University Philosophical Society

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University Philosophical Society
Tcd phil.jpg
Founded 1683
Reformation 1842
Senior Patron Provost Patrick Prendergast
Home Page TCDPhil.com

Officers of the University Philosophical Society, 329th Session
Hon. President Rosalind Ní Shúilleabháin
Hon. Secretary Sarah Mortell
Hon. Treasurer Paul Behan
Hon. Registrar Cormac Shine
Hon. Debate Convener Sarah Deegan
Hon. Librarian Aifric Ni Chriodain
Hon. Steward Lily McKillop
Hon. School Convenor Ludivine Rebet
Vice-President George Tyler
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The University Philosophical Society, commonly known as The Phil, is a student paper-reading and debating society in Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1683, it is the world's oldest collegial and paper-reading society. It's member meet every Thursday during term in the Graduates Memorial Building to discuss a paper, debate a motion or hear an address. The society also hosts numerous social events, weekly paper readings, the occasional concert, internal competitions as well as providing debating workshops, developmental competitions for members and school children. It also competes in intervarsity debates at both an international and national level.

Contents

Society

The Graduates' Memorial Building, home of the Phil.

The Phil's rooms are in the Graduates' Memorial Building (commonly known as the GMB) in Trinity College, which it has shared with the College Historical Society (the Hist) and the College Theological Society (the Theo) since the building's construction in 1904. It holds most of its meetings in the GMB's Debating Chamber; meetings with an expected audience above two hundred are held in larger college lecture theatres.

The Phil is traditionally a paper-reading society, and many meetings continue the format of responses to a paper rather than debate on a motion. Each year the writer of the best paper and the best chamber speaker are awarded with medals from the society. In addition to debate, the Phil provides facilities for its members such as games and a conversation room, organises club nights, sporting events, blood drives, and other social events.

It publishes The Philander as an annual Freshers' guide to the society.

History

The history of the University Philosophical Society spans over three centuries, several guises, identifies and name changes. However since it's inception the ethos of the society has remained steadfast. Many of Trinity College, Dublin's traditions can trace their lineage to the society.

Foundation, 17th Century

In 1683, natural philosopher and political writer William Molyneux founded the the Dublin Philosophical Society in Dublin, with the assitance of his brother Sir Thomas Molyneux and future Provost St George Ashe. They intended it to be the equivalent of the Royal Society in London (with which it maintained cultural ties) as well as the Philosophical Society at the University of Oxford. The society was traditionally a paper reading society, however it also included many demonstrations of the latest science and mathamatical endeavour of that era. The first meeting on 15th October 1683 was within the Provost's lodgings at Trinity College, Dublin, a location were members continuned to meet.

Sometime after December 1683, then Provost Robert Huntington became the society's first Senior Patron, promising protection and assitance, a role the position of Provost still holds. Whilst at the time no particular precedent existed for Trinity College to recognise it, it can be considered the college's first such society.

It was 1st November 1684, when the first council election took place, with William Petty elected the first President of the society, and William Molyneux elected as it's first Secertary. Dating of all future sessions would thereafter be counted from this date.

Reformation 19th Century

In November 1842[1], to mark the orginal session date the Dublin Philosophical Society was fully reformed under it's orginal name to cater for those Trinity College students too young to join other societies in Dublin, traditionally meeting on Mondays. At the time, undergraduates were not allowed to join most College societies, such as the College Historical Society. It then became the Dublin University Philosophical Society in February 1843[2] when it was recognized by the college, with then Provost Franc Sadleir reassuming the traditional role of Senior Patron.

Bram Stoker, author and President of the Society, who presented "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society" as his first paper.

In 1860, the Dublin University Philosophical Society changed its name to the University Philosophical Society. This makes the Phil the oldest paper-reading society, and collegial in the world, aswell currently being the largest such society in Ireland.

20th and 21st Centuries

The Phil suffered with the rest of Trinity College during the First and Second World Wars, though one notable President of the early 1940s was lawyer, Nigerian and Ugandan independence activist and Supreme Court Chief Justice Udo Udoma.

The society admitted women in 1968 (after the resignation of the conservative President and Secretary), a year before the Hist did the same. A merger with the female-only University Elizabethan Society soon followed; this was a spur towards both increased female membership and increased debating in the Phil. As a symbolic gesture, the highest ranking female officer of the Phil is accorded the honorary title of Auditrix of the Elizabethan Society.

Recently[when?], the Phil's meetings have been divided between policy-driven paper readings, showpiece debates and interviews with public figures including Al Pacino, Desmond Tutu, John McCain and Stephen Fry.

Notable Historical Events

Among the notable events held was the demonstration of an early telephone by Stephen Yeates in 1865. Notable Presidents included classicist and Provost of the College John Pentland Mahaffy, poet Edward Dowden and Dracula author Bram Stoker.

Governance

The Phil is governed by a Council elected by the members of the society each year. There are eight officers: President, Secretary, Treasurer, Registrar, Debates Convenor, Librarian, Steward, and Schools Convenor. All officers are directly elected. In addition to the officers are a number of Members of Council, seven of whom are elected each year. One of these seven is then selected by the Council to serve as Vice President of the society. The Senior Member of Council is also selected in the same manner as the Vice President and is deligated the responsibility of co-ordinating the other Members of Council. The newly elected Council may then add up to seven further Members of Council via co-option. The Members of Council serve as deputies to the officers, aid in the execution of their responsibilities and any other such work necessary for the efficient running of the society.

