Has Physics Destroyed Philosophy?
Fri, Dec 19 2014 02:28
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7.30pm. Thursday January 29th 2015 at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham B1 1BN.
Philosophy is dead, Stephen Hawking argues. It has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics.
So Raymond Tallis relates in his essay Should we just shut up and calculate? Does Physics need Philosophy?At Birmingham Salon, Tallis will explore the gulf separating science and philosophy – the contrast between the world as we experience it and its representation in the physical sciences.
It was not always this way. Tallis is at pains to point out that in ancient times, the philosopher and the physicist were often one and the same. “Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here” was reputedly inscribed at the entrance of Plato’s Academy. From the 16th century scientific revolution onwards, however, quantitative and empirical approaches progressively displaced ‘armchair speculations’. While Philosophy came to a standstill – or seemed to – science made spectacular advances that have transformed human lives.
So what’s the problem?
Our daily lived experience and scientific theory have parted company, Tallis says, and this is especially noticeable in relation to time. The Special Theory of Relativity sounded the death knell for ‘tensed time’ with its clearly delineated notions of past, present and future. And yet this is a reality that underpins the lives of everyone, including physicists. Einstein himself was troubled by the disappearance of the ‘now’ and its meaninglessness in physics. That the theory of relativity cannot accommodate our lived experience and the contrast between the knowable past and the unknowable future ought to concern us all, argues Tallis.
At the Birmingham Salon, Tallis will make the case for a philosophical approach to complement physics in reconciling scientific discovery with the everyday reality.
About Raymond Tallis
Professor Raymond Tallis is a philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic and was until recently a physician and clinical scientist. In autumn 2009 he was listed by the Economist'sIntelligent Life Magazineas one of the top living polymaths in the world.
Recommended Reading
Philosophy isn't dead yet. Raymond Tallis in The Guardian, 27 May 2013
Should we just shut up and calculate? Does Physics need Philosophy? In: Tallis, Raymond. Reflections of a metaphysical flâneur and other essays, 2013
Mistaking Mathematics for Reality In: Tallis Raymond. EpimetheanImaginings: Philosophical and other meditations on every day light, 2014.
Comments
The International Health Service: Will migration heal the nation?
Fri, Nov 28 2014 03:26
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7.30pm. Friday 9th January 2015, at Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 3AF
Does migration keep the NHS healthy or is it breaking the bank?
In the year ending March 2014, 243,000 people migrated into the UK. As an organisation with almost two million employees, it is reasonable to expect that some of these people will work in the NHS.
UKIP’s Head of Policy, Tim Aker, on the other hand, has argued that ‘open borders policies turned (the NHS) into an international health service’, linking migration to two billion pounds of NHS expenditure.
‘Efficiency savings’seem to have gained popularity as an effective treatment for the long term health of the NHS ever since former NHS Chief Executive Sir David Nicholson set his challenge to save £20 billion by 2015. The Health Minister, Lord Howe, has launched plans to extend NHS charges to migrants to stop the ‘abuse of our NHS’. The Department of Health claimed that these measures could recover £500 million.
An alternative view was put forward by Professor Sir Simon Wessely, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. On Radio Four’s Any Questions, he named and praised the Romanian social worker who helped his father when he was seriously unwell. Like the former President of the Royal College of GPs, Clare Gerada, he noted that you are more likely to meet an immigrant working as a doctor than sitting in the waiting room. ‘Bring them on’, he went on to say.
Speakers
Professor George Tadros: Consultant in old age liaison psychiatry and a clinical lead for the pioneering Rapid Assessment, Interface and Discharge (RAID) service based at City Hospital in Winson Green.
Gisela Stuart: Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston since 1997, and health minister under Tony Blair’s government.
Dr Luke Evans:Freelance GP in practices around the Edgbaston area. Prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Birmingham Edgbaston.
Phil Bennion: Former MEP for the West Midlands, arable farmer and Chairman of the National Farmers' Union in Staffordshire.
