Digest Week 6 Trinity Term 2026
TT26, Week 6 (31 May- 6 June)
If you have entries for the weekly Digest, please send information to admin@philosophy.ox.ac.uk by midday, Tuesday the week before the event.
Notices - other Philosophy events, including those taking place elsewhere in the university and beyond
Avicenna Reading Group
Convenor: Ibrahim Safri
Date: Tuesday, 2 June, 2–3:30pm
Venue: Magdalen College, McFarlane Library
The theory of time remains one of the most complex and significant subjects of inquiry, central to both philosophical and physical discourse globally. Throughout the history of world philosophy, this concept has been continually refined, spanning Late Antiquity and Neoplatonism through to Islamic, Medieval, and Early Modern traditions. Within the global corpus of Arabic philosophy, diverse interpretations of time have emerged, shaped by three primary perspectives that influenced Islamic medieval conceptions of this theory. This reading class will focus on Avicenna's The Physics of The Healing, in which he presents various notions of time before establishing his own account.
Our objective is to engage in a profound reading of Avicenna's thesis to determine the extent to which his theory of time represents a departure from Aristotelian thought, a continuation of the Peripatetic tradition, or an innovative synthesis. We will discuss how his contributions facilitated the development of this concept within the context of global philosophy.
Text: Avicenna, The Physics of The Healing; a Parallel English-Arabic Text. Translated by: Jon McGinnis. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2009. Chapter 10: Beginning the discussion about time.
History and Philosophy of Science Reading Group
Date: Tuesday 2 June, 4pm - 5pm
Venue: Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.
The History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) Reading Group, which is a joint venture of the Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology and the Faculty of Philosophy, will continue on even weeks in Trinity term. This term we are reading a book manuscript by James Ladyman, Nick Norman and Vanessa Seifert entitled A Philosophical History of Chemistry.
Anyone is free to join, but attendance is limited to the capacity of our booked room. Please write to the co-conveners (Alex Aylward (History, alexander.aylward@history.ox.ac.uk) & Sam Fletcher (Philosophy, sam.fletcher@merton.ox.ac.uk)) for further information.
Wittgenstein Reading Group
Wittgenstein's Remarks on Colour
Date: Tuesday 2nd June, 5pm - 7pm
Venue: Canada Room, St Hilda's.
Please contact Richard Gipps (richard.gipps@bfriars.ox.ac.uk) to enquire about attending the meeting and to be informed of the relevant passages to read.
Reading Group: Heidegger's Der Ursprung des Kunstwerks
“Die Wahrheit und die Kunst”, “Nachwort” and ‘‘Zusatz‘‘ (30 pages)
Speaker: Dr. Andrea Vitangeli
Date: Wednesday 3 June, 3:30 – 6:30pm
Venue: Seminar Room, Corpus Christi College
The Post-Kantian European Philosophy Centre at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, is organising a two-part reading group on Heidegger's Der Ursprung des Kunstwerks. The essay will be discussed over two in-person sessions in the Seminar Room at Corpus Christi College, each accompanied by guest speakers.
All are welcome. Discussion will take place in English; the text will be available in German and English (translation by Albert Hofstadter).
Please register by emailing Errol Boon: e.m.boon@phil.leidenuniv.nl
Joseph Butler Society
Speaker: Dr Joshua Sijuwade (Birmingham)
Title: The Exemplarist Theodicy: A New Response to the Problem of Evil
Date: Thursday 4 June, from 8:30 pm
Venue: Large SCR, Oriel College
Further details are here: https://josephbutlersociety.weebly.com/
Iris Murdoch Society
Speaker: Maria Peacock
Title: Iris Murdoch: Writer of Exile and Displacement of Our Time
Date: Thursday 4 June, 4pm
Venue: Old Library, Christ Church
Maria Peacock is a Research Associate at the University of Chichester's Iris Murdoch Research Centre. She will be visiting Oxford as a member of the Iris Murdoch Society to speak about Iris Murdoch's writing and the themes of exile and displacement in her work.
The talk may be of interest to philosophy students and others interested in Murdoch's philosophical and literary writing.
More information is available on Instagram: @oxmursoc
The illusory self: Identity in Christianity and Buddhism
Speakers: Reginald Mary Chua OP and Geshe Tenzin Namdak
Date: Saturday 6 June, 2 – 4:00 pm
Venue: Aula, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford
The concept of self presents itself to us in various forms, prompting the question: which versions of the self truly exist? What are we, at our core, and what constitutes reality? The exploration of these questions can be found across a range of philosophical perspectives, whether embraced by the faithful or the sceptical. Christianity and Buddhism offer intriguing insights into the nature of the individual and the repercussions of clinging to a false self. Furthermore, they provide methods and reasoning to help dispel misconceptions surrounding this false self, enabling us to grasp the true nature of our identity.
Please let us know if you are attending and register at: admin@bfriars.ox.ac.uk
For more information, please see the Blackfriars website.