Philosophy Cafe at John Hansard Gallery
Seeking food for thought in your lunch
hour? Join us for the latest free, informal discussions,
open to all. No booking required
but admission on a first come, first served
basis. In partnership with Philosophy at the
University of Southampton.
External World Scepticism, or What If You're In The Matrix?
Conor McHugh
Thursday 16 February / 1–2pm
In the film 'The Matrix', the main character discovers that his life is an illusion - all of his experiences have come from a perfect computer simulation fed into his brain. This is a modern version of thought-experiments employed by philosophers for hundreds of years. Does the seeming fact that we can't tell that we're not in the Matrix show that we don't know anything about the world around us? And if you *are* in the Matrix, exactly what difference does it make?
Authenticity: what is it to be oneself?
Denis McManus
Thursday 1 March / 1–2pm
The anxiety that we are, in some way, not being ourselves can seem both puzzling and all too familiar. This worry is also an anxiety that has been explored by many of the great philosophers and became in the twentieth century a central theme in existentialism, as the worry that our lives are 'inauthentic'. But what is authenticity? What is to be oneself? And if one isn't oneself, what can one do about it?
Further details: http://www.soton.ac.uk/humanitieslearn/philosophy/courses/index.html
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