Ken McLaughlin: Senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, teaching sociology, social policy, mental health and social work.
Ken McLaughlin: Senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, teaching sociology, social policy, mental health and social work.
The debate is produced and chaired by Jonathan Hurlow, Member of the Birmingham Salon, Forensic Psychiatrist & former Research Officer for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform.
Recommended Readings
Guardian report on study suggesting that temporary migrants cost the NHS up to £2bn a year.
Collier, Paul. Exodus: Immigration and multiculturalism in the 21st century, 2013. Available on Amazonin printed and Kindle editions.
House of Commons report on NHS charges for visitors, October 2013.
Risky business? Fracking and the future of energy
Sun, Oct 12 2014 10:24
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Thursday 13th November 2014, 7.30 pm at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham, B1 1BN.
This Birmingham Salon debate is a satellite event of Battle of Ideas 2014.
In the UK, widespread disenchantment with the rising cost of fuel runs alongside fears that the dark days of power cuts are set to return.
How are we to generate the affordable and reliable sources of energy needed? As forecasters point to the doubling of global demand for fuel by 2050 – with the world’s population approaching nine billion – are politicians wrongly prioritising energy efficiency over availability?
In Europe, EU rules have led to the closure of many coal-fired power stations, and due to political prevarication, generating capacity has yet to recover. For the second half of this decade, the gap between peak demand and total power-station capacity will be close to zero.
Meanwhile, alternative energy solutions are mired in controversy. The Fukushima crisis of 2011 continues to overshadow the nuclear power industry. Onshore wind farms, biofuels and hydroelectric dams fail to generate consensus in terms of social and environmental impact.
So what about shale gas? Touted as a low-cost, low-carbon ‘bridge’ from coal to renewables, fracking nevertheless attracts noisy opposition, even at the test drilling stage. Are protesters’ fears valid, or have environmentalists simply united with NIMBY agendas?
A more radical approach might be to look beyond quick fixes such as shale and wind, towards more innovative solutions. That would sidestep the need to ‘break the earth’ at least. But right now, developments such as nuclear fusion are dismissed as unrealistic, and meanwhile energy supplies remain worryingly tight.
The real risk might be that a paralysing fear of the unknown prevents us from confronting a challenge that has huge implications for people’s lives.
How can the UK keep the lights on?
Speakers:
Chris Crean, regional campaigns co-ordinator (West Midlands), Friends of the Earth
James Woudhuysen, co-author, Energise! A future for energy innovation
Chair:
Helen Guldberg, director, spiked; author, Reclaiming Childhood and Just Another Ape
Recommended Readings
Professor David MacKay discusses land usage to meet energy requirements via different renewable energy routes.
Will Boisvert says we should embrace our high energy planet and refutes claims made by Naomi Klein about the energy solutions in the face of climate change.
US study finds that solar panels produced in China have high production-related pollution levels and carbon footprint.
Series of articles in The Guardian on the precautionary principle, which predicates much discussion on the risks of different types of energy solution.
Forced adoption, fatalities, and failure: what's up with the child protection system?
Mon, Sep 15 2014 03:24
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7.30pm. Thursday 9th October 2014, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham B1 1BN.
Speakers for this important debate include John Hemming MP, Chair of Justice for Families.
“The system keeps limping along – its feet bearing the self-inflicted gunshot wounds of trigger-happy policymakers." Professor Sue White, University of Birmingham
The Children and Families Act 2014 is the latest in a barrage of laws centred on the UK’s child protection system. Since the 1989 Children's Act, which established the primacy of child welfare and the importance of preserving home and family links where possible, an astonishing 21 further Acts of Parliament have focused on the protection of children.
So why have we seen such terrible fatalities over the same period?
Professionals point to problems such as performance targets, obsession with data, difficulties in recruiting and training social workers, and a lack of recognition of child protection issues in other professions leading to a failure of agencies to collaborate effectively.
