Venue: Friars Green Methodist Church, Cairo St, Warrington.
7.00pm for 7.30pm start.
Free to Lit & Phil members, £5.00 for visitors.
Speaker: Rachael Wiseman is a Reader in Philosophy at University of Liverpool. She writes on ethics and philosophy of mind and action, and is an associate editor at the British Journal for the History of Philosophy. Along with Clare Mac Cumhaill, she is the author of Metaphysical Animals: How four women brought philosophy back to life and directs the website www.womeninparenthesis.co.uk.
Synopsis: The history of European philosophy is often the story of the ideas, visions, hopes and fears of men – men, who, in the main, wrote their philosophy in the comfort and seclusion of the ‘ivory tower’. Few people can name a female philosopher; fewer still would look to philosophy for help with the practical business of life. This talk tells the story of four incredible women philosophers who met at Oxford during World War II and who developed their philosophy in response to the practical problems faced by a generation coming to terms with the holocaust, atomic weapons, and accelerating social and technological change. Central to the philosophy of Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Elizabeth Anscombe, is the idea that we are metaphysical animals. This talk will explain and explore that idea, while also presenting a hidden history of twentieth century intellectual culture, one to which the contributions of women and refugee scholars are central.