ETHICAL SOCIETY
Forthcoming Library Events/Lectures –
ETHICAL YEAR 2008
For 200 years SPES has been a focus for serious discussion of basic ethical principles and it maintains a proud tradition of free enquiry in all areas of thought and action. It is a centre of self-education and a forum for the public debate of philosophical and related issues, including current scientific and social controversies.
SPES is now an educational charity and the programme it organises consists of its traditional Sunday morning lectures by guest speakers, Sunday afternoon meetings, evening classes and the annual Conway Memorial Lecture. A new tradition is the annual Skene Memorial Lecture, on a psychological topic, held in the summer. Our monthly journal, Ethical Record publishes summaries of the lectures along with news, information and a lively Viewpoints column.
Please ring 020
7242 8037/4 for further information or email library@ethicalsoc.org.uk
ETHICAL SOCIETY PROGRAMME 2008
– A VERY HAPPY HUMANIST 2008 TO YOU ALL
Library unless stated, all welcome, no charge unless stated
* ** to keep informed, subscribe
to SPESEVENTS@yahoo.co.uk***
ETHICAL SOCIETY PROGRAMME 2008
***
DON’T MISS SUNDAY 20 JULY SPECIAL LECTURE 1100 !!!!!! ******
DR EVAN HARRIS MP, NSS HONORARY ASSOCIATE
MY WORK IN PARLIAMENT FOR FREE SPEECH
Hear how blasphemy
was finally abolished!!!
Details below. No
charge, All
welcome
JULY 08
THURS 17 PER GROUP LAUNCH OF 4th PER REVIEW and
TALK:
1800- Exotic Infinity & a Long Decline of
Confidence in Mathematics
1930
Christopher Ormell
Buffet all welcome
SUNDAY 20
1100
MY WORK IN PARLIAMENT FOR FREE SPEECH
Dr Evan Harris MP,
NSS Honorary Associate
1500 WHY DO WE HAVE WARS?
Short
Talk by Derek Gregory
To stimulate open discussion
MONDAY 21
1830-
CONWAY HALL JAZZ APPRECIATION GROUP
A Tribute to Humphrey Lyttelton
TUESDAY 22
1900
SECULAR FEMINISTS’ MEET UP GROUP
Sue Meyer all welcome
SUNDAY 27 JULY
0930-1930 all day COACH TRIP TO LEWES, get on the
trail of Thomas Paine
£20 fare Tel
0207 242 8037/4 to book/enquiries
All welcome
TUESDAY 29
SECOND HAND BOOK
1100-1900
AUGUST 08 – no meetings
SEPTEMBER 2008
THURS 11 ETHICAL SOCIETY BOOK CLUB
1900 PRISON MEMOIRS OF AN ANARCHIST
By Alexander Berkman
Facilitated by Sarah Loewenbein
SUNDAY 14
1500
BOOK LAUNCH
PROGESSIVE SECULAR SOCIETY
and
other Essays Relevant to Secularism
by Tom Rubens,
Ethical Society member
Societas – essays in
political and cultural criticism
Imprint Academic 2008
Tom Rubens teaches in the humanities
at secondary and tertiary
levels and feels that secular values need
re-affirming in the face of the
resurgence of aggressive supernatural religious doctrines
and practices.
This book includes a set of ‘Secular Thoughts of the
Day’ on topics as varied as
Shakespeare, Comte, science and social action.
SUNDAY 21
ANNUAL
1430
Keynote Speaker Prof. Rob Tielman
The Future of
European Humanism
Kindred Groups bring news
and greetings,
there
is musical entertainment and
superior
refreshments.
All welcome
JULY 08
SUNDAY 6
1100 ISLAM MEANS SURRENDER – AND THAT’s ADDRESSED TO US
Barbara Smoker
1500
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE FROM OUR SUNDAY
AFTERNOONS?
Open House Chaired by Ed McArthur
***** WED 9 VIRGINIA CLARK MEMORIAL LECTURE ********
1900
VIRGINIA WOOLF AND MADNESS:
TRAUMA IN MRS. DALLOWAY
Given by
DR. SUZETTE A. HENKE, Professor of English,
Chaired by Dr Jean Moorcroft
Wilson,
Virginia Clark volunteered many hours in the Library
THURS 10
ETHICAL SOCIETY BOOK CLUB
1900 SEXUAL PERSONAE: Art and Decadence
from
Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson
by Camille Paglia.
