2014 AwayDay at Pigotts

Pigotts Farm is a historic and wonderfully rural location in the Bucks countryside near High Wycombe, a location to escape all urban distractions and enjoy philosophy. It is a venue that can provide a day of unrestrained discussion for a smallish group of particpants. To date the format has been not unlike Members' Days held in Rewley House, but cosier – and more bucolic!

AwayDay 2014 was no exception. Held on Sunday 20th July, it was Philsoc's third annual 'AwayDay' at Pigotts, and the subject was Ethics. Of the 23 who attended, including for the first time members of the Gerards Cross philosophy group, six gave short short talks, including chairman Prof Trevor Hussey, who gave the keynote address, Philosophical Ethics, the main areas and issues. Questions and discussion followed each talk and continued in the final plenary session. The proceedings are summarised in a very informative review' by Chris Reason – one of the participants. Following AwayDay, a vigorous correspondence took place between some of the participants, copied to all.

Full scripts of the talks, some of them a little expanded from the original presentation, are linked from the talk titles below.

The speakers and their talks

Emeritus professor Trevor Hussey is an old friend of Philsoc, giving his time generously to the Society, as today and for example as a marker of the Chadwick Prize essays. After a career in engineering, he applied to study philosophy at Dr Tony Chadwick's suggestion, qualifying at Balliol College, Oxford with an MA and D Phil. Thereafter he taught at Bucks New University and Hertford College, Oxford. He keynote talk was Philosophical Ethics, the main areas and issues.
Abstract: This brief introduction will discuss the main ways that we can study morality and the kinds of philosophical problems that are raised within them. The divisions are vague and overlapping. Descriptive ethics is the scientific or empirical study of moral behaviour and beliefs. Normative ethics covers a broad range of activities from everyday moral decision making to the construction of ethical theories. Metaethics is the analysis and (supposed) clarification of moral concepts and it is here that the deepest philosophical problems lurk. I mention several problems in each area and end with what I call 'Levin's problem'.

Peter Gibson is Hon Secretary of the Philosophical Society. After a career teaching philosohy to school children, he studied at London University for his philosophy MA and is continuing his studies there for a PhD. His talk was Function, Virtue and Value.
Abstract: We will quickly survey deontological, consequentialist, virtue theory and contractarian approaches to normative ethics, and show that on their own each one founders on the problem of the fundamental values which motivate and focus them. We will then step back, and ask whether we can directly locate the values needed to generate an ethical theory. Casting the net widely may produce very little, but gradually narrowing it may produce what is required.

Peter Townsend, having retired from a business career, is an active Philsoc member, a current Committee member, and organises Philsoc's monthly Friday evening sessions. He organised Awayday 2013 and is part of this year's Awayday team. His talk was Good without God.
Abstract: I shall draw on two books recently published: one by Alain de Boton, Religion for Atheists, which selects from religions practices and lessons that do not rely on belief to prove their appropriateness to our lives; the other, Religion Without God, by Ronald Dworkin, the jurist, who identifies what having a religious attitude may mean for those without faith. In both cases, I shall take the broad view of ethics – how to live – rather than the narrower subject of interpersonal morality.

Greville Jones is one of 8 members of the Gerards Cross philosophy group attending this year's event. He studied geography at university, including topics such as social anthropology. He had a career in the IT industry, and has always had an interest in philosophy and how mankind orders his affairs. He addressed: Achieving co-operation amongst natural competitors (talk text not available).
Abstract: Our evolutionary history as 'social animals' indicates that we humans are strongly Competitive, but also have adopted Co-operation as a strategy from the time of small-hunter-gather groups into the Neolithic and beyond. The in-built contention between competitive urges and the apparent advantages of cooperation must have been 'managed' within these groups. This should be our start point.

Paul Cockburn is an active Philsoc member who studied philosophy at Cambridge and then worked in planning departments in the gas and telecomms industries. Now retired and living in Oxford he has the chance to think some more. His talk was titled "Persons in Relation" –'. "What does John Macmurray's approach add to ethical philosophy?"
Abstract: John Macmurray puts forward a psycho-analytic theory of the person. He posits that inter-personal relations are based primarily on the mother-child relationship. This relationship gives rise to what he calls 'The Form of the Personal'. This form determines how we relate to others and also the type of society we live in (or perhaps want to live in!). This is either pragmatic (following Hobbes) or contemplative (following Rousseau). In all this, feelings and emotions are key.

Dr (medical) Fauzia Rahman also studied at London University for her philosophy MA, is a Philsoc Committee member, a member of the Gerards Cross philosophy group and a co-organiser of today's event. Her talk was on "Why Be Good?", a critique '. "of Murdoch's metaethical underpinning for virtue ethics".
Abstract: Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) refutes egoism and the idea of a personal god as a first order system or method of ethics. She says we should be good for the love of good. Does her theory of motivation succeed or is the idea of good an elaborate fantasy?

Pigotts location

Piggot's Hill is a single-track uphill road with passing places. Pigotts (North Dean, Bucks HP14 4NF) is the first lot of buildings on the right. Please follow the signs for where to park.

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