Members of Council, 329th Session

Position Name
Senior Member of Council Sophie Madden
Pro-Secretary Liam Hunt, Clare Ní Cheallaigh
Pro-Treasurer Jamie Buckley
Pro-Debates Convener Rónán Ó'Connor, Hugh Guidera
Pro Librarian James Wilson, Glen Byrne
Pro-Steward Anna Sheehan, Deirdre McAteer
Pro-Schools Convener Lucy Murray, Johnny Byrne, Keith Murphy

The Bram Stoker Club

In addition to its usual events, the Phil added a sub-group, the Bram Stoker Club, to its organization in 2011. Named after one of the Phil's most illustrious presidents, the Club holds weekly afternoon paper-readings on a range of topics. These paper-readings have served to carry on a tradition that had fallen out of use in recent decades. In 2013, the Club was incorporated into the official Laws of the Phil making its existence official. The Council appoints the coordinators of the Club each year. The Club had its first foray outside of College in 2013, entering the winning team of John Engle and Liam Brophy in the 2013 Irish Times Debating Competition.

Subcommitee Members

Year Session Name
2011 1st Clíodhna Ní Ghuidhir and John Engle
2011-2012 2nd Leah Morgan, Brian Higgins, Sch. and Jamie Donnelly
2012-2013 3rd Sarah Grace, Gavin Tucker, Sch., Fionn McGorry and Keith Murphy

Competitive Debating

The society first won the Mace (the premier British and Irish university debating competition) in 1997 when the all-Scottish team of Matthew Magee, Librarian, and Alex Massie, Steward, won the title. Three years later Fergal Davis and Robert Cuffe, President, also won the Mace. Registrar Kiera Healy and former President Ruth Faller reached the Quarter Finals of the World University Debating championships in UCC in 2009, breaking in 9th position. Since then, two teams from the Phil have reached the elimination rounds at the World Championships, David Byrne and Ricky McCormack in 2012, and John Engle and Adam Noonan in 2013.

The society runs internal debating competitions: the Eamon O'Coine Memorial Maiden Speaker's Competition, for first-time speakers in college; the satirically-titled Margaret Thatcher Memorial Debating Competition (or Maggies); a series of impromptu debates, the Elizabethan Society Memorial Pro-Am Competition (or "Lizzies"); and the John Pentland Mahaffy Memorial First-Year Mace. The Phil and the Hist jointly host the Claire Stewart Trinity IV each year in January, in association with the , comprising the Kingsmill-Moore Invitational and the Dean Swift Intervarsity. The society also hosts a secondary schools' public speaking competition, the AIB Phil Speaks.

Honorary patrons

Through its years in college, the Society has recorded the presence of many notable guests, the most distinguished of whom are named honorary patrons of the society. Included amongst these are multiple Nobel Prize laureates, both before and after their receipt of the Prize, such as William Butler Yeats, Heads of State and of Government, notable actors and musicians, as well as well-known intellectuals. Guests have also included all Taoisigh since Charles Haughey.

Political Figures

Prominent Academics

  • Niall Ferguson, British Historian, Harvard professor
  • Joseph Nye, international relations theorist, former Dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government
  • George Ritzer, sociologist, Professor at the University of Maryland
  • Edward Saïd, Palestinian-American literary theorist, former University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University
  • A.C. Grayling, British philosopher. founder and first Master of New College of the Humanities, London.
  • John Mearsheimer, international relations theorist, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago.
  • Dan Ariely, Professor of Pyschology and Behavioural Economics at Duke University.
  • Edmund Phelps, Economist, Professor of Political Economy at Columbia University, Nobel Laureate.
  • Richard Dawkins, Ethologist, Evolutionary Biologist, Author.

Figures from News Media and Journalism

Literary Figures

Figures from the Performing Arts

Mirren at The Critics' Circle Awards Luncheon in April 2007.

Business and Technology Leaders

Sports Figures

Controversies

Irving was a highly controversial guest speaker who caused protests during his visit

Many guests which the Phil has invited over the years have courted controversy. Contributors to its debates included Oswald Mosley during his residence in Ireland. In 1988, the Society invited then–Holocaust denier David Irving to speak. A large protest by students, staff, Jewish groups, socialists, and anti-Nazi activists resulted in the meeting being relocated to a hotel conference room and held in the small hours of the morning. The traditional vote of thanks to Mr Irving for his paper was defeated, which is rare in the society's history.

The address of Austrian politician Jörg Haider to the society in late 2002 led to a protest by self-described anti-fascist activists, which continued through the debate, with noise being made outside the chamber and interjections in the society's proceedings within. An invitation to British National Party (BNP) official Tony Wentworth was revoked after threats of physical action by leftist groups.

Another guest to generate controversy was Islamist Anjem Choudary, who hailed the 9/11 terrorists as martyrs. Former Taoiseach John Bruton threatened to withdraw from a Phil debate later that year over this invitation, which was not withdrawn. Mr Bruton is now an Honorary Patron of the Society, and Anjem Choudary has been invited to speak at the Phil's lectern several times.

In 2011, the Phil encountered controversy when it invited BNP leader Nick Griffin to speak at a Thursday night debate on immigration. After raging protests, talks with college officials and issues regarding the safety of members and council the invitation was reluctantly withdrawn by the President of the 327th session, Eoin O'Liathain. In a press statement the Phil said this “The Phil feels it is unfortunate that circumstances have arisen under which the planned debate can no longer go ahead without compromising the safety of staff and students … We deeply regret the society’s incapacity to act as an open forum for discourse in this matter.”[4]

Notable former presidents and members

References

  1. ^ Thom's Directory of Ireland 7, 1850, p. 281 
  2. ^ Thom's Directory of Ireland 7, 1850, p. 281 
  3. ^ University Philosophical Society. "Phil website". Retrieved 30 March 2012. 
  4. ^ http://www.universitytimes.ie/?p=5211

External links

Arms of the University
Arms of the College
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