Philosophical Communities Jules Evans and Thomas Dixon Background

Connected Communities Philosophical Communities Jules Evans and Thomas Dixon Background Executive Summary Researchers and Project Partners Grassroots philosophy groups have Project leads proliferated in the UK, the US and beyond Jules Evans over the last 15 years. This is in part thanks Policy Director, Centre for the History to social networking websites like meetup. of the Emotions, Queen Mary, University com and Facebook, which have made it of London. easier for organisers to publicise their groups: there are now 846 philosophy Thomas Dixon groups on meetup.com alone, some of Director, Centre for the History of them with thousands of members. Today, the Emotions, Queen Mary, University philosophy groups meet in pubs, cafes, of London. bookstores, parks, old people’s homes, Project partners prisons, in virtual worlds and elsewhere. Such groups challenge formal models Jonathan Rowson of education and traditional divisions Director of the Social Brain Centre, RSA between high and mass culture, and Charles Seaford affirm the public’s appetite for informal Head of the Centre for Well-Being, new philosophical discussion. economics foundation This project examines and promotes the Paul Doran contemporary rise of grassroots philosophy National Director, Philosophy in Pubs groups. The project’s outputs consist of a David R. Buchanan 30,000-word research report, a seminar, Director, Institute for Global Health and a website (www.thephilosophyhub.com), and has generated over 20 media articles Seminar participants and interviews so far. The report seeks to Steve Bramall map the landscape of grassroots philosophy SBA groups, and to bring together existing research findings and resources regarding Lizzy Lewis those groups. The report seeks to ask: who SAPERE goes to philosophy groups, and what do they Graeme Tiffany get from them? It looks into the historical Community Philosophy precedents for contemporary philosophy Paul Doran, Arthur Adlen, Barbara Perry groups. Finally, the report suggests ways that and others groups could develop in the future. Philosophy in Pubs Sid Rodrigues Skeptics in the Pub Rob Craven London Philosophy Club 1 Rick Lewis Key words Philosophy Now Richard Baron Community philosophy Philosophy for All Grassroots philosophy Nash Popovic Street philosophy Psychology in Pubs Philosophy clubs Mass intelligentsia Windy Dryden and Phil Pearl Informal learning CBT Meetup Well-being James Garvey Belonging Royal Institute of Philosophy Nichole Barbery Bleyleben Mums’ Dasein Karen MacMillan Fresh Air Brighton Natalie Banner Kings College London Marilyn Mason Kingston Philosophy Club Alexandra Jurgenrau Brunel University Andrew Shaw QMUL Paul Hains Aeon Graham Johnson journalist Lawrence Darani Barking & Dagenham College 2 PHILOSOPHICAL COMMUNITIES A brief history of philosophical communities In the first section of the report, we attempt to The rise of the mass sketch a social networks history of philosophy, similar to Randall Collins’ Sociology of intelligentsia Philosophies (Collins 1998) but with more of a focus on philosophy groups outside of In this section we bring the social history academia. We highlight historical moments of philosophy groups into the modern age, when philosophy groups flourished, and look examining the expansion of higher education at the innovation of new forms of community in the 1960s, and the rise of what sociologists throughout history. have called the mass intelligentsia (Flacks 1970, Bell 1973). We look at how, in the last We begin in ancient Greece, looking at the few decades, the division between high and symposium, the cult, the academy and mass culture has become blurred through the commune (Nussbaum 1996), and then the rise of ‘mass intelligent culture’ (Parker look at humanist circles in the Renaissance 2008, Evans 2012). We examine some of the (Wojciehowski 2011), at Italian academies community forms this has led to, such as (Everson et al, forthcoming); the Royal reading groups (Hartley 2002), literary festivals Society (Hunter 1989); salons (Craveri 2005), and ideas events. We contextualise the growth coffeehouses (Cowan Williams 2005), and of philosophy clubs within this rise of mass clubs like the Select Society in Edinburgh intelligent culture. (Rae 1895). We follow the expansion of the conversation Mapping the grassroots in 19th-century working-class pub philosophy groups like the London Corresponding philosophy landscape Society (Thompson 1963). We look at philanthropic adult education movements We then attempt to map the grassroots like Mechanics Institutes, Chautauquas philosophy landscape in Europe and the US, and Lyceums (Stubblefield & Keane 1994), identifying five main streams. We argue that all before looking at communities committed these streams grew out of