plenty of windows with blinds on them. If you have trouble finding parking on the street, ample free parking is available in the parking garage beneath the building. The garage entrance is on the other side of the Colorado Center, so take Broadway to 26th st, turn right, take your first right (Colorado ave); the garage entrance is at 2401 Colorado, on your right, just before Cloverfield. When you enter the garage, go straight as far as you can, turn right, go as far as you can and park near the 2500 building, where the "HBO" sign is. Walk up the stairs or take the elevator to "G" (the ground level), exit the building, take the short pathway until you can take a left (tennis courts will be in front of you), stop when you reach Broadway. The Community Room is a few feet to your left. If you input your address & "2500 Broadway" at http://www.mapquest.com or http://maps.yahoo.com/, a map and driving directions will magically appear.
----
If you weren't with us last time, you missed our discussion of the pros and cons of a world government. Don't miss this month's meeting!
Brian
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