Malmesbury Philosophytown

Cherish the Thought

Introduction

Welcome to the Philosophytown’s 2011 October festival, held this year in the Old Bell Hotel, Malmesbury Abbey and Abbey House Gardens.

This year’s theme is history and ideas and we present Malmesbury’s and England’s rich legacy of the same from round about 1000 years ago, still vitally present in Malmesbury Abbey where King Athelstan’s tomb is located and the adjacent volunteer-run splendid Athelstan museum in the newly refurbished town hall.

We continue our interest in Thomas Hobbes, the original inspiration of the Philosophytown, with talks on his intellectual context in the case of Robert Boyle, by Prof Michael Hunter of the University of London, who has flown in overnight from Philadelphia from a prize-giving for his internationally renowned writings on Boyle, and by his second lecture on John Aubrey, biographer of Hobbes.

Hobbes was a scholar of a European-wide reach and interest, influences formed by an 11year exile in Paris.  We begin an exploration of European continental focus of philosophy with an overview of the history of France’s traditions, and a side glance at the place of Spinoza from the Netherlands from Tariq Ali’s interesting position as an internationally influential public intellectual.

There are wider general philosophical reflections by two major thinkers:  John Cottingham on contemporary moral philosophy and Ruud ter Meulen on the ethics of human medical enhancement.  These themes will be taken up in future festivals.

Finally, we begin another line of thought to be followed in subsequent festivals, on the art of conversation and informed public opinion through the history of Joseph Addison, MP for Malmesbury 1708-1719 and the history of the coffee house.

Michael Cuthbert
Director