Topic Suggestion

Here is a topic suggestion I just received from Mark Vernon:

Hi -

I wanted to suggest a topic for discussion, What is Friendship? My
interest stems from my book on the subject, The Philosophy of
Friendship, and a website that I have
www.markvernon.com/friendshiponline where there's more. I think it
would be a good discussion: I've taken part in various kind of events
on friendship and it is always lively and interesting.

Cheers,
Mark Vernon


Thanks, Mark. We will definitely add it to our list. Perhaps you can join us in our live Thinking Out Loud discussion sometime. In the meantime, good luck with your book and your web site.

Next Live Dialogue - Jan 2

Happy Holidays Fellow Philosophers,

It gives me great pleasure to announce that we may have a new cyber participant joining us all the way from Adelaide, Australia at our next Thinking Out Loud meeting is this coming Wednesday, Jan 2, at 7:00. Alice will make her best effort to negotiate not only the temperamental technology of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) but also the unpredictable demands of two young children to participate in our discussion from the other side of the world, 15.5 time zones away. Should be most interesting, not to mention a new Thinking Out Loud record for long distance participation.

Of course, I am looking forward as well to hearing from our veteran Skype participants, Steve Stokes, Deborah Martin, and David Rood and I encourage other potential Skype participants - Anthony Johnston, Lee Katchen, Chad Meltone, Brooklyn, and others - to also join in on Wednesday. To accommodate multiple Skype participants, I will set up a Skype conference call as before. I do need your Skype ID name, so email that to me if you have not already done so. Log on to Skype on Wednesday around 6:45 PM (Thurs, 10:15 AM, Adelaide time). I will call you if your Skype icon indicates you are online and accepting calls. We will use a chat box, as before, to indicate who "has their hand up" and is waiting to speak. Email me if you have any questions.

I am also looking forward to engaging with our faithful local contingent of citizen philosophers, as always. If you are among those that have not participated awhile, not to worry, you are most welcome to join in again. Call me if you need directions or have questions.

If you prefer to just listen in, that is fine as well. The podcast of our conversation will be released on iTunes few days after the live discussion, usually on the following Sunday. Enjoy.

Our tentative topic for this Wednesday is:

"What is our conscience and can it be trusted?"

If you want to lobby for another topic or refine this one, feel free to send me your suggestions.

Hope to see/hear you all on Wednesday.

Best Regards,

Steve

*****************************************************
Steve Donaldson,
Personal Growth Consultant,
Independent Educator,
Citizen Philosopher
www.citizenphilosopher.com

Peace on Earth

The latest Thinking Out Loud podcast has been released on iTunes. The session was recorded Wednesday, Dec 5, and the topic was "Why don't we have peace on Earth and what would it take to achieve it?" Thank you, Derek Breen, for circumventing the threat of inclement weather and debilitating gameday traffic by arriving on foot. Hopefully circumstances will more accommodating for our other local participants next time. Certainly our cyber participants enjoyed a certain advantage in this regard. Thank you, Debbie Martin from Boca Raton, Fl, and Steve Stokes from Atlanta, GA. We had a great discussion.

Here are some of the questions we wrestled with:

Why is this longstanding human desire taking so long? Is there something peculiar about mankind? Is human aggression different from aggression we see in nature? Where does aggression come from? How is individual violence different from the collective violence of war? How does collective action give "permission" for violence committed by individuals? Why don't individuals simply refuse to commit violence even when given permission by nations at war? Is it realistic to hope for eventual universal individual enlightenment as a solution? How does group identity and ideology justify aggression? Is war ever justified? Are wars of self-defense any better than wars of aggression? Are there longstanding peaceful nations we can look toward as role models? Can weaker nations enjoy peace only when the stronger nations dominate the conflicts? How is technology changing the balance of power among nations and other smaller organizations or groups? Is it possible to transform aggressor nations or groups? Do inequality of resources and real or perceived injustices justify aggression? Are nations just behaving like living, growing organisms with legitimate needs for resources? Are there sufficient avenues to address basic needs by nonviolent means? Would self-imposed population control be sufficient to end conflict? What can be done about the increasing appetites of the developed nations? Can a common global threat unite otherwise hostile people? Might the increasingly dire, global climate crisis be such a threat?

To subscribe to the podcast with your podcast software (such as iTunes or iPodder) copy and past the following link into your software:

www.citizenphilosopher.com/rss/tol_podcasts.xml

If you have iTunes, you can find us listed in the Apple Music Store directory under Podcasts/Society & Culture/Philosophy, or just do a search in iTunes on Thinking Out Loud People. The direct iTunes link is:

phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=214321935

If you don't have iTunes or other podcast software and just want to download the mp3 file directly, use this link:

Listen to the broadcast (mp3)

You are invited to add your thoughts by clicking on the "comments" link at the lower right hand corner of this post.

The next Thinking Out Loud will be Wednesday, January 2, at 7:00 pm. The tentative topic for next time is

"What is our conscience and can it be trusted?"

If you want to lobby for another topic or refine this one, feel free to send me your suggestions. In the meantime, best wishes for the holidays and, of course, peace and prosperity for all.

Cheers,

Steve