Charity No
313712
Conference Feedback
"If you ever have doubts yourself I urge you to register an interest for the next conference now (the SFCP is at www.sfcp.org.uk). If it is like this one you will enjoy an energetic and reflective week in a friendly and supportive atmosphere, discover how rapidly philosophy in practice is developing worldwide and benefit from conference administration which is unobtrusive, caring and faultless."
Nigel Laurie - writing as chair in 'Practical Philosophy' Autumn 2002 - Journal of SPP.
Our 2002 conference in Birmingham was a huge success. Thanks again to those of you who attended. If you were unable to attend this year read the conference programme and find out what you missed.
Read extracts from reports on the 2002 conference written by participants from around the world (all of these received travel grants to attend).
Comments from Japan
I have been learning and
practising Socratic Dialogue with my colleagues in Japan.
I needed to attend the conference in Birmingham in order to learn more
about Socratic Dialogue and to contribute to its advancement in Japan.
I
would like to mention the workshop about "Hospitals in the Community:
Pastoral Care & Neo-Socratic Dialogue".
I am interested in the role of philosophy as assistance or therapy and
because I work as a volunteer at a hospice.
The workshop suggested the way to deal philosophically with personal
difficulties in life.
The Socratic Dialogue
Methodology Workshop provided participants with fully worked-out exercises to
clearly remind them of points to notice in facilitating Socratic Dialogue and to
enhance their capacity for facilitation.
A
tool of philosophizing is very important for philosophy being alive in various
fields of society. Before I came to
know Socratic Dialogue I could only give a lecture to or read books with people
who had wanted to know philosophy. But now I can tell them "Let's do
Socratic Dialogue together!" I can easily work as a philosopher with people
at the places where they work and live such as a hospice, a hospital or a cafe.
Comments
from Eastern Europe (Republic of Belarus and
Bulgaria)
The
presentations and the discussions showed only too well that despite the
diversities in cultural and educational background the philosophical approach
enables one to gain deeper understanding of the human condition and tendencies
of contemporary changes in the world and in human consciousness.
My
participation in two- and one-day Socratic dialogues was an experience unique
and memorable in different ways. I had the wonderful opportunity to get
immediate and profound knowledge of the participants and the cultures they
represent. This has been for me a
practical lesson in democratic procedures, in ethics of human relationships and
in philosophical enquiry with clear and yet non-oppressive methodology.
A
broader discussion on philosophical dialogue with children arose during my
poster session with some colleagues from Eastern Europe. The audience was interested both in the methodology of
philosophising with children and in the concrete results of our work in a Roma
village. Valuable contacts for
future cooperation have been established.
I have
had the chance to appreciate music from all over the world and multicultural
sense of humour and
jokes.
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The workshops were one of the most interesting and useful parts of my experience, as they were closely connected to my study and work in Bulgaria. The work we did and the discussions we had in the workshops made me think of new ideas and chances for different projects and research.
I also had the chance to participate in a form of Socratic dialogue that was
unfamiliar to me until then - the Accelerated Socratic dialogue.
This dialogue was much accelerated and shorter than the standard one, as
it was divided into two parts - Socratic dialogue on a real-life experience and
reflective dialogue in which the participants overview the method and strategies
used by the facilitator. I firmly believe, that the "experiment" was
successful and it gave both the group and the facilitator great pleasure.
Another thing that really impressed me, was the existence of a great tolerance
and understanding among so different cultures and people gathered at one and the
same place.
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I was delighted with the varying offer of activities: keynotes, posters, workshops, papers, Socratic Dialogues. It meant various projects or investigations could be presented. It made choice extremely difficult when putting together one’s own programme, but the concept of variety is excellent.
I value the inclusion in the programme of ‘methodological’ workshops in which aspects of facilitation can be portrayed and practised. Such short workshops are particularly valuable for people from countries like Bulgaria where no training for facilitators is available.
I greatly enjoyed the quality of the cultural activities. The music workshop in the Chapel was unforgettable! I hope future organisers can make use of local talent to facilitate an activity as this musician and pedagogue did.
I am deeply impressed how the conference content fostered the search for links between burning current problems of society and practical philosophy. A sound civil society is a worthwhile aim, but its realisation remains very problematical in both East and West. I felt personally touched that the conference seriously addressed questions of ethics in the third sector or of discussion in schools of values underpinning civil society.
It was very important to obtain information about various projects and organisations. Open access to the many publications and practical philosophy materials was excellent. In my country access to foreign books is usually really difficult to secure. Libraries and book shops rarely order “Exotic” publications, for example in practical philosophy.
Despite all difficulties, I experienced much stimulus and encouragement for my work. My everyday work in giving philosophy lessons at school and university has for years been grounded in the Socratic Method. The conviction that this Method can be usefully applied in the education system has been strengthened. I also experienced new concrete and interesting strategies which I will try to use.
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The conference in
Birmingham was a great experience for me. The range of issues tackled and the
kind of people participating were amazing. The conference gave me a good
overview of the social, political and ethical problems discussed in the West,
some East European countries, Mexico and Japan.
I
also greatly appreciate the fact that the conference was a real multicultural
exchange for the participants. I learnt a lot about some West European and
Japanese societies and especially about British one. The kind of information one
gets at such conferences destroys the stereotypes nurtured by tradition, the
mass media, and coined images.
The most valuable for me were the workshops on the Third Sector. The Third Sector is extremely underdeveloped in Minsk. So the reports made and the experiences shared at the workshop “Altruism, Ethics, Reward and Remuneration: Dilemmas of the Third Sector” gave me an idea of what kind of voluntary work is carried out in Western countries.
The workshop on “The Power and Potential of Young People in the Third Sector: Ethical Leadership in Community Programmes” showed to me how one can engage young people in this kind of work. I got an impression that voluntary work and care about other people can become a quite natural style of life, which filled me with hope and happiness. The experience of young British girls participating in the workshop revealed to me how far we are from Britain, where a young girl can seriously discuss some burning matters with a member of Parliament and go in for politics.
As regards the workshop
on Belarus, I participated in part of the presentation. What I found good was
the interest of the Western citizens in East European countries.
I was also glad to hear their wise attitude to the development of
democracy in Belarus. It was a
pleasure and a relief to find an understanding that democracy in Belarus cannot
be installed just in one day, but should grow and develop gradually.
The Socratic dialogue “What does it mean to show civil courage in the community” was interesting in the sense of what is understood by civil courage in different societies and by different people. It revealed that in order to understand an example on civil courage one needs a good cultural awareness. And it was a pleasure to me to find out that in spite of all the cultural differences, at a certain stage we had come to a particular answer owing to the method of the Socratic dialogue.
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Comments from Australia
The S.D. itself is fairly fixed in its structure and delivery; nevertheless, I was exposed, through workshops I participated in, to at least another 3 different methods of philosophical investigations: Philosophical Investigation; Café Philo; Dialogue (developed by David Bohm); and philosophical counselling (one to one or in groups) that came to my attention from simply socialising with other participants at the conference. I don’t see those different methods as alternatives to the Socratic Dialogue but as complementary.
I gained all I expected to gain from this conference. Firstly, all participants were tuned for friendship and compassion. This on its own is worth the trip. Secondly, the organisers and coordinators of the conference demonstrated the highest level of professionalism.