But at the end of the day, the very system set up to monitor cases such as Victoria Climbie, Baby P, and Daniel Pelka, has failed to protect those children.
Recent campaigns highlighting the process of adopting out (forced adoption) children in care have indicated a possible class, disability, and race bias within the child protection system. And yet the Rotherham scandal suggests that it was the unquestioning culture of political correctness across the system that left large numbers of children open to sexual exploitation.
So is the child protection system interfering or incompetent? Is it under-funded, under-valued, over-stretched and over-criticised? Or is it overbearing and morally compromised to the point that it loses sight of its own principles?
Putting the headlines to one side, what does the system look like when it works well? And are we all to blame for demanding quick fixes, when longer-term solutions that address the full complexity of the issues would be more effective?
Speakers
John Hemming MP: Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley and Chair of Justice for Families
Professor Kate Morris: Professor of Social Work and Director of the Centre for Social Work, University of Nottingham
Recommended Readings
Forced Adoptions and Mums on the Run - BBC R4 programme
Professor Kate Morris and others on rethinking the child protection system
Cathy Ashley of the Family Rights Group voices concern about the Children and Families Act 2014
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2014/03/19/potential-injustices-likely-arise-children-families-act/Frank Furedi argues that making reporting of child abuse mandatory will be
self-defeating
http://www.frankfuredi.com/article/nspcc_not_in_the_best_interests_of_the_childThe suspicion that social work doesn't work has been reinforced by the Rotherham report
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/08/rotherham/Exceptionally independent? The Scottish Independence Referendum and the case for the Union
Mon, Jun 30 2014 02:09
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7.30pm. Thursday 11th September 2014, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham B1 1BN.
Questioning the value of patriotism and nationalism, Samuel Johnson declared in 1774 that: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." Scottish nationalism, the Yes campaign argue, is a modern, civic nationalism, devoid of older associations with racism and jingoism. And it's not the only nationalism enjoying increasing purchase today – a recent independence march in Edinburgh, for example, was attended by Catalan nationalists who are also looking to hold their own independence referendum. The nation state, supporters of Scottish devolution argue, is in decline around the world, being increasingly replaced by autonomous states working in economic and defence federations. Many argue that these resurgent national identities need not be viewed as parochial, inward looking or conservative, but rather reflect a new spirit of integration of smaller nations into the greater whole of the European Union, which itself aspires to act as a safeguard against sectarianism and the national conflicts of old.
The discussion about Scottish independence affects more than just the Scottish electorate - it calls into question the very union created by two acts of Parliament in 1706 and 1707, which formed the nation of Great Britain we live in today. Beyond the often uninspiring and tedious practicalities of the current independence debate lie some important principles.
Some maintain that Great Britain was the first modern society based not on ethnicity or race, but on shared purpose and beliefs. Rather than being ‘formed at the end of a bayonet’, as were so many other states in the same period, it was instead a product of Enlightenment thinking which recognised shared economic and political values, and an intricately linked history.
Some maintain that Great Britain was the first modern society based not on ethnicity or race, but on shared purpose and beliefs. Rather than being ‘formed at the end of a bayonet’, as were so many other states in the same period, it was instead a product of Enlightenment thinking which recognised shared economic and political values, and an intricately linked history.
Questioning the value of patriotism and nationalism, Samuel Johnson declared in 1774 that: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." Scottish nationalism, the Yes campaign argue, is a modern, civic nationalism, devoid of older associations with racism and jingoism. And it's not the only nationalism enjoying increasing purchase today – a recent independence march in Edinburgh, for example, was attended by Catalan nationalists who are also looking to hold their own independence referendum. The nation state, supporters of Scottish devolution argue, is in decline around the world, being increasingly replaced by autonomous states working in economic and defence federations. Many argue that these resurgent national identities need not be viewed as parochial, inward looking or conservative, but rather reflect a new spirit of integration of smaller nations into the greater whole of the European Union, which itself aspires to act as a safeguard against sectarianism and the national conflicts of old.