Facilitated by Sebastian
Hayes.
Excerpt
from Sexual Personae : Art and Decadence from
Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson.
http://privat.ub.uib.no/bubsy/astro.htm
FRIDAY
11 GALHA PLAY Fire and
Brimstone Productions
1930 Gaud and Bennett – the story of DeRobigne Mortimer
Bennett (1818–1882), the
last man to be imprisoned for blasphemy in the
Fire and Brimstone Productions is a group of freethinkers and their friends
who arrange dramatisations based on
events in freethought history. This play marks the abolition of the common law offences of blasphemy and
blasphemous libel in
SUNDAY 13
1100
RELIGIOUS DRESS IN MODERN SOCIETY
Carla Revere, Barrister, NSS Council
Member
1500
THE TEACHING OF RELIGION IN SCHOOLS? - DEBATE
Ed McArthur says, no we shouldn’t
SUNDAY 27 JULY
0930-1930 all day COACH
TRIP TO LEWES etc.
£20 fare.
Tel. 0207 242 8034/7 to book
All welcome
Don’t
leave it until the coach is fully booked !!!!!!!!
JUNE 2008
SUNDAY 1
1100 THE ARCHERS,
PETER HITCHENS AND THE CONSERVATIVE
CRITIQUE OF THE MEDIA
David Murray
Former editor of Ethical Record, Oxford History
student, Performance Poet.
www.livejournal.com/users/david_murray
1500 ALLEGRO BARBARO
A film by
Zsuzsanna Ardo
A visual poem to music about creativity and trauma
SUNDAY 8
1100 THE DEEPER CAUSES OF THE
COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET BLOC
Peter Gowan,
1430- HOW
CIVIL LIBERTIES HAVE BEEN DAMAGED
1630
WHILE TONY BLAIR WAS PRIME MINISTER
(video)
SUNDAY 15
1100
SPINOZA ON SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS LAW
Professor Susan James
Dept. of Philosophy,
1500 THE
MEDIAEVAL MIND - ATTITUDES TO WOMEN AND SEX
Sue Meyer DVD
MONDAY 16
1830 CONWAY HALL JAZZ CLUB
SUNDAY 22
1100 WHY
PEOPLE SHOULDN’T GET WHAT THEY WANT
Dr Bob Brecher
Director of Centre for Applied Philosophy,
Politics and Ethics
1500 HOW
EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS ARE TRYING TO INFILTRATE
BRITISH POLITICS video
WED 25
1100-1700
CONWAY HALL BOOK
Bargains galore
SUNDAY 29
1100 SCHOPENHAUER : On the Basis of Morality
Tom Rubens
1500 Trainee Priests – 20 Years On video
MAY 08
Bank Holiday Sunday 4
No morning
meeting
1430
BRITISH DEMOCRACY WORKS
Argues Dr Pedram Kazemi-Esfarjani
Facilitator Ed
McArthur
Thursday
8 SPES BOOK CLUB
1900-
2100 Rimbaud's Une Saison en Enfer, a new translation complete with
notes and
an essay Rimbaud Revisited 1968-2006 by Sebastian Hayes.
Facilitated by
the poem's translator and essay author, Sebastian Hayes
Saturday 10 MAY
12-5 1968 AND ALL THAT DAY in Library
12midday Ron
Heisler: Art & Revolution
1300 Hornsey College of Art Sit in
Reminiscences
1400 Ken Worpole – Nicolas Walter
Commemorative Lecture;
1500 Sheila Rowbotham – the Personal
& the Political in 1968
1600 Jeremy Corbyn. LIndsay German
: Stopping the War in
1968 and 2008
Sunday 11
1100
BUILDING SOCIETIES – THE REAL STORY
Alan Debenham
1500 THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE DEAD (video)
With Dan Cruikshank – international observations
Of the renowned architecture historian
Sunday 18
1100
BRITISH ANARCHISM AND FREEDOM PRESS
BROCKWAY ROOM
DONALD ROOUM
1500
FREE SPEECH & PORN – how far do we go?
