On the occasion of #PhiloFortnight2025, a period of two weeks in the UK dedicated to promoting philosophy, a webinar took place to address multiple ways in which philosophy can be brought to the general public.
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| Poster of the event |
Panelists included:
- Paul Knights has a background in philosophy where he researched the relationship between philosophy and nature. Currently, he organises guides walks in the Pennine landscape, has interests in photography and environmental education, and participates in community projects. You can learn more about Paul's activities at the Landscape Story website.
- Bonny Astor has a background in psychology and a long-standing interest in philosophy as a means to connect deeply with people from different backgrounds and with different views. Currently, she leads the initiatives of Thought Experiments in Pubs and you can find more information about the events at the All Together One website.
- Helen Beebee is professor of philosophy of science at the University of Leeds with interests in Hume, causation, the role of women in philosophy, and many other topics. She is a professional philosopher who enjoys public engagement and outreach, and has done a lot of high profile media work. With Michael Rush, she is the author of Philosophy: Why it matters (Polity).
The webinar was chaired by Michael Rush.
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| Bonny Astor |
Bonny talked about her experience launching Thought Experiments in Pubs. Her background is in mental health and peer support. When she was working in an occupational therapy centre in Pentonville prison in London, she was asked to set up a series of discussion groups to get participants to share their thoughts and hear other people's thoughts in a sort of open and respectful way. A colleague who was teaching philosophy in the prison suggested that I use thought experiments to do this. The resulting conversations seemed to create a feeling of connection and shared understanding. So a few years ago Bonny had the idea to offer people the opportunity to meet and discuss thought experiments in pubs.
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| Thought experiments in pubs |
For the participants, the event is a fun night out where they meet new people and hear fresh perspectives. There are five elements to this:
- the ethos (everyone is welcome, the objective is to collaborate not to compete, curiosity is encouraged, listening is already a major contribution, the atmosphere is warm and friendly);
- the thought experiments (each night three thought experiments are discussed, people shuffle and don't stay always in the same groups, some are classic thought experiments in philosophy, some are new ones created by Bonny);
- the pubs (very happy to host as the group is respectful and bonds are made, strong community feel);
- the people (no expertise in philosophy or previous knowledge required, diversity of perspective encouraged);
- the facilitation (welcoming people and making them feel at ease, being playful, introducing ethos and norms, structuring the session).
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| Paul Knights |
Paul Knights combines his expertise in philosophy with his passion for conservation. He is involved in offering environmental education through forest school groups, councils, and museums, and writing about ecology and the history of his local landscape. He has worked with the Philosophy Foundation, taking philosophy into primary schools, and with community arts and heritage organizations on projects themed around environmental issues. Currently Paul is doing workshops and walks.
In the Pennine Hills of West Yorkshire there are always community arts projects or festivals or events Paul gets involved in, that are themed around the local landscape. In the workshops, by creating a painting, a collage, or a piece of music, or by taking photographs, participants get to think about the environment and the relationship between humans and nature.
The walks are basically "philosophy workshops on the move", "thinking on one's feet" or "philosophy on foot". Paul can run them independently or with the support of other groups such as the University of the 3rd Age, Pennine Heritage, Hebden Bridge Arts, the South Pennines Park and other organisations including community theatre companies and charities.
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| Philosophy on foot! |
Paul draws on the method of philosophical inquiry he was trained in while working with the Philosophy Foundation, that was developed for working with primary school children but works just as well with adults: the aim is not to deliver a lecture, but to facilitate a philosophically rich conversation among the group.
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| Helen Beebee |
The third panelist, Helen Beebee, described her approach to public philosophy and why philosophy matters. Helen distinguishes two projects. First, when professional philosophers put their research hats on what they're primarily doing is trying to figure out how stuff works (Do we have a soul? What is a person?). These are important questions that cannot be addressed by doing science alone. In this sense, philosophy is about creating theories that concern things we care about.
But there is another aspect of philosophy that is valuable, and it is the activity of philosophising itself. Helen suggested an analogy with art. One thing is to focus on the product, the drawing, the painting, which can be valuable. Another thing is to focus on the activity of doing art, and that is also valuable, independent of how good the final product is.
Writing a novel or acting in a play can be a source of not just enjoyment, but also self discovery and emotional enlightenment. This applies even if the end result is a bad novel or a terrible performance. Art classes in school are important, not because they're teaching children how to paint, but because it is a way of fostering creativity, self-expression, different ways of seeing and representing objects. It is "nourishment for the mind", and doing philosophy is analogous to that. Philosophy makes you better at thinking, it promotes intellectual curiosity, and can be deeply rewarding and illuminating.
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| Book cover of Philosophy: why it matters. |
If you want to learn more about the experiences of public philosophy by Bonny, Paul, and Helen, and see how they answered questions from the audience, you can watch the whole webinar on YouTube!