Welcome to the Philosophical Society's Web Site

The Philosophical Society is a community of enthusiastic amateur philosophers. Although it includes amongst its members academics and professionals from various fields of activity, as well as people who do hold academic qualifications in philosophy, the Society is not an academic research organisation. Its purpose is to advise and encourage anyone who has an interest in philosophy, and to help students who attend classes in philosophy organised by OUDCE (Oxford University Department for Continuing Education).

The Society was founded in 1973 by Dr Tony Chadwick, Staff Tutor in Philosophy at the Oxford University Department for External Studies, the predecessor of OUDCE. It has over 280 members, a number of them from outside the UK, and is based at Rewley House, Oxford. The running of the Society is in the hands of a committee (elected annually by members at a General Meeting) which determines policy and advises the President. The current President is Marianne Talbot who has been Director of Studies in Philosophy at OUDCE since 2001. (Check out Marianne's two podcast, which are breaking records globally with iTunesU: "A Romp Through the History of Philosophy", and "The Nature of Arguments".)

Please do take a look at the many activities we engage in.

• Philsoc Student Essay Prize
  Philsoc is sponsoring a new essay competition for OUDCE students studying philosophy via online courses and weekly attended classes. Each term a winner's prize and two runners-up prizes will be awarded for philosophy essays from those submitted by course tutors as the best essay produced as part of their students' coursework. Philsoc sees this as a way of promoting a serious interest in philosophy and supporting OUDCE's educational aims.
• The 2011 Review now available as a PDF file
  The 2011 Review is now available alongside other past issues. In addition the three prize-winning essays can be viewed via links from the Chadwick Prize page.
• "Persons and their Brains" Conference
  Membebers (and non-members) may be interested in this conference, which will take place at Oxford, 11th - 14th July 2012. The speaker list is excellent and promises some lively debates. For conference details (which include a registration link) click on the conference title above..
• Annual General Meeting
  The 2012 AGM took place on Saturday 14th January at 13:30. Draft minutes of the meeting can be found here.
• The 2011 Review
  The latest Review was mailed on 18th November and should have by now reached all UK members and most members in other countries too. Please contact our Secretary (Secretary@oxfordphilsoc.org) if yours has not arrived.
• Chadwick Prize 2011
  Congratulations to Christian Michel on yet another Chadwick prize win, and to Robert Stone (Boethius prize winner) and to Shihwa Hwang-Meza (Lyceum prize winner)!
• Members' Day
  Recordings of the last Members' Day are available via the Members' Day page.
  Next year's Members' Day will take place on Saturday 8th September 2012 from 13:30 to 21:00. The theme is yet to be decided.
• Marianne Talbot has done it yet again!
  Continuing her quest for world domination :-), on 3rd May 2011 Marianne achieved the remarkable feat of having her podcasts taking every one of the top ten positions on the global iTuneU downloads list. Congratulations are clearly in order!