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The Wells School of Philosophy
Roll Call
17th June 2025, Hare Lane, 1000-1300 hrs:
Tutors:
Linda (L),
Steve (S)
Students:
Alexis (A),
Colin (C),
David (D),
John (J),
Margie (M),
Ray (R),
Robin (ℜ),
Viki (V)
In statu pupillari:
Eileen (E)
Scribe:
Gavin (G)
Aegrotant:
Howard (H),
Patricia (P)
Potted Summary of the Year So Far
The first two terms of 2025 saw the philosophy group pondering issues raised by both the new Trump and Starmer administrations. Separately our investigations took a German turn in response to requests to do Nietzsche and Hegel for as long as we could cope.
In our first session of the year, we discussed democracy. Donald Trump had just been voted in as US President by a majority convinced he was a strong man. But before June arrived it had become clear that he had no viable strategy for coping with Putin, and Wall street had nicknamed him Taco: 'Trump Always Chickens Out'. So much for democracy getting it right.
Many of the organisations in which we participate are, almost by definition, not democracies: families, employers, marketplaces, the military, churches, schools. There are limits to the range of issues where we can expect a vote. Sometimes we get a vote on who runs these organisations but not a vote on the day-to-day decisions within them.
In our discussion, we wondered whether people voted for the common good (as they saw it) or out of self-interest. We questioned whether the thoughtless vote of an ignorant elector should be worth the same as that of a knowledgeable philosopher. But we didn't get around to considering the possibility of deliberative democracy which the preamble had been steering us towards.
Our third session of the year asked us to consider the possibility of compulsory voting. With the US President now believing his election meant that no issue had to be debated and voted on, his abundant use of the executive order seemed to render enforced voting by the general population somewhat pointless. The case for compulsory voting hinged on whether it would widen understanding of the issues among the population. The case against was critical of voters who believe it is better to vote in total ignorance than not to vote at all. It seemed vital that voters always have the opportunity to say that they liked none of the candidates.
Our eighth session considered political as well as other types of justice. In all its forms, it needs to be administered by 'grown-ups', without allowing the powerful to abuse the weak, to ensure public trust in each outcome. In considering an abuse case, we recognised that context and era can determine whether an activity is illegal. And we noted that some perpetrators may not be capable of reform.
The second session of 2025 asked us to ponder whether we should be optimistic or pessimistic about the future. We seem ill-prepared for the possibilities technology now presents, even if much of it has been created by product developers weaned on the same sci-fi films and TV series that many of us also watched. AI makes higher education look increasingly pointless if students can rely on ChatGPT to write their essays and if many of the tasks in the early years of several professional careers are now better handled by a robot than by a trainee.
Trust in our leaders to make good decisions is a major issue, particularly in the light of the Silicon Valley leaders now supporting Trump, and the weaknesses of our legal system revealed by the Post Office debacle. Demand for economic growth seems to be in conflict with the need to protect the environment.
Trusting in human ingenuity to overcome future obstacles seemed an unsubstantiated hope proposed by the optimists.
Nietzsche was also nihilistic about Europe's prospects, we discovered at our fourth session. He blamed Plato, but not Socrates, for positing the existence of an ideal world, and Christianity for consoling the downtrodden with hope of a better life in the next. Nietzsche believed in pecking orders, and a slave morality which could be adopted by those who didn't possess the Achilles spirit and the will to power.
We digressed into the nature of evil and whether it coincided precisely with the law. Seeing evil as self-gratification without empathy, we then wondered how restorative justice might be possible. It was hoped that for offenders, a state of being could be transformed into a state of becoming.
We spent an additional session trying to make sense of Nietzsche's philosophy. Like Hegel, he was a German who had to cope with the widespread academic belief that Kant had already said pretty much all that could be said about ethics. The answer wasn't 42.
But Kant had bequeathed very few practical examples of how the categorical imperative should work, so there were still a few gaps in the market for philosophers to address. Nietzsche was more dependent on book sales than his two predecessors, who both enjoyed lifelong academic tenure. So perhaps he needed to write more that was sensational and dramatic than their output, even if in the end it drove him potty.
Even more than Nietzsche, Hegel used his understanding of history as the principal evidence source for his philosophy, which was centred on dialectics. The trouble was that his understanding of history was rather poor, according to Russell. If the course of history is 'crab-like', our discussion decided that the current age of Trump is the result of a backward rather than a sideways shuffle. Hegel believed that reality is an interconnected whole. But then he hadn't witnessed the Starmer government.
