Philosophy
Debate Chamber offers in-school philosophy workshops for all age groups with a wide range of topics to choose from. For younger groups, we use entertaining thought experiments to help students get their teeth into classic philosophical problems. At more advanced levels students will learn formal logic, and explore the arguments of major philosophers, from Hume and Descartes to contemporary thinkers. Teaching at all levels is through discussion and debate, and students are encouraged to apply their insights to moral dilemmas from ordinary life and topical controversies.
Content for students in years 7-9 includes:
Introduction to epistemology
You wake up on a desert island, remembering nothing. What can you work out about yourself and the world around you? How can you know that you are not dreaming… Starting from first principles, students will consider some of the major questions that have gripped philosophers for millennia, “How can I know that I exist?”, “How can I know that anything exists?” and “What makes ‘me’ me?”.
Options for years 10-11 will include:
Logic
Formal logic is a powerful tool for investigating philosophical questions. The workshop will begin with an introduction to logic, and we will use insights to expose common errors in everyday thinking. Students will then apply the techniques they have learned to dissection of some popular arguments used by politicians and other public figures.
Options available for students in years 12-13 include:
Moral Philosophy
Every day we are forced to make choices about how to live our lives. In making these choices, we all employ certain criteria and standards, and try to achieve certain ends. In moral philosophy we try to understand the nature of these criteria, standards and ends. Is there moral truth, and if so, how can we know it? How should we resolve moral dilemmas? How is an act’s rightness dependent on its consequences, the intention with which is it performed, and who it affects? What kinds of obligations (if any) do we have to each other?
Metaphysics and mind
This Tutorial deals with fundamental questions of existence and of the self. The core topics are dualism, personal identity, free will and causation. What makes you uniquely what you are at any one point in time? Do humans have control over their actions and decisions? Is there such a thing as cause and effect? Are mind and body two separate substances? Students will also discuss the implications these dilemmas for religious, ethical and scientific thought.
Philosophy of Science
One of philosophy’s main tasks is to probe the nature and extent of our knowledge about the world. As science and social science represent attempts to gain such knowledge in a methodical way, they are naturally of great interest to philosophers. Crucial questions include whether there is any such thing as a ‘scientific’ method and whether scientific theories are capable of truth or not.