Can those in favour of the union today make a valid case for maintaining it? Or is the growth of competing nationalisms the next inevitable shift in these islands' history? In the midst of British anxieties about social cohesion, what effect will the breakup of the union have? As the notion of nation states is increasingly being called into question, what does it means to be British, or indeed Scottish, today?
Speakers
Justine Brian: Justine is the National Coordinator of the Debating Matters competition for sixth form students.
Dr Joe Jackson: Teaching Fellow, University of Warwick School of English Literature and Comparative Studies, Joe teaches "Devolutionary British Fiction 1940 to the present".
Recommended Readings
Jonathan Meades in his series on Scotland “Off Kilter” says that the independent nation is a delusional state.
Brendan O’Neill links the Scottish independence campaign to the “divisive cult of identity politics” and argues there is a moral case for the Union.
Working people are beginning to see the Independence Referendum as presenting “the possibility of taking back some power for themselves,"writes Jonathan Shafi, co-founder of the Radical Independence Campaign, in The Scotsman.
Writer Alasdair Gray does not have much faith in the SNP but hopes that independence will mean in 2016 a new set of MSPs without old party allegiances will be elected who will “thoroughly and publicly debate important matters.”
Both Farage and Galloway are wrong about Scottish Nationalism, according to the Bella Caledonia online magazine, which is instead "articulating a vision for an internationalist, multicultural Scotland."
Both Farage and Galloway are wrong about Scottish Nationalism, according to the Bella Caledonia online magazine, which is instead "articulating a vision for an internationalist, multicultural Scotland."
Patrick West gives an account of the differences between the Catalan and Scottish Independence campaigns.
How popular is pop music?
Tue, Apr 29 2014 01:30
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7.30pm. Thursday 12th June 2014, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham B1 1BN.
Has pop music lost its power over the hearts and minds of the young?
Debate among the nation’s music commentariat has intensified with the 20 year anniversary of Britpop. Symptoms of decline are numerous – from the collapse of NME sales to the rise of the reunion tour. As Salon speaker Neil Davenport notes, “Chart hits no longer have an era-defining quality.”
Should we look for the source of the problem within pop itself? Have we exhausted the possibilities of the three-minute record and the thematically-unified album? Or is there a broader malaise?
Bob Stanley isn’t the only music writer to point to the impact of digital technologies – the free and instant download culture that demands less of us, in both financial and emotional terms. But rather than view this as a technology-driven problem, some see a broader retreat into a pervasive “slow-developing popular culture where the past always wins”. Others accuse X Factor of killing organic channels that nurture emerging pop talent.
Has the relentless war on public drinking and shared space driven us into an atomised relationship with music, detached from fashion or cultural thought? Are we scared of the jagged edges of past pop movements such as punk? If today’s young people lack the creative drive and fearlessness that pop music feeds on, how has that happened?
On the other hand, reports of the demise of pop music may be much exaggerated.
Pop music has always moved along with shifts in technology. Is manufactured pop really killing grassroots culture, or is Brian Epstein proof that it’s always been an integral part of the industry? X Factor may be a symptom rather than a cause, or even not a problem at all. Perhaps nostalgia makes us see pop through the distorted prism of the past.
Are we back in moribund 1975 – with the explosion of punk just round the corner? Do today’s pop hotspots, such as US cities Nashville and Austin, prove that the talent is still out there? Or does the lethargy at the heart of today’s youth culture mean no more heroes anymore?
Speakers
Neil Davenport: Neil is a music writer and sociology/politics teacher in London. He blogs at The Midnight Bell.
Adam Regan: Owner of Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath, one of Birmingham’s most prominent music venues.
Michael Whitehouse: Graduate of Birmingham's Academy of Music and Sound. Guitarist for indie bands SubTotal and Torpedo Joe, and rock band Rubrik. Avid music fan.
