When: 6:30pm for a 7pm start on Wednesday October 5
Where: Tsubu Bar/café, Campus, rear 1888 Building

Food and drinks (alcoholic and non) available before and after the talk.

Come along for another fun, stimulating, informal evening of philosophical discussion.

When Buddhist thought has migrated from one culture to another, it has often changed in the process. Buddhist thought is now starting to move into Western cultures, and no doubt it will change accordingly. What will a Buddhist ethics be like in this new cultural setting?

When: 6:30pm for a 7pm start on Wednesday August 10
Where: Tsubu Bar/café, Campus, rear 1888 Building

Food and drinks (alcoholic and non) available before and after the talk.

Come along for another fun, stimulating, informal evening of philosophical discussion.

Peter Singer is Australia’s best-known public intellectual. His groundbreaking 1975 book, Animal Liberation, made him an internationally famous figure and helped launch the animal rights movement. He is currently president of Animal Rights International, co-founder and President of The Great Ape Project, and Vice-President of the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (UK). His many books on ethics and philosophy include: Democracy and Disobedience, Practical Ethics, The Expanding Circle: ethics and sociobiology, Marx, Hegel, How Are We to Live?, Rethinking Life and Death, A Darwinian Left, One World: Ethics and globalization, The Way We Eat: Why our food choices matter, and The Life You Can Save: Acting now to end world poverty

Time: 
Wednesday, 27 July 2011 at 6.30pm

Place: 
Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre
(Corner Swanston Street and Monash Road)
No parking available on campus.

To book a place, go here.

What exactly do we mean when we say science is objective? Does this refer to the ideal of unbiased judgment of individual scientists, the rigorous application of the scientific method, or the focus on an underlying reality rather than subjective appearances? Some argue that the objectivity of scientific inquiry is secured, not by the practice of individual researchers, but rather by the scientific community as a whole — scientific inquiry is fundamentally ‘social’ in character. I will discuss the idea that (social and political) values might sometimes actually play a role in making science more objective!

When: 6:30pm for a 7pm start on Tuesday May 3
Where: Tsubu Bar/café, Campus, rear 1888 Building

Food and drinks (alcoholic and non) available before and after the talk.

Come along for another fun, stimulating, informal evening of Philosophical Discussion.

What is it to have a mind? Could your mind survive the death of your body? Or do you and your mental life cease to exist as soon as your brain stops functioning? Which things have minds – dogs, spiders, robots, trees, planets? Is it ever possible to know for sure whether these things have minds? These big questions about the relation between minds and bodies are still hotly disputed: philosophers and scientists disagree not just about the answers but also about what evidence is relevant to answering them.

When: 6:30pm for a 7pm start on Tuesday April 5
Where: Tsubu Bar/café, Campus, rear 1888 Building

Food and drinks (alcoholic and non) available before and after the talk.

Come along for another fun, stimulating, informal evening of Philosophical Discussion.

There are many practical situations where we have to deal with life’s inconsistencies: moral dilemmas, public policy, friendship and love. But are the contradictions real, or only apparent? We’ll talk about how to tell the difference between difficult situations and full- blown paradoxes, what to do about them.

When: 6:30pm for a 7pm start on Tuesday March 15
Where: Tsubu Bar/café, Campus, rear 1888 Building

Food and drinks (alcoholic and non) available before and after the talk.

Come along for an informal evening of Philosophical Discussion.

When: 6:30pm for a 7pm start on Tuesday August 24
Where: Tsubu Bar/café, Campus, rear 1888 Building

Food and drinks (alcoholic and non) available before and after the talk.

Come along for an informal evening of Philosophical Discussion.

G. Higgins Lectureship in Philosophy (History of Philosophy)

AOS: History of Philosophy
AOC: Open

This position is a 3-year Lectureship (Level B) in the area of the History of Modern Philosophy, up to the end of the nineteenth century, including the rise of the rationalist and empiricist traditions, as well as the Kantian and post-Kantian era. You will be expected to research, teach and administer at levels commensurate with the level of the position. You must be a proven and successful teacher with a strong record of research.

Further details can be found online at the University Careers Website.

Closing date: 15 August 2010 (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

For more inquiries about the position, please contact Greg Restall.

The second Philosophy Café for 2010 will feature Associate Professor Greg Restall. He will kick off the discussion with a short presentation asking: Is God a Delusion?

Hear what Greg has to say on this topic, and engage in freewheeling discussion afterwards. All are welcome! If you’re interested in what people believe about ultimate reality and why, this should be a fun discussion. Hopefully we’ll generate more light than heat. We’ll enjoy philosophical discussion with friends, good food and drink.

Here are the details: 6:30pm for a 7pm start, Tuesday May 4, at Tsubu Bar in the 1888 Building on the Parkville Campus of the University of Melbourne (enter Gate 6 on Swanston Street). There’ll be good food and drink to order, plenty of people with whom you’ll get to talk philosophy. If it’s anything like the last philosophy café it’ll be a great evening out.

Spread the word and invite your friends.