There was a feeling that Hegel had resorted to mysticism in his reliance on a 'spirit' apparently propelling the course of history, and to turgid, impenetrable prose to keep scholars arguing for aeons.
The rise of AI and the belief that most of the rewards from this technology would accrue to its owners rather than the general population led us to consider the idea of a universal basic income at our sixth session of the year. Though no vote was taken—it hadn't yet been made compulsory—the mood of the philosopher-pensioners pondering this question seemed to be firmly against. The belief that such a measure would be unaffordable and increase peoples' dependence on the state won out over any hope that it would increase general freedom and enable more people to follow their dreams. Once again, it was the economy, stupid.
Refocussing on what we could do for ourselves rather than everyone else, our ninth session examined the good life, primarily as extolled by Aristotle, while trying to avoid behaving like the 'respectable middle-aged' to whom Russell said the Nicomachaean Ethics principally appeals.
Not all creative individuals can be said to have led the good life—cf Mozart—and there was a feeling that one needed to tackle the lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs before contemplating self-actualisation. While questioning whether grand plans for our lives are ever achievable, the influence of tiger parents on high achievers was also mentioned.
Ultimately, it seemed that possession of a shed gets you much of the way towards achieving the good life.
The homework set
We're looking forward to seeing everyone for our last meeting of the summer. And the weather looks fine for us to enjoy the outdoors.
At our meeting we will reflect on topics we have covered so far in 2025: looking out for common and developing themes, wondering where all this is leading, and questioning what now might feel like lazily reached conclusions…
Here are ten thoughts and questions arising from our discussions since January you might care to ponder in advance of our reflective meeting up tomorrow:
- Is the power of personal testimony being lost, or at least reduced, as a source of knowledge? If so, what can be done to restore its power?
And related to this:
- Is truth less true than it was? Might greater involvement of the arts, culture, and in personal discourse help?
- Trust? Loss of it? Why? What might be done to restore trust at all levels?
- Are we losing the ability to know who we really are as individual human beings? As a consequence of the (partial) loss of real human interaction? Our ability to listen to others, and indeed, ourselves?
- Are we losing life skills? Knowledge of the real virtues? What is it to 'flourish' in the world today?
- Is social media/fake news growth the root of these problems? Or is this too simple an analysis?
- What is 'justice' today? What does a 'just society' look like? To be 'civilised'? To be a participant citizen?
- Is rapidly growing inequality of income, wealth and resources a key driver of social and political problems? Should, and if so how, this trend be stopped?
- Has individualism gone too far, to the point of nihilism taking over the way we think and act? Has 'freedom' been redefined for the worse? To a point where we are all out for ourselves and notions of the common good are forgotten?
- What has philosophy got left to contribute amongst all this apparent gloominess? A re-birth of philosophy of the mind, where the distinction between philosophy and psychology is beneficially blurred?
Introduction(S)
- Israel has not recently enhanced the case for PR.
- The Millennium Dome has become a symbol for the vacuity of discourse today.[1]
- We are losing our ability to listen to others.
- Debate today can be more divisive when it consists of blame and demands for apology.
- Trump's birthday parade in Washington was poorly attended. Some anti-Trump protests elsewhere attracted bigger crowds.
- Tim Snyder has now moved from the USA to Canada, such is his unhappiness with Trump.[2]
- It's important that we tell ourselves stories.
- The behaviour of our politicians has contributed to the general loss of trust.
- Profound changes in society are being enabled by AI.
- Different cohorts of our society have different outlooks.
- In the 1990s we enjoyed the benefits of the post-Iron Curtain age.[1]
- Anthony Seldon is confident about the future: ideas will come from young people.
Discussion
Trust
- The lack of trust is not global—cf Simon Reeves in Scandinavia on BBC iPlayer. What’s gone wrong here?(A)
- One factor from Wikipedia: Until recently, Finland has been mainly an ethnically homogeneous country, with native Finns being the dominant ethnic group. However, with increased immigration, the country is slowly becoming more ethnically diverse.
