Applied Moral Philosophy & Socratic Dialogue

Evenings in the back of a bookshop, arguing carefully about how to live.

Booking now
Each session2 hr a session
How oftenOnce a week
Cohort10–14 per cohort
SeasonYear-round · a new cohort starts each month

What you leave with

A position on how to live that has survived intelligent disagreement

Moral philosophy, ethics, duty and modern dilemmas through structured Socratic moderation. Academic jargon is left at the door; the arguments are not.

Ten to fourteen people, ground rules set at the top of every rotation, and a standing obligation to steelman the view you disagree with.

What makes this one worth it

  • What We Owe to Strangers Against Intimates
  • Justice, Fairness & The Social Contract
  • Technology, Free Will & Algorithmic Autonomy
  • Meaning, Virtue Ethics & The Good Life

What is included

  • All 4 sessions of the 4-week cohort — 8 hours of instruction
  • A place held for you for the whole run, in a cohort of 10–14
  • Every piece of equipment listed below, provided on the day
  • Your instructor, and their attention in a group this size

What to bring

  • Water, and something to eat if you want it
  • Nothing else — the kit is provided

How it runs

Once a week · 2 hr a session

Frequency
1x / week — 2 hours, evenings
Session length
2 hr
Each month
4 sessions, about 8 hours
Cohort size
10 – 14 participants
Where
Independent bookstore backroom / outdoor hearth library
Level
All Levels (no philosophy background required)
Commitment
Monthly — stay as long as it is worth it

What you cover, in rotation

The group works through these in order and then begins again on fresh ground. Join at whatever stage it is on — nothing here assumes you were there for the last one, and nothing runs out — or drop in for a single session if that is all you can manage.

  1. Stage 1What We Owe to Strangers Against Intimates
    • Utilitarianism against Kantian deontology, and the boundaries of duty.
    • Singer's drowning child, and modern global charity ethics.
    • Ground rules for civil discourse and steelmanning dissent.
  2. Stage 2Justice, Fairness & The Social Contract
    • Rawls' veil of ignorance and principles of distributive fairness.
    • Generational obligations: climate justice and debts to future humans.
    • A moderated cohort dilemma simulation.
  3. Stage 3Technology, Free Will & Algorithmic Autonomy
    • Moral responsibility in the age of predictive algorithms.
    • Compatibilism against determinism, and what it does to justice.
    • The ethics of cognitive enhancement and bioengineering.
  4. Stage 4Meaning, Virtue Ethics & The Good Life
    • Aristotelian eudaimonia and character cultivation.
    • Stoic resilience against existentialist radical freedom.
    • A closing wine and philosophy salon dinner.

4 sessions in the cycle, then it begins again on new ground.

Who leads it, and what is provided

Led by Philosophy professor / dialogue facilitator.

Curating primary text excerpts, moderating debate, and ensuring everybody speaks.

On the table when you arrive

  • Discussion excerpt packets
  • Reading guides
  • Tea and wine

When it runs

August 2026

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Runs Not running

Tuesday 11 August

  • 6:30pmup to 14 guests

Usually runs Tuesdays.

This is the operator’s schedule, not live seat availability. We check the date with them and come back to you — nothing is booked or paid for here.

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