Sponsored by the Carroll College Philosophy Department and Merlin CCC, this evening program took place in the Sage Room of the Corrette Library at Carroll College. Directed by philosopher Dr. Barry Ferst, who also served as the moderator, this symposium was an informal conversation about different understandings of the Islamic faith and Middle-East Islamic culture.
Thank you so much to Troy Shockley and Newsradio 95 KCAP Helena for inviting us back on their Morning Coffee Show to talk shop about some of our philosophy in the community, including some things we have on the radar for 2019!
After three summer sessions exploring and discussing the moral dimensions of homelessness, our November Think & Drink marked a return to our normal gathering structure and dialogic style. After a discussion about civil discourse and conversational style — including some of the methodologies involved in Socratic dialogue — our group posed four possible questions. Check out what we landed upon and some of the philosophical things involved here!
Part 2 of our 3-Part Fall Philosophy Walk Series on the environment, ethics & stewardship took place on Saturday, November 10th on Merlin Nature Preserve & Little Falcon Farm. The weather was cooperative, overcast with spells of sun (save a fast-moving temperature drop near the close of our gathering)! Sponsored in part by grants from The Philosophy Learning & Teaching Organization & Humanities Montana, our group shared dialogue about philosophical and other perspectives related to landowner-steward & wildlife-habitat relationships, and featured special guest speakers Christopher Preston, PhD and Jim Williams, MA.
We are thrilled to announce that our program, “Philosophy: What Is It Good For?”, has been selected as a Montana Conversations program by Humanities Montana for 2019.
Our 2018-2019 Philosophy Symposium Series “The Environment, Ethics & Stewardship” looked at numerous philosophical issues & perspectives related to ethics, the environment, and conservation stewardship, ranging from public vs. private land (including individual rights, collective rights, indigenous rights, other); landowner/steward-wildlife and habitat relationships, and; current & future environmental/conservation challenges. At this symposium, six panelists from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds focused on the first of these three areas of discussion and spoke for 7-10 minutes each. Then the forum was opened up to free-flowing audience-panelist Q & A. Access audio-video, photos & more here!
We had a marvelous time on our annual Halloween Hayride-Philosophy Walk for kids! And this year we were granted fantastic weather by Mother Nature. Inspired by philosopher Thomas Nagel’s famous “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” (and Halloween, of course), this year we explored the world through the eyes of four different creatures: a bat, a dinosaur, a bird, and an octopus! Check out pictures & all the things we explored here!
In this month’s think & drink, we assessed our current belief systems and city structure, and then looked at numerous local grassroots solutions to help address some of the challenges of homelessness based on these. We also considered some causal factors of homelessness (relative to larger scale responses) and some of the ethical dilemmas surrounding the policing of homelessness by asking what the role of police is/ought to be and what sorts of things cities can do to be of help. Below are some of the questions we asked, as well as examples of multi-functional grassroots ideas that other cities have implemented as one part (of a larger set) of responses to homelessness. Learn more about what we discussed and access resources here!
