Socratic dialogue: c/o Louw 'Defining Philosophical Counselling'

There is a further philosophical counselling [PC] reading group tomorrow in Liverpool and online. Ordinarily I would like to be there in-person, but there are three nights in London to follow. Two papers this time, one includes:

' ... But perhaps the most popular version of PC in group format goes under the name of 'Socratic Dialogue`. This entails more than and even contradicts the well-known Socratic Approach' in which the counsellor-cum-midwife allows the client to give birth to his/her own ideas - a decidedly unstructured and unpredictable process. The 'Socratic Approach' is especially popular amongst those who advocate that PC does not and should not have any specific method (cf. Achenbach 1995). 'Socratic Dialogue', though, is exactly that: at method with strict rules of procedure. As facilitator, the philosophical counsellor puts a question to the group. Participants then need to submit concrete examples of situations in which they encountered the problem in the question. The facilitator subsequently decides on one example to serve as the focus of the discussion. The aim is for all the participants to agree on an appropriate answer to the question (excluding the facilitator: s/he remains, in this sense, disengaged) (Kessels 1997).' pp.65-66.

A different use-case of course, but I use guided discovery with students to introduce Hodges' model, taking in the course progression thus far. The students (re-)create the model through a question and answer session.

Louw D. (2013) Defining Philosophical Counselling: An Overview, South African Journal of Philosophy, 32:1, 60-70, DOI: 10.1080/02580136.2013.810417
https://doi.org/10.1080/02580136.2013.810417

Plus: Schuster, S.C., (1991) Philosophical Counselling. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 8:2. 219.

Previously: 'Socrates'

1st Interpersonal Philosophy Network Workshop 2027

University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada | 2-3 April

The Interpersonal Philosophy Network (IPN), in collaboration with the Critical Thinking & Civic Engagement Lab at the University of Lethbridge, invite abstract submissions for a two-day workshop exploring philosophical questions concerning interpersonal relations.

The workshop aims to bring together researchers working on the nature, value, and normative significance of our relations with others. We welcome contributions from a wide range of philosophical traditions and subfields.

Keynote Speakers

(1) Kimberly Brownlee (University of British Columbia)
(2) John Bengson (University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract Submission

We invite submissions on any topic related to the philosophy of interpersonal relations, though we are particularly interested in the epistemology, ethics, and politics of interpersonal relations. For example, papers might address topics such as:

• Love, friendship, and care
• Shared agency and collective intentionality
• Collective or shared inquiry and epistemic cooperation
• Solidarity, belonging, and community
• Relational autonomy and freedom
• The ethics and politics of human relationships
• Interpersonal approaches to personhood and the self.

Please submit an anonymised PDF abstract (up to 1000 words) through the following form by 15 December, 2026:
https://forms.gle/jXPRqdNE2dzSQnEW7

Further Details - The workshop will feature:

Two keynote talks
Eight contributed papers

Presentations should be suitable for a 30-40 minute talk, followed by discussion.

Accepted speakers will receive a CAD $300 honorarium to help offset travel and accommodation expenses.

Participants are warmly invited to join an informal excursion to Waterton Lakes National Park on Sunday, 4 April 2027.

If you have any questions, please contact adham.elshazly AT uleth.ca.

Our best, 
Facundo, Adham, Paloma (Interpersonal Philosophy Network Committee).
--
Adham El Shazly
Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy | University of Lethbridge
Website

My source: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/philosophy/philos-l/

Further reading & review: 'Epistemic Care - Vulnerability, Inquiry, and Social Epistemology'

Epistemic Care

With the next book received for reading and review I must crack-on with Categories, which links my philosophy studies and healthcare theory and practice. The [N] time of year is right at least, for as close a reading as I can muster on both counts.

On the relational project, I'm simultaneously trying to look Hodges' model epistemologically and ontologically. Both texts will assist.

Many thanks to Alyvia Chiemingo - Customer Service Team Lead at Taylor & Francis Customer Services; and the 'Ethics of Argumentation' group for the tenth talk of 2026 by Casey Rebecca Johnson on “Care and Political Disagreement” (2nd October).

DESCRIPTION:

'This book uses the framework of care ethics to articulate a novel theory of our epistemic obligations to one another. It presents an original way to understand our epistemic vulnerabilities, our obligations in education, and our care duties toward others with whom we stand in epistemically vulnerable relationships.

As embodied and socially interdependent knowers, we have obligations to one another that are generated by our ability to care – that is, to meet each other’s epistemic vulnerabilities. The author begins the book by arguing that the same motivations that moved social epistemologists away from individualistic epistemology should motivate a move to a care-based theory. The following chapters outline our epistemic care duties to vulnerable agents, and offer criteria of epistemic goodness for communities of inquiry. Finally, the author discusses the tension between epistemic care and epistemic paternalism.

Epistemic Care will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in social epistemology, ethics, feminist philosophy, and philosophy of education.'

Casey Rebecca Johnson (2023) Epistemic Care - Vulnerability, Inquiry, and Social Epistemology. 1st Edition. London: Routledge.

Hausdorff property - c/o Reid & Szendroi

individual

|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

HUMANISTIC ------------------------------------------------ MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

group

Miles Reid,  Balázs Szendrői (2005) Geometry and Topology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. fig 7.2a p.110.

Previously: 'maths' : 'relational'

Science, Arts, Health, Culture & Joy: Ebola

individual

|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

HUMANISTIC ------------------------------------------------ MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

group

My source: Al Jazeera English

https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2115677509278744808?

See also: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rldJ72bGWds

Previously: 'ebola' : 'Africa'

AI bots flooded 2023 UK government consultation on disposable vapes ban

'AI bots flooded a government consultation with tens of thousands of fake responses in a failed attempt to stop the UK’s ban on disposable vapes.

Three-quarters of all the responses to the 2023 consultation on the tobacco and vapes bill were machine-generated, in what is thought to be the first coordinated attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the UK.

The attempt to manipulate the outcome of the consultation was disclosed on Tuesday in research published in the journal Tobacco Control by the health policy experts Dr Nason Maani, from the University of Edinburgh, and Prof Anna Gilmore, of the University of Bath.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) used bot-detection methods to identify that 90,835 of the 118,756 responses it received, 76%, were submitted by bots.

All but two of those 90,835 automated responses answered the same question in the “smoke free generation” consultation, in which they opposed Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government’s plan to ban disposable vapes. The submissions were “often duplicated many times and sent at high frequency from a small number of IP addresses”, the DHSC said.'

Read more ... The Guardian

My source: BBC Radio 4 Today