Many articles have now been added to the Cafe Philosophy section. Most have been written by myself, so in the interest of developing this site as a resource and repository for all, I’d like to invite all authors of philosophy articles to submit some work. Please send links or articles to me: brent [at] certaindoubt.org. Let’s grow the site.

Brent

On Monday 23rd November, Jay Sloss (Rangi Ruru), Michael Couch (University of Canterbury), Richard Tweedie (Hagley Community College), and Brent Silby (Unlimited PT) will be meeting to plan a series of Philosophy related events in 2010. These events will include symposiums, movie nights, cafe philosophy discussion groups, and a philosophy day for Christchurch City secondary school students. We look forward to promoting these events to all Philosophically minded people in Christchurch.

Brent Silby (Learning Advisor in Philosophy, Unlimited-UPT) was invited to speak at the annual Social Sciences Conference. His talk focused on the current state and future of Philosophy teaching in Secondary Schools. The powerpoint of the talk is included below:
Click To Read Paper Online »

Brent Silby (Unlimited) has been invited to speak about Philosophy Teaching at the 2009 Social Sciences conference, Wednesday September 30th. The presentation will focus on the importance of Philosophy Teaching in secondary schools and will demonstrate the way in which Philosophy can be taught holistically, covering multiple curriculum areas. For more info click: http://www.soccon09.org.nz/

Hosted at Auckland Girl’s Grammar, the Philosophy Day for Secondary Students was a wonderful success. Check these pics:

Richard Tweedie (Hagley Community College), Michael Couch (University of Canterbury), and Brent Silby (Unlimited) join colleagues David Legg (St Peters College), Libby Giles (Auckland Girls Grammar), and Jonathan Mckeown-Green (University of Auckland) in Wellington City for a two day writing session. During the two days the team will work on the composition of Teaching and Learning Guidelines for Philosophy in Secondary Schools. This is another crucial step in the journey towards getting Philosophy recognized in the New Zealand Curriculum.

The writing group meets in Wellington on 22nd and 23rd June 2009.

Join our facebook group here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104913658784

This is another way to keep in touch with Philosophy and other Philosophers. Be sure to invite all your friends

On June 12th, 58 secondary school students met at the Department of Philosophy, University of Canterbury for a day of student driven Philosophical discussion. The day included a wonderful presentation from year 12 student Josh Grainger on Libertarianism, which served as a good discussion starter for the afternoon session.

Students discussed a range of fascinating Philosophical questions in a “free-flowing” forum setting. Some of the questions were: Does the world need God? Do animals have rights? Will computers ever be conscious? Is science the best way to find out about the world?

This day was the start of a new series of “Cafe Philosophy” sessions that will be held in Christchurch at a variety of locations. Check the Events page here for details for details on upcoming events, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Many thanks to the Department of Philosophy, University of Canterbury for hosting our day.
Brent Silby 2009

Here are some pictures from the day:

I just received this message from Thomas Harris, a former student of my Philosophy class.

“Can you stick a recommendation of the book ‘Doubt, A History’ by Jennifer Hecht. it’s a book essentially with a brief introduction to the evolving socio-philosophical ideas (ie. that many people in society share) through history. Because religion is so strongly based on belief, this book, as the contrary history, is too, also pointing out how the great religious leaders (not an oxymoron) were great doubters of the status quo. You might be able to find a review on the internet, and if you are interested yourself brent, i can organize to send you a copy. Cool website!”

I’ve had a look around, and here is the link to the site about the book Thomas suggested:
http://www.jennifermichaelhecht.com/_wsn/page3.html

It does look interesting.

Richard Tweedie (teacher of Philosophy at Hagley Community College) has been invited to present on the status of Secondary School Philosophy teaching at the UNESCO conference in Manila. During his presentation, Richard will describe the history of Philosophy teaching in New Zealand schools and discuss our current position. He will also provide an overview of our future goals in getting Philosophy as a recognized part of the New Zealand curriculum and the development of Achievement Standard assessments in Philosophy.