Vote result for this Sunday's Philosophy Now Meetup! (August 12, 2:00 PM, Community Room of the Yahoo! Center, Santa Monica)

Hello Philosophy Fans!

This is a reminder that our monthly Meetup (  http://philosophynow.meetup.com/30/  and    http://philosophy-in-LA.tribe.net ) is happening this Sunday, August 12, 2:00pm - 4:30pm-- see below for the topic!  Please bring a printout of this email with you.  (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:   September 16 at 5pm, and October 21 at 5pm, November 18 at 2pm.  Mark these dates on your calendar!) 

We'll be at our usual venue, the Community Room of the Yahoo! center (formerly the Colorado Center ), 2500 Broadway, between Cloverfield & 26th, Santa Monica, 90404, 310-453-0333.  Detailed driving directions are at the end of this email.  

What are we talking about this Sunday?   This winning topic of this month's email vote is...

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 or duties?   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.  

It's very helpful (though not required) if, before the meeting, you write a list of the duties you deem yourself to have.   Try to state your duties in as wide and general form as possible.   For example, instead of saying that you have a duty to protect your immediate family, you might say that your duty is to protect all those people you love, or all those who depend on you for their well-being (for example).   In addition to listing or telling us your duties, give us reasons why you choose each of your duties. 

Here's a concept that may be useful to your thinking on the issue and to drawing up a list of your own duties.   Some philosophers claim that our ethical obligations are best understood as consisting of one or more "prima facie" duties, that is, duties we have "on the face of it," duties that we have in general, as a rule, but not necessarily in all situations.  These are not absolute rules or duties.  

For example, we might have a general, prima facie duty to not harm others, though exceptions to this rule probably exist, e.g., when it conflicts with another duty that takes precedence in that situation, such as the duty to defend yourself or another innocent person against a violent attack.   The idea is that, just because a duty isn't followed in every possible situation does not mean that it's not a real, legitimate duty.  It's a rule that's highly valued and that we must attempt to follow as much as possible.   We must have a good, justifiable reason to make any exceptions to adhering to the duty. 

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OPTIONAL READING:    note that our discussion is topic-based, rather than focusing on the readings.  However, if you'd like to read something to inspire and stimulate your interest or thinking on the matter, or clarify the ideas involved, I have an article for you.   As mentioned above, a useful and simple way to think about Ethical or Moral duties is in terms of the ideas put for by W.D. Ross, a philosopher who conceived of ethics in terms of "prima facie" duties.   For your reading pleasure, the following web page explains what this is all about: 

http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/ethics/rossethc.htm     (3271 words, about 6.5 pages)

As always, feel free to read or skim this article, or not, or anything else on the issue you find.   Most importantly, come to our discussion with your own ideas, musings, questions, and paper on which to jot down your thoughts!

OUR WEBSITE:   you can find excerpts of these texts at, and you can post your own ideas to, the discussion board of our website, both before and after Sunday's meeting, at  http://philosophy-in-LA.tribe.net

--just click on the discussion board topic at the top, " What Duties Do We Have To Ourselves & Others?"   If you hate clicking more than once to find anything, try the direct link, http://philosophy-in-la.tribe.net/thread/b48bd8f2-37d3-4a10-8165-a8550f44949a

For those interested, here are the full vote-by-email results: 

1)   World Government:   Yes Or No?      (17.00 Votes)

2)   What Duties Do We Have To Ourselves And To Others?        (20.0 Votes)

3)   Is It Possible To Be Rationally Persuaded To Convert To A Religion?       (12.25 Votes)

4)   Friendship: What Does It Mean To Be A Good Friend?   What Is The Nature Of Friendship?    (13.25 Votes)

5)   Genetically-Modified Foods       (6.25 Votes)

(You may have noticed that the votes do not come in whole numbers.  This is not because fractions of a person turn in votes, but because you receive one vote for your top choice, a half vote for your 2 ^nd choice (if you had one), a quarter vote for your 3^rd choice, and so on.)

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DIRECTIONS to the Yahoo! Center (AKA Colorado Center) Community Room :  2500 Broadway, at 25^th st, between Cloverfield & 26^th, 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 25^th st.   Parking is free on Sundays on Broadway & nearby streets, but most of 25 ^th st is off limits; they will ticket you! 

The Community Room is directly on Broadway at 25^th 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 26 ^th 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.

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See you there!

Brian