- Norway and Finland are less dense countries in terms of population. We have many different cultures here.(V)
- The Nordics are high-tax countries. This ethos wouldn’t work here because UK citizens don’t trust their government to spend wisely.(M)
- Forest schools for 3-to-6-year-olds in Finland get children used to the outdoor life and build their resistance to allegries and auto-immune diseases.(R)[4]
- There used to be a baker in Hinchley Wood who trusted customers to pay up eventually.(V)
- In the UK there is a pervasive failure of key individuals to take responsibility: for example, the Post Office, NHS, Water companies, and Rotherham child-grooming. This fuels cynicism.(R)
- Greed and the desire for financial gain drove many of these scandals.(V)
Humour
- People talk about the end of history. But what about the end of humour? People are now too worried about offending people.(C)[3]
- The 1970s humour in The Good Life would offend some people today. But the frank discussions that needed to be had about immigration etc weren't had; this may have led to Brexit.(L)
- Lyse Doucet says she uses humour to cope with awful situations in the world.(L)
- Humour helps to create a story, however small. Seen on a bumper in New York: Insanity is hereditary: you get it from your children.(S)
- If Trump could be depicted as a clown, perhaps he would lose power.(S)
- Dictatorial politicians are very keen to clamp down on the arts to prevent criticism from within their country.
- Humour releases tension.(ℜ)
Boys and Girls
- The current troubles in Ballymena are concerning.(E)
- It's behaviour typical of adolescent males the world over.(V)
- …enabled by unseasonally good weather in Northern Ireland.(G)
- So many religions posited a male god. This puts women in a secondary role. Children are not listened to properly.(L)
- There are plenty of animal species where the male is dominant.(V)
- We are more developed than chimpanzees. We know better than to behave like animals.(L)
- Maternal dominance comes to the fore in some species.(R)
Warfare
- Looking at our grandchildren, it's hard not to be pessimistic, with so many wars currently being waged. The relentless pursuit of power is depressing. Feedback on the u3a article on the role of grandfathers suggests many feel it is crucial to demonstrate what a balanced grandparent can do.(S)
- The ability of remote drone weapons to precisely target the enemy has changed combat. People are now too removed from the battlefield. Being on a different scale affects many more people.
- The Israelis are killing a lot of people in Gaza.(L)
- Warfare is now qualitatively very different. And climate change is a ticking time-bomb.(M)
- The erosion of free speech among young people is alarming, in universities for example. There are accepted line in many areas of debate, and you cannot deviate from them.(ℜ)
Trump
- The US constitution was designed to install a temporary king.(A)
- Money is the sole measure of success for Trump. He seems to have no other thought about the future. He gives no sign of having any regard for small children.(G)
Religion
- Anglicanism a least provides a social glue.(J)
- Religion is a glue that helps bind society together. We shouldn’t welcome the decline in church attendance.(D)
- It would be good if people were honest about their belief in god.(L)
- You have to have a belief system to get through life.
- From the dawn of time, man invented god to explain things.
- There are lots of intelligent people in many fields who believe there is something beyond the physical universe.(V)
- There is a multiverse, to which some particles disappear.(C)
- Fairy tales can be very useful for their educational value.(L)
- We should have our individual belief systems.(S)
- If you challenge religion, the reply comes back that you have to have faith. You should always need evidence to be persuaded to adopt a religion.(C)
- Steve attended the Alpha course, but the leader didn’t welcome discussion. And he ended up speaking in tongues.(L)
- Most wars in the world have been caused by religions.(M)
- There is a need for stories in religion. The are flood stories in many Middle Eastern religions.(A)
- We should extract the ethical content from all these religions and discover a lot of commonality.(J)
- The real enemy of debate is dogma.(R)
- Perceived insults can be dangerous. For example, Charlie Hebdo.(M)
- Community organisations have a great value which cannot be matched by social media.
- Social media is the enemy of personal spirituality. We can remember Quaker meetings where no one spoke yet people said afterwards what a good meeting that was.(S)
- Many South Americans are much more into Mary than Jesus, because their native religions were focussed on a goddess.(A)
- The Romans were good at combining local religions with their own.(J)
What should we do?
- The general themes of this year's sessions have been deontology and consequentialism.(R)
- One key problem with consequentialism is not foreseeing the consequences.(G)
- Expressions such as 'liberal', 'activist' and 'sanctuary city' have all become dismissive terms under Trump. It's now all about deals.(S)
- Labelling terms is a means of stopping people from discussing them. Karl Popper was critical of the use of labels, particularly when they were used to categorize and dismiss ideas without proper examination.(A)
- Protest marches now don’t have the effect they once did.(ℜ)
- Philosophy is useful in analysing the words in any discourse.(L)
Books and Articles referenced
- [1] James Marriott (17th June 2025). The ‘end of history’ was the source of our ills. The Times.
- [2] Timothy Snyder (2024). On Freedom. Bodley Head.
Programmes and Sketches referenced
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