the rise of the mass to more radical social reform, particularly intelligentsia in the 1960s, and from the desire among the Russian intelligentsia of the late to take philosophy beyond the ‘ivory tower’ 19th century (Berlin 1994). We then look at and apply it to social and personal problems. atheist communities in the 19th and early 20th century, including ethical societies and Applied ethics Humanist clubs (Dixon 2005). Finally, we examine the professionalisation of We examine how the applied ethics movement philosophy in the early 20th century (Campbell arose in the 1960s out of the Civil Rights 2006), and set it against the continued attempt movement, and how it developed into by some to connect philosophy to the wider bioethics (Jonsen 1997), animal ethics (Singer public through initiatives like the Worker’s 1975), feminist ethics (Brownmiller 2000), Education Association and the Plebs League environmental and business ethics (DeGeorge (Rose 2002). 2005) and other attempts to apply philosophy beyond academia. We identify some of the 3 grassroots social movements that have grown events like the Month of Philosophy in Holland out of applied ethics, including Greenpeace and or Les Nuits de Philosophie in France. Transition Towns (Graeber 2009). The revival of virtue ethics Matthew Lipman and Community Philosophy In the last 40 years there has been a revival of the ancient Greeks’ idea that philosophy should Matthew Lipman’s work on Philosophy For be a practical therapy for emotional suffering Children (P4C) has inspired a lot of research (Nussbaum 1996), and a way of life (Hadot and academic interest (Lipman 1991), but much 1995). We examine this revival in academia, less has been done on philosophy for adults, or in popular philosophy organisations like the ‘Community Philosophy’ as it has been called. School of Life and the Idler Academy, and also We look at the Socrates Cafe movement begun in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and by Lipman’s student, Christopher Phillips, Positive Psychology (Evans 2012, Robertson in the US (Phillips 2002). We also examine 2010). We look at some of the grassroots Community Philosophy projects that have initiatives this has led to, such as Action for developed in the UK around SAPERE, the Happiness and NewStoa. charity, including Philosophy in Pubs (Evans 2012), and projects with Age Concern and the The Skeptic movement Joseph Rowntree Foundation (Tiffany 2009). We consider the role of grassroots philosophy Finally, we look at the modern Skeptic groups in supporting deliberative democracy movement, which was launched by philosopher (Phillips 2012). Paul Kurtz and others in the late 1970s to try and spread critical thinking in mass society Philosophical Counseling and (Kurtz 2001). We explore how it has become Cafe Philo a flourishing grassroots informal learning movement via such networks as Skeptics in the Pub (Evans 2012). Philosophical Counseling was launched on the continent in the early 1980s as an alternative or rival to psychotherapy (Achenbach 1984). What do philosophy groups do It hasn’t taken off (Baggini 2010), but it did for their members? lead to the Café Philosophique (or Cafe Philo) movement, which was started by Marc Sautet In this section we draw on surveys and at the Café de Phares in Paris (Sautet 1995). interviews with community philosophy group We examine the success of the Cafe Philo organisers and members to try to outline some movement, and also look at the rise of popular of the reasons people join philosophy groups, philosophy magazines like Philosophie and and also why they set them up (Diament 2001). Philosophy Now, and their role in supporting We identify five main motives: for learning, for grassroots groups like Philosophy For All and sociability, for belonging, for self-help or well- 4 PHILOSOPHICAL COMMUNITIES being, and for civic and political mobilisation; early 20th centuries. We ask how to make and identify examples of groups that have philosophical communities places both of grown out of these various motivations. We social practice, and of compassion and care. also look at the importance of various locations 4. We recommend that we keep the to each group’s modus operandi. conversation going between philosophy groups, partly through the Philosophy Hub, Possible paths forward and also through events like philosophy festivals. We suggest groups get together 1. Both university-based academic philosophy annually for a grassroots philosophy and grassroots philosophy would benefit festival. And we recommend widening from closer links. Grassroots philosophy the conversation by building links with clubs would benefit from the expertise other philosophy groups beyond Europe and resources of universities, while and the US. A key research priority

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