PROGRAMME – FRIDAY 14TH OCTOBER
Malmesbury Abbey

[1] 11.30am – 12.15pm
Athelstan: The First King of England
Sarah Foot, Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Oxford and Canon of Christ Church College.

[2] 12.15 – 1.00pm
William of Malmesbury on Malmesbury
Michael Winterbottom, Corpus Professor of Latin Emeritus, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Corpus Christi College.
1.00 – 2.30pm LUNCH

[3] 2.30 – 3.15pm
Adelard of Bath 1080-1160 Philosopher and Scientist
Michael Davis, Convenor, Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution.

[4] 3.15 – 4.30pm Lecture-recital
Music of Medieval Pilgrimages in England
Mary Remnant, musicologist

PROGRAMME – SATURDAY 15TH OCTOBER

[5] 9.30 – 10.15am Old Bell Hotel
Andrew Pyle: The Life and Influence of Nicolas Malebranche
10.15 – 11.00am COFFEE

[6] 11.00 – 11.45am Abbey House Gardens Library
John Cottingham: Descartes and the French Tradition

[7] 11.45am – 12.30pm Abbey House Gardens Library
Simon Glendinning: The Idea of Continental Philosophy
12.30 – 1.30pm LUNCH

[8] 1.30 – 2.15pm Old Bell Hotel
Simon Glendinning: Introducing Derrida

[9] 2.15 – 3.00pm Old Bell Hotel
John Cottingham: What is happening to modern moral philosophy?

[10] 3.15 – 4.00pm Abbey House Gardens Library
Karma Nabulsi: On Jean Jacques Rousseau
4.00 – 4.30pm TEA

[11] 4.30 – 5.15pm Old Bell Hotel
Tariq Ali: The Political Context of Spinoza

[12] 5.15 – 6.00pm Old Bell Hotel
Michael Hunter: Robert Boyle

7.30 – 9.30pm Buffet Supper at the Old Bell Hotel
with a 15 minute introduction by Angie Hobbs,
Senior Fellow in the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Warwick,
on The Death of Socrates, the dramatisation of which will be a project for the
October Festival in 2012

PROGRAMME – SUNDAY 16TH OCTOBER

[13] 9.30 – 10.30am Old Bell Hotel
The History of the London Coffee House and Joseph Addison, MP for Malmesbury 1708-1719
Anthony Clayton and Michael Cuthbert
10.30 – 11.15am COFFEE

[14] 11.15am – 12.00pm Abbey House Gardens Library
Ruud ter Meulen: Medical Bodily Enhancement

[15] 12.00 – 12.45pm Abbey House Gardens Library
Gary Cox: An Introduction to Sartre
12.45 – 2.00pm LUNCH

[16] 2.00 – 2.45pm Old Bell Hotel
Michael Hunter: John Aubrey: the biography of the biographer
There will be a bookstall in the Old Bell Hotel lounge

SPEAKERS
[1] Sarah Foot is Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford and Canon of Christ Church College. She is author of Aethelstan: The First King of England, Yale UP 2011, the first major study of its subject.

[2] Michael Winterbottom is Corpus Professor of Latin Emeritus and Emeritus Fellow of Corpus Christi College. He is editor and translator, with the assistance of R M Thompson, of William of Malmesbury: Gesta Pontificuus Anglorum. The History of English Bishops, 728 pages, Clarendon Press 2007.

[3] Michael Davis, Convenor of the Adelard of Bath Project at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, who was a major translator of Greek philosophy from Arabic to European audiences.

[4] Mary Remnant, a graduate of the Royal College of Music and a doctor of musicology of the University of Oxford, performs on more than a dozen historical musical instruments and has appeared widely throughout Britain and abroad in major concert halls and ecclesiastical venues. Accompanied by explanatory lecture.

[5] Andrew Pyle of the University of Bristol is a major expert on the history and philosophy of science of the seventeenth century. He is author of a major study of Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) for Routledge’s Arguments of the Philosophers series, among many other wide-ranging publications.

[6] John Cottingham, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading and Emeritus Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford, is an internationally recognised authority on Descartes. A leading philosopher in Britain, he engages widely with the major moral and ethical discourses of the day.

[7] Simon Glendinning’s interests lie in the philosophy of Europe and European philosophy. Here he talks about the idea of Continental philosophy (the title of his book published by Edinburgh University Press in 2006) and introduces us to the difficult thought of the French philosopher Jacques Derrida.

[8] see [7] above

[9] see [6] above

[10] Karma Nabulsi is Fellow in Politics at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford and was formerly PLO representative at the United Nations and was Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee’s Inquiry on Development Assistance to Occupied Palestinian Territories 2003-4. She is Director of the MPhil course in International Relations at Oxford and among other things has a special interest in 18th century political thought. A lively and spirited lecturer not to be missed.

[11] Tariq Ali is a writer, filmmaker and internationally recognised public intellectual with more than 2 dozen books on world history and politics, novels and scripts for stage and screen (including a play on Spinoza). He brings a rich and unique experience to philosophical thought.

[12] Michael Hunter is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the leading authority on the life, work and influence of Robert Boyle.

[13] Antony Clayton is a freelance historian and author of London’s Coffee Houses (Historical Publications 2003). Michael Cuthbert is Director of Philosophytown. Joseph Addison, MP for Malmesbury from 1708 to 1719 was a pioneer of the modern essay and journalism through his writing for The Spectator and The Tatler, which became essential reading in the 3000 coffee houses of 18th century London and which German philosopher Jurgen Habermas said was the principal origin of the public sphere.

[14] Prof Ruud ter Meulen is the Director of the Centre of Ethics in Medicine at the University of Bristol and is a leading thinker on the ethics of human enhancement – the use of biotechnology to improve and prolong the life span and ageing.

[15] Gary Cox is a freelance philosopher with a special interest in Sartre and existentialism, on which he has written a number of books including Sartre: A Guide for the Perplexed, The Sartre Dictionary and The Existentialist’s Guide to Death, the Universe and Nothingness.

[16] John Aubrey, Wiltshire born (near Kington St Michael) and schooled in Malmesbury Grammar School by Hobbes’ old classics teacher Robert Latimer, was the major biographer of his age, including that of Hobbes, antiquarian (producing the 2 volume Wiltshire Antiquities) and wide-ranging intellectual who became a Fellow of the Royal Society. Once again, Michael Hunter is our guide (see [12] above).