**Introduction To Philosophy.** Join us for an engaging evening of online classes delving into the history and development of Western Philosophy. This first class will cover key philosophical concepts, encourage lively debates, and provide a platform for intellectual discussions. We begin at the very beginning — with the pre-Socratic philosophers such as Thales of Miletus, Pythagoras, Zeno of Elea and Heraclitus. We explore how rational thought first began to emerge from myth, speculation, and bold conjecture, while also recognising the tensions and inconsistencies that remained. How do we reconcile the mathematical brilliance behind Pythagoras’s famous theorem with his mystical beliefs about transmigration of souls and curious prohibitions about beans and everyday life? This course traces the birth of philosophical reasoning — serious, critical thinking about the world — and shows how it continues to shape the way we think today. No prior knowledge is required.Any questions? Email: [[adrian.brockless@gmail.com](mailto:adrian.brockless@gmail.com)]([mailto:adrian.brockless@gmail.com](http://mailto:adrian.brockless@gmail.com/)) Web: [https://www.adrianbrockless.com/evening-classes](https://www.adrianbrockless.com/evening-classes)https://www.adrianbrockless.com/evening-classes

Philosophy Evenings (Online)

Adrian Brockless

Introduction to Western Philosophy

Online event

This evening class introduces Plato through his dialogue *The Apology*, and through doing so addresses one of philosophy’s most enduring questions: what is truth? We will explore whether truth is simply what appears convincing to us, as the sophist Protagoras suggested when he claimed that “man is the measure of all things”, or whether truth is independent of opinion and belief altogether. The discussion will consider how truth differs from mere opinion, whether the idea of moral truth can coherently extend into other domains such as science, and how we distinguish genuine knowledge from beliefs that later turn out to be false. The class is designed for those with no prior background in philosophy and will centre on thoughtful, open conversation. Details about classes here: https://www.adrianbrockless.com/evening-classes

Truth and the Examined Life: Plato’s Apology and the Question of Knowledge

This class introduces Ludwig Wittgenstein’s distinction between merely acting in accordance with a rule and genuinely following one, and asks what this tells us about meaning, normativity, and shared practice. We examine the Private Language Argument and the claim that a language referring to purely private sensations is incoherent, which in turn challenges the idea that psychological words are labels attached to inner feelings. From there, we connect these themes to contemporary questions about artificial intelligence: can an AI system genuinely follow a rule, or does it only produce outputs that accord with rules under interpretation? Can it possess concepts like pain, belief, or intention without participation in a human form of life? Finally, we explore the implications for personal identity. If psychological predicates depend upon public criteria, then identity cannot be fixed solely by private feeling or first-person declaration, but is shaped within a network of shared human responsiveness. Through these questions, we explore the deep connections between language, normativity, the constitution of the self, and human forms of life more generally. No prior knowledge of philosophy is required.

Following Rules: Wittgenstein, Meaning, and the Social Self

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Adrian Brockless

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