About The Norman-Area Examined-Life Group

Socrates, when defending himself against the charges of impiety against the gods and corrupting the young, is famous for having said, in defense of philosophy, that "the unexamined life is not worth living." (Plato, *Apology,* 38a, trans. Grube)

Clearly, Socrates held that philosophy was relevant to the actual task of living. Unfortunately, often as a result of our academic experiences, today we often come away with a very different view of philosophy.

This group assumes the original view of philosophy--the view that upholds the relevance of philosophic ideas to living on earth.

As an informal group, questions in the main branches of philosophy will be discussed. These branches are: metaphysics (the study of the nature of reality as a whole), epistemology (the study of the nature, possibility, scope and means of knowledge), ethics (the study of the good and of how one ought to live), politics (the study of the proper social system to live under), and esthetics (the study of the nature and value of art). Emphasis will be placed on the relevance of the issue to living.

The challenge of philosophy is to not merely assert an answer to a question, but to be able to support it with a direct appeal to sense evidence or sound reasoning. Given that, for any question we can expect a variety of different responses, and often lively debates resulting as a consequence.

But while there will likely be many different views offered in regard to a any question, this does not imply I uphold cognitive or evaluative relativism, only that I recognize that there *are* many views in regard to any question. (Relativism is one philosophic position that a member is welcomed to put forth and try to support.)

This is a group that is loosely based on Christopher Phillips' concept of "Socrates Café." To join, you need not be a philosophy major, or even have taken a course in philosophy. If you are interested in honestly discussing philosophic ideas from the perspective of their connection to living on earth, please join us!

Here is a list of the kinds of questions we will discuss:

--Is there a God?
--Can reality as such be created or destroyed by anyone's wish or awareness of it?
--What, in principle, is the method of acquiring (and validating) knowledge?
--What, if any, are one's basic obligations to oneself? To others?
--What are the roles of reason and emotion in human life? Which of the two, if any, are more important?
--How important are physical and emotional pleasures? Should they be sought without restraint? Sought moderately? Completely sacrificed to a higher ideal?
--How should one treat the various members of one's family? One's friends? Complete Strangers?
--What is good art? Is there a provable, universally valid standard, or is it relative to an individual or a culture?
--Is reality all material, all ideal, or neither?
--Do we have free will or are we pre-determined or pre-destined to act as we do?