Philosophy Club

The Bendigo Philosophical Society, founded in