Ed McArthur
BANK HOLIDAY SUNDAY - 25
MAY
1100 W.E.
(BILL) SWINTON, THE FIRST DR DINOSAUR
- SPES APPOINTED LECTURER 1953-61. An Appreciation
Mike Howgate
1430 SPES
BRING AND SHARE SOCIAL
Please bring food & drink to share
(not only loaves and fishes)
MAY 2008
TUESDAY
27
SECULAR FEMINIST MEET UP GROUP
1900 FEMINISM FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
Sue Lord. Males welcome
APRIL 08
Sunday 6
1100
POLITICAL EDUCATION BROCKWAY ROOM
Mrs Nita McCROSSAN, Retd.
1500 HOW DO
WE FIGHT RELIGION?
Discussion in Libary
Thursday 10 SPES BOOK CLUB
1900- Natural Law by Robert Anton Wilson
2100
Facilitated by Steve Ash .
Sunday 13
1100
CUTTING GOD IN HALF AND PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER
Nicholas Maxwell
1500
STEPHEN HAWKING – MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE Pt 1 video
Prof. Bernard Carr appears
`
Sunday 20
1100 THE CAMPAIGN TO MAKE WARS HISTORY
Chris Coverdale
1500 STEPHEN HAWKING – MASTER OF THE
UNIVERSE Pt 2 video
Prof. Bernard Carr appears
Monday 21 CONWAY HALL JAZZ CLUB
1830
Tuesday
22
Secular Feminist Meetup Group
1900
Sue Mayer
male secular feminists welcome
Sunday 27
1100 THE STRANGENESS OF MEMORY
Chris Bratcher
1500 ARE WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE? (video)
MARCH 08
Sat’day 1
ERIC PAINE MEMORIAL LECTURE of the THOMAS PAINE SOCIETY
1400 PAINE, SPENCE, CHARTISM & THE REAL RIGHTS OF MAN
Dr. Malcolm Chase,
Sunday 2
1100 COSMOLOGY AND
RELIGION
Prof. Bernard
Carr,
Dept. Astronomy,
1500 Controversial Discussion
IS
Chair Ed
McArthur
SCIENCE WEEK
Sunday 9
1100 GLOBAL WARMING: the sceptics’s
view
Mike Howgate
1500
WE NEED CIVIL NUCLEAR ENERGY
John Edwards
THURS
13 ETHICAL SOCIETY BOOK CLUB
1830 tea
Catching them Young
by Bob Dixon
19-2100 Vol.
1, Sex Race and Class in Children's Fiction
(Vol
2, Political Ideas in Children's Fiction if anyone wishes)
The book is out of print but both
volumes have been published on the internet
Facilitator: Sue
Mayer
Saturday 15
1500
Memorial Meeting for Peter Cadogan
St James’s
Church, Piccadilly, basement
Sunday 16
1100 SPES COMMEMORATION OF Peter Cadogan
Piano intro by daughter Claire
Cadogan as in 1970s Meetings
EXUBERANCE IS BEAUTY
Tim Heath
Chair of The Blake Society
(as was Peter Cadogan)
Founder
of the
He
occupies rooms in William Blake's only surviving house in
SCIENCE WEEK
1500 DOES PHYSICS ALLOW FREE WILL?
asks Norman Bacrac
Mon
17 Conway Hall Jazz Appreciation Group
1830
EASTER
SUNDAY
23
no meeting
Tues 26 SECULAR FEMINIST MEET UP GROUP, men
welcome
Sue Mayer
Sunday 30
1100 ON BEING JEWISH
: personal, historical, sociological,
reflections
Isaac Ascher
1500 PURSUED BY DEMONS: A rational approach to the drink problem
Terry Liddle
FEBRUARY 08
SUNDAY 3
1100 FOSSILS AND FOLKLORE
Dr Chris Duffin
Palaeontologist
1500 Controversial Discussion
IS
Chair Ed McCarthur
SUNDAY 10
1100 BUDDHIST
ETHICS FOR THE U.K
Rev. Dr
Sumani-Siri
Buddhist Realists’ Centre
1500 MASS SUICIDE AT JONESTOWN
RELIGIOUS COMMUNE, 1978
The world’s
biggest? video
To Mark Darwin Day 12 Feb
THURS
14 ETHICAL SOCIETY BOOK CLUB
1830
tea The Blind Watchmaker by
19-2100
Facilitator: Donald Rooum
SUNDAY 17
1100 THE END FOR BLASPHEMY? ITS PAST AND ITS
FUTURE
David Nash,
Reader in
History,
1500
PERMACULTURE: Earth Care, People
Care, Fair Shares
Mark Warner
SUNDAY 24