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Reason and the Good

Professor A C Grayling MA, DPhil (Oxon), FRSA, Professor of Philosophy, Birkbeck College, University of London

A joint lecture to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the North East Humanists

Date: 4th October 2007

Time: 17:30

Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, opposite Haymarket Metro

A.C. Grayling is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, London.  He is a well-known writer for the Guardian and other newspapers and frequently takes part in talks and discussions on BBC Radio 4. He is author of many books including “What Is Good?: The Search for the Best Way to Live” , “Life, Sex and Ideas: The Good Life Without God” and

“Against All Gods: Six Polemics on Religion and an Essay on Kindness”.

He will explore the view (the roots of which lie in Aristotle) that reflection and choice, both expressions of the exercise of reason, are essential to the good life, and underlie the meaning we give to it and the value we find in it. This figures centrally in the basis of a rich humanistic ethic which, given current heated debates for and against religion, needs to
be expounded as an alternative to religious views of life and morality.

This lecture is the start of a series of events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Tyneside Group of the North East Humanists, which formally began on 17 September 1957.