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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! (July 15, 2:00 PM, Community Room of the Yahoo! Center, Santa Monica)
| From: | Brian |
| Sent on: | Tuesday, July 10, 2007 5:06 PM |
Hi Everyone!
Our monthly Meetup ( http://philosophynow.meetup.com/30/ and http://philosophy-in-LA.tribe.net ) is happening this Sunday, July 15, 2:00pm - 4:30pm! We'll be at our usual venue, the Community Room of the Yahoo! center (AKA the Colorado 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: August 19 at 5pm, September 16 at 5pm, and October 21 at 5p. Mark these dates on your calendar!)
For more info, or to be on our regular emailing list, email me at [address removed]
Feel free to join us for dinner and more conversation after the meeting at the nearby and good "Earth, Wind and Flour" restaurant.
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 or Thursday, letting you know which topic won the vote, and what optional readings we have!
1) SELF-DECEPTION: How is it possible to deceive yourself? What exactly is self-deception? Is it always negative, or does it have its salutary side, too? Are we morally responsible for deceiving ourselves? Is it morally wrong?
2) WHAT DUTIES DO WE HAVE TO OURSELVES AND TO OTHERS? Whether you think that ethical action reduces to just one duty (e.g., "each action should bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number") or an entire list of duties, come tell us what you deem your obligations in life to be. Even if you don't usually think in terms of living your life by duties, are your actions nevertheless in accord with particular ethical rules? If you are skeptical of the very idea that we have any duties or obligations at all, ask yourself, "What do I feel guilty about doing or not doing? What in life is worth doing? What is the point of doing anything at all?" Your best answer to that can count as your provisional list of duties worthy of living by
3) ARE NUMBERS (AND THE OTHER STUFF REFERRED TO IN MATHEMATICS) REAL AND INDEPENDENT OF PEOPLE, OR ARE THEY HUMAN CONSTRUCTS? Or, are they something in between, or something else altogether?
4) FRIENDSHIP: what does it mean to be a good friend? What is the nature of friendship?
5) GENETICALLY-MODIFIED FOODS: how do we decide whether to, or how rapidly to, introduce such a technology? And, if we as a society decide to accept the risks and benefits of this technology, who should accept the responsibility for cleaning up the messes that will inevitably result?
If society imposes heavy regulation, risks and potential benefits are greatly reduced and delayed. This philosophy, endorsed by many environmentalists, is sometimes codified as, "The Precautionary Principle." The contrasting approach of minimal regulation advocated by many economic libertarians (sometimes under the label of "The Proactionary Principle") enjoys the opposite risks and benefits.
In this case, the (probable) substantial benefits would be greatly increased and sped up, of course, as would the unintended, harmful consequences. Moreover, it is difficult to predict the degree and kind of risks involved. When something goes wrong, the benefit of hindsight tempts us to think that we should have known what to expect and how to prevent it. But, no matter how much we study a technology before releasing it, unpredictable risks will remain, only to be discovered when the innovation is put into widespread use.
---------------------------
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 (AKA 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 about freedom and free will. 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, July 15, 2:00pm - 4:30pm! We'll be at our usual venue, the Community Room of the Yahoo! center (AKA the Colorado 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: August 19 at 5pm, September 16 at 5pm, and October 21 at 5p. Mark these dates on your calendar!)
For more info, or to be on our regular emailing list, email me at [address removed]
Feel free to join us for dinner and more conversation after the meeting at the nearby and good "Earth, Wind and Flour" restaurant.
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 or Thursday, letting you know which topic won the vote, and what optional readings we have!
1) SELF-DECEPTION: How is it possible to deceive yourself? What exactly is self-deception? Is it always negative, or does it have its salutary side, too? Are we morally responsible for deceiving ourselves? Is it morally wrong?
2) WHAT DUTIES DO WE HAVE TO OURSELVES AND TO OTHERS? Whether you think that ethical action reduces to just one duty (e.g., "each action should bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number") or an entire list of duties, come tell us what you deem your obligations in life to be. Even if you don't usually think in terms of living your life by duties, are your actions nevertheless in accord with particular ethical rules? If you are skeptical of the very idea that we have any duties or obligations at all, ask yourself, "What do I feel guilty about doing or not doing? What in life is worth doing? What is the point of doing anything at all?" Your best answer to that can count as your provisional list of duties worthy of living by
3) ARE NUMBERS (AND THE OTHER STUFF REFERRED TO IN MATHEMATICS) REAL AND INDEPENDENT OF PEOPLE, OR ARE THEY HUMAN CONSTRUCTS? Or, are they something in between, or something else altogether?
4) FRIENDSHIP: what does it mean to be a good friend? What is the nature of friendship?
5) GENETICALLY-MODIFIED FOODS: how do we decide whether to, or how rapidly to, introduce such a technology? And, if we as a society decide to accept the risks and benefits of this technology, who should accept the responsibility for cleaning up the messes that will inevitably result?
If society imposes heavy regulation, risks and potential benefits are greatly reduced and delayed. This philosophy, endorsed by many environmentalists, is sometimes codified as, "The Precautionary Principle." The contrasting approach of minimal regulation advocated by many economic libertarians (sometimes under the label of "The Proactionary Principle") enjoys the opposite risks and benefits.
In this case, the (probable) substantial benefits would be greatly increased and sped up, of course, as would the unintended, harmful consequences. Moreover, it is difficult to predict the degree and kind of risks involved. When something goes wrong, the benefit of hindsight tempts us to think that we should have known what to expect and how to prevent it. But, no matter how much we study a technology before releasing it, unpredictable risks will remain, only to be discovered when the innovation is put into widespread use.
---------------------------
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 (AKA 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 about freedom and free will. Don't miss this month's meeting!
Brian
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