Michael Whitehouse: Graduate of Birmingham's Academy of Music and Sound. Guitarist for indie bands SubTotal and Torpedo Joe, and rock band Rubrik. Avid music fan.
Thanks, as always, to The Victoria, for providing the venue.
Recommended Readings
The death of pop: Don’t blame it on the download – Neil Davenport. http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/the_death_of_pop_dont_blame_it_on_the_download/14529#.U0GDsFfeJDQ
Album sales are declining, but it’s part of the battle between art and commerce – Bob Stanley. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/24/album-sales-declining-battle-art-commerce
Pop history: A poor substitute for real history – Neil Davenport. http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/11929#.U0GDglfeJDQ
We don’t read newspapers because the journalism is so boring – Adam Curtis. http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/02/adam-curtis-interview
NME and the death of the music press – Neil Davenport. http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/nme-and-the-death-of-the-music-press/14695#.U0GDzVfeJDQ
Are Boys in Trouble?
Mon, Mar 3 2014 03:22
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7.15pm, Thursday 10th April 2014, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham B1 1BN
The debate is chaired and produced by Rosamund Cuckston.
We seem to live in a world where culture and education are more feminised. In schools, for example, things as diverse as emotional and personal development discussions during circle time and PHSE and selling off playing fields are pointed to as signs that traditional masculine values and behaviours are being demoted. In the West the increasing academic and professional success of girls and women is clear. Some complain that while we live a world where women are promoted as being equal to men, boys’ views of girls and relationships are being affected by the “bombardment” of pornography. That means that although girls are doing well, they now have more strongly to fend off boys who have got a distorted view of who they are and how they will behave.
So have boys become disorientated? Is envy of girls’ success making them either so aggressive towards or shy of girls that they need mentors to help them negotiate their relationships, and even chat up girls? Do boys need better male role models, or better sex education, or even perhaps wider moral development education, to help them succeed? Or are boys and girls equally sensitive and strong enough to be able to find their own way in the world?
Speakers
Sally Millard
Sally is co-founder of the Institute of Ideas Parents Forum which was set up in 2006 to provide a meeting place for those who want to discuss policy developments in relation to children and parenting so that they can work out how to challenge them.
Sally Millard
Sally is co-founder of the Institute of Ideas Parents Forum which was set up in 2006 to provide a meeting place for those who want to discuss policy developments in relation to children and parenting so that they can work out how to challenge them.
Olga Fotakopoulou
Olga Fotakopoulou is a Lecturer in Developmental Psychology in the Division of Psychology at Birmingham City University. Her main area of interest and expertise is in the human development from early childhood to adolescence.The scope of her research is based on three major pillars: cognitive development, social development and developmental determinants.
The debate is chaired and produced by Rosamund Cuckston.
Recommended resources
Sexual advice charities such as Brook say teachers should not stop pupils from watching pornography
Ally Fogg appeals for better sex and relationships education for boys
Fraser Nelson argues that now, in the fight for equality, we should be looking out for young men
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/07/feminism-vs-egalitarianism-my-response-to-the-guardians-ally-fogg/
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/07/feminism-vs-egalitarianism-my-response-to-the-guardians-ally-fogg/
Laurie Penny observes that we don't have any models for post-patriarchy masculinity
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/16/masculinity-crisis-men
Birmingham University's Knightly Virtues programme for schools is aimed at both boys and girls
Birmingham University's Knightly Virtues programme for schools is aimed at both boys and girls
Ministry of Love? CONTESTING radicalism and mental health care
Fri, Nov 29 2013 04:46
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7.15pm, Thursday 13th February 2014, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham B1 1BN.
The war against terrorism has moved away from its exclusive focus on the pursuit and arrest of suspected terrorists. CONTEST, the latest counter-terrorism strategy, advocates nationwide advice and support to ‘prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. The Home Office recommends the deployment of special panels of care professionals offering packages of support to vulnerable individuals ‘at risk from radicalisation’ arising from feelings of injustice or the desire for political change. It points to individuals like Nick Reilly, who was diagnosed with an autistic spectrum condition and tried to bomb a Giraffe restaurant in 2008.
