Date: Sunday 19th September
Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Location: Exeter Street Hall, 16-17 Exeter Street, Brighton, BN1 5PG
- Getting There: Exeter Street is to the east of Dyke Park and connected to Dyke Road via Port Hall Road. Bus route 27 will take you up Dyke Road on a Sunday. The Hall is also a bracing uphill walk from the central railway station and there is free weekend parking on the side streets off Dyke Road as you travel further out of town.
Open to All FUB Members and Friends – This is a face-to-face meeting so we will be observing Covid precautions. Please read the details about this at the end of the post.
Part One: The Book Launch
Welcome to the much-anticipated launch of The Questioning of Intelligence book, written by the FUB philosophy tutor John Thornton, and published through the newly created FUBText imprint.
In this event, John will be introducing the book and giving a reading, followed by a question and answer session and an opportunity for attendees to purchase a signed copy from the author. These copies will be available to FUB members at a reduced price of £10 each. (This will be cash only and due to Exeter Hall Covid restrictions we will be unable to handle or offer change.)
The book additionally serves as the basis for a new year-long three-part FUB philosophy course also entitled The Questioning of Intelligence, starting on September 25th at 2pm, again in the Exeter Street Hall. Part One of the course consists of ten classes, running from September 25th to December 11th (with two non-teaching weeks). All classes start at 2pm and end at 6pm but due to existing Exeter Street Hall bookings, they will sometimes run on a Saturday and sometimes on a Sunday. Details will be given in a separate post.
The course and the book’s subject matter is a phenomenological inquiry into what it means to be intelligent. It interweaves phenomenological philosophy and autobiography with an exploration of how scientific materialism has come to rule in the background of our civilisation, determining our collective understanding of what constitutes reality and what we think it means to be intelligent. After taking this materialism apart and revealing its origins in a set of 400-year-old philosophical conjectures, the book explores the development of a new scientific understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe that includes rather than overlooks the intrinsic meaningfulness of our conscious intelligence.
Part Two: The Launch of FUBText
In the second part of the launch, Matt Lee will be talking about the inauguration of FUBText – the new publishing imprint of the Free University Brighton. FUBText is an initiative to enable people teaching and studying at FUB to publish their work and make it available to a wider audience. As a first step, the FUB philosophy group has created a Free University Brighton Philosophy Series of which The Questioning of Intelligence is the first outcome. Getting published in the series requires a process of peer review, starting with the series editors, Matt Lee and Charlie Blake, who then pass submitted manuscripts onto one or more of our consulting editors and also to our student reviewers. In the case of The Questioning of Intelligence, both Matt and Charlie reviewed the manuscript, along with three external consulting editors: the philosophers Dr Laurence Browne and Dr John Mandalios, and the published author and copywriter Julia Holland, as well as two FUB student reviewers: Maria Ragusa and Joe Henderson.
Covid Precautions
The main hall at Exeter Street is 18m by 8m with plenty of ventilation and in normal times is capable of seating up to 80 people. Now, due to social distancing, the maximum number allowed in a one-off meeting is 40 and we will adhere strictly to this. Entry will therefore be on a first come first seated basis with the doors opening at 1:45pm for a 2pm start. Masks are required for entry and exit and for moving around the building but can be taken off once we are seated. Social distancing of 2m is also required when queuing, moving about and using the toilet facilities. There is wheelchair access, one disabled toilet and two other unisex toilets. Hand sanitisation should be observed on entry and on using any of the facilities. We are also requesting that attendees take a lateral flow test before setting out for the meeting, and (of course) not attend if the test is positive or if you are exhibiting any Covid like symptoms or have been in recent contact with anyone else testing positive. Finally, we will be taking down everyone’s contact details for track and trace purposes, and to keep a count of the number of attendees. So, to allow time for taking down these details, and to ensure you get a seat, please arrive before the 2pm start.