Who Has Heard of This Club

[narnia+north]

I haven't. I don't kno wat to talk about in this forum. Ummm let's see. How about spirits. Do u believe that they r real?

[PeterC]

...Yes, what is this club?

[narnia+north]

i have no clue. so u believe in a spiritual world. why?

[~The Narnia Addict~]

Yeah, spirits are real..but not ghost types, you know what I'm saying?

[narnia+north]

Yeah, my teacher told me that in 6th grade.

[onlymystory]

Not that this discussion isn't fine but since you asked what the club is...The Christianity and Narnia section was getting a little tricky since its the only place for a real serious discussion but its not really meant for non-Christian topics. So CS Lewis had a club called The Socratic Club where they discussed all sorts of philosophy and other religions. That's what this is. As we mods get going on it, stuff like the Abortion thread or Islam thread will move in here and just threads relating to Christianity will stay in the other thread. That way its a little easier to tell a difference.

[QueenSusanofNarnia]

is this forum (The Socratic Club) new to THe Dancing Lawn?

[PrinceOfTheWest]

Yes. Brand new today.

[echoscot]

yeah, I feel so much more philosophical already..... :D

[Gryphon]

Does this "club" scare anyone other than me? >_>

[Narborg]

I think is cool personlly. Why dose it scere you? If you dont want to desacse hevey stuff, then stay in the lighter forums.

[Lucy the Marshwiggle]

What is this club about?

[dude]

I've heard of it. It was still going strong at Oxford when I studied there.

[LifeMaiden]

Does this "club" scare anyone other than me? >_>


Don't be scared Gryph as you'll soon have your Peter Sword to defend yourself from anything scary LOL LOL. It should be there in about ten days.

[inkspot]

The "club" on this Forum is just a section for philosophical/social/spiritual topics which aren't necessarily Christian. The Christian ones stay in the Narnia & Christianity section. It's not scary. It's for deep thinkers like me and CS Lewis! :)

[QueenSusanofNarnia]

what is it for---meaning, what do u talk about... :confused:

i mean, if its about....i dunno....spirits and stuff...i'd love to talk!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PrinceOfTheWest]

Spirits? I prefer scotch, myself, and I'm not averse to a nice margarita from time to time...


*smack* *punch* oof! *drub drub drub* OUCH!


Ladies and gentlemen, the other moderators of this forum regret this slipup on the part of our rookie moderator, who has clearly forgotten that this is a family friendly site. The matter has been discussed with him at length and he will now be allowed to continue in a probationary status.

*Ahem*

Er - as I was saying, I'm partial to some ice cold lemonade on a hot day, and sip some iced tea from time to time on the porch, surrounded by my wife, mannerly and well-behaved children, a few dogs, some friendly squirrels, and plenty of butterflies flitting about. We read from Tennyson, and perhaps play some Scrabble.

(psst! Was that good enough?)

All seriousness aside, the purpose of something like a Socratic Club is to provide a place for discussing all manner of things that normally have no place for discussion. If I understand the purpose of the forum properly, nearly any issue could be introduced as long as it remains within the bounds of propriety and is dealt with in a civil and reasonable manner by all participants. Examples of topics might be, "What is the basis for Right and Wrong?" or "Where is a balance point between individual rights and the rights of society?" As Specter points out in his introductory note, Lewis founded such a club at Oxford to encourage discussion. In doing this he was following in the footsteps of people like G.K. Chesterton, who both wrote and spoke on numerous topics of import to his current culture.

It is hoped that all discussions will proceed in a respectful manner, though the topics might be contentious. Sometimes the phrasing of a question might be provocative (such as, "What's so bad about slavery?"), but don't assume that the person posing the question is supporting that stand - they may just be phrasing it that way to get people to think. (For that matter, someone may take a "contrary" stand on an issue just to get people to think about why they reject it! A time-honored tactic.) The intent is to get people to understand that a debate in the style of Lewis or Chesterton is a good way to rigorously examine and articulate your beliefs.

Another purpose I hope to see accomplished in the discussions is people getting a bit "thick-skinned". When serious matters are discussed, people's core beliefs are often on the line and the intensity of the discussion can get quite vigorous. (Lewis could be very abrupt, even belligerent, in discussions at Inklings meetings.) This is no excuse for abusive treatment of other members, but a common modern misconception is "dislike my arguments = dislike me". We've run into this problem on some threads already, where a person takes personal affront when their philosophical stand is confronted. This is not sound discussion practice. If you enter into these threads, you should expect to be able to defend your stands with sound logic - and if you challenge somebody's position, you can expect them to respond equally, so you'd better have your rationale in place.

I hope that we can look for example to two greats of their time: G.K. Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw. They were on totally opposite ends of almost every issue of their day, and people would pay to come see their public debates, where they'd try to shred each other's positions. Yet personally they were the best of friends and had high regard for each other's gifts and talents, even if they didn't agree with each other's stands. If we members can manage this, this forum will succeed.

[Lawrence]

Applause, applause.

Great idea. Now we need a topic, one which I will not provide as my last few thread starters have interested approximately one person.

However, if we call it a Symposium vice a Socratic Club we can make more references to alcohol.

Pax,
L (Dionysis/Bacchus)

[QueenSusanofNarnia]

Spirits? I prefer scotch, myself, and I'm not averse to a nice margarita from time to time...


*smack* *punch* oof! *drub drub drub* OUCH!


Ladies and gentlemen, the other moderators of this forum regret this slipup on the part of our rookie moderator, who has clearly forgotten that this is a family friendly site. The matter has been discussed with him at length and he will now be allowed to continue in a probationary status.



What ARE you going on about????!!!!

[tottyfruitty]

Spirits? I prefer scotch, myself, and I'm not averse to a nice margarita from time to time...


*smack* *punch* oof! *drub drub drub* OUCH!


Ladies and gentlemen, the other moderators of this forum regret this slipup on the part of our rookie moderator, who has clearly forgotten that this is a family friendly site. The matter has been discussed with him at length and he will now be allowed to continue in a probationary status.

*Ahem*

lol :D
i dont really believe in spirits
i am not sure
it is a tricky subject
too hard for my brain to think about :p

[Gryphon]

Don't be scared Gryph as you'll soon have your Peter Sword to defend yourself from anything scary LOL LOL. It should be there in about ten days.
haha, awesome thing about the sword... im still skeptical about this whole club buisness though... >_>

it'll probably work out okay, but i expect lil bumps along the way...

[Gryphon]

I think is cool personlly. Why dose it scere you? If you dont want to desacse hevey stuff, then stay in the lighter forums.
Its not me im worried about, an i can handle "heavy" stuff as you put it. Most people consider me a deep thinker anyway if that's what you were implying.

It just scares me a little because this is a brave step for the forums to take and the mods are going to have to keep more careful steps around this kind of a forum with so many world views going back and forth.

[inkspot]

It is sort of what we have been doing in the Christianity & Narnia section, with topics such as abortion, scientology, and things which are deep, but aren't necessarily "Christian." It should be a good forum as long as, as PoTW said, people don't get too sensitive about their own viewpoints and beliefs.

Just remember, in any of these Threads or the ones over in the Christianity section, just because someone disagrees with your viewpoint doesn't mean they dislike you.