Some see this multi-agency care approach as an Orwellian mental health route to social conformity; it is an uncomfortable reminder of the novel 1984, in which the Ministry of Love brainwashed Winston Smith into submission. Treatments under the COUNTER programme can extend to long-acting injectable anti-psychotic medication and hospital detentions. The strategy has led to 2,500 referrals since its introduction in 2007.
Can mental health interventions prevent mass killings by extremists and help individuals lead better lives? Or is the NHS sleepwalking into Soviet-style 'medicalisation' of political dissidents?
Speakers
Raj Persaud, Consultant Psychiatrist, recently elected Fellow of University College London and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The Times newspaper recently placed him as one of the Top Twenty Mental Health Gurus in the world.
Mashud Ally, Assistant Director of Equalities and Human Resources, Birmingham City Council. Mashud's responsibilities include co-ordination of the council's response to the government's Preventing Violent Disorder (PVE) strategy.
Dr Vanessa Pupavac, senior lecturer at University of Nottingham in School of Politics and International Relations, with research on humanitarianism, human rights and therapeutic governance.
The debate is produced and chaired by Dr Jo Hurlow.
The debate is produced and chaired by Dr Jo Hurlow.
Recommended resources
BBC News reports on the deradicalisation of 500 terror suspects, 2013
Dr Raj Persaud discusses Anders Breivnik’s mental state with Dr Jeremy Coid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yavrvnacGfg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yavrvnacGfg
Dr Raj Persaud has written the following Huffington Post articles on this subject:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-raj-persaud/ed-miliband-ralph-miliband-daily-mail-_b_4030729.html
The final 2011 Reith Lecture. Baroness Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller, former Director General of MI5, argues that 'not all terrorists are evil although their acts are. Nor are they all pathologically violent.
A few are but many are not and have their own rationale'.
Home Office guidance, 2012.
Sun, Sep 15 2013 02:29
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Whose Womb is it Anyway?
A Battle of Ideas Satellite Event
7.00 pm, Wednesday 6th November 2013, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham, B1 1BN
Speakers:
Dr Pam Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Aston University
Vicki Fitzgerald, Chief Executive, Gateway Family Services
Chair:
Dr Helene Guldberg
Public health advice to women who plan to become, or who are, pregnant increasingly emphasises the effects of their choices about their lives, or their circumstances, on long term outcomes for the child, with everything from coffee consumption to language skills examined for negative effects. Policy documents suggest that how the mother lives and behaves from conception onwards can affect how her child learns, earns, and becomes part of society and at the same time there is increased emphasis on the need for intervention and support services. By implication, a huge responsibility for the problems of society is now focussed on the pregnant woman. Is it right that she be expected to bear this burden, either alone, or with expert help and advice? Or is it reasonable for society to demand certain responsibilities for the unborn? Are we becoming too focussed on the developing foetus at the expense of the mother’s autonomy?
We ask for a £5 donation to cover our costs. This can either be made on the door or via the EventBrite link.
Pregnant women aren't incubators so why does medical advice treat them as though they are? - Jennie Bristow, The Independent, June 2013
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/pregnant-women-arent-incubators--so-why-does-medical-advice-treat-them-as-though-they-are-8646309.html
Evaluation of Lay Support in pregnant women with Social Risk (ELSIPS): a randomised controlled study - S Kenyon, K Jolly, and others, BMC Pregnancy Childbirth Vol 12, February 2012
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3349581/
How much of pregnancy health advice is plain old prejudice and fear? - Glosswitch, The New Statesman, August 2013
http://www.newstatesman.com/health/2013/08/how-much-pregnancy-health-advice-plain-old-prejudice-and-fear
Advocating alcohol abstinence to pregnant women: Some observations about British policy - Dr Pam Lowe and Dr Ellie Lee, Health Risk and Society Vol 12 Issue 4, July 2010