The Thomas More Institute, which promotes principled engagement with a variety of public issues, established in 2010 a group for students and young professional people to explore diverse issues of moment. Meetings are held at regular intervals during the academic term, from 7.45pm to 9.15pm on Tuesday evenings, at the Institute's seminar rooms in Hampstead. Forthcoming  meetings are listed here and on the front page of the Institute's website.

Philosophical Discussions for Students and Young Professional People

18 October 2011
Do I Have Moral Principles? Do I Need Them At All?
We make moral decisions every day, but on what basis? Because of underlying moral principles that we hold to be true, or merely on the whim of the moment? Are these principles absolute, or should there be some degree of built-in flexibility? Do we need them at all? Are they, at best, mere crutches to support us in taking desired decisions?

1 November 2011
The Game of Pleasure: Is There a Future in It?
As human beings we often make efforts to avoid pain. Thus some conclude Utilitarianism provides a moral and ethical guide in harmony with this natural inclination. It has been a hotly debated ethical theory ever since it was coined by Jeremy Bentham. In current academic thought it is popularly thought of as being ‘dead’ and yet it remains popular within wider general thinking. Does it therefore have a future?

Discussion Groups

10 May 2011
Planning the Global Family

22 March 2011
The Decline of the Human Family

Reading Groups

25 January 2011
What is Freedom?

7 December 2010
Politics, Big Business, and Academia: Where Next for British Universities?

9 November 2010
Library and Laboratory: Of Equal Value?

12 October 2010
University: Why Bother?

27 April 2010
Happiness and the Arts: Can Music Be a Way to Human Fulfilment?

16 March 2010
The Economics of Happiness

23 February 2010
What Constitutes a Happy Life? An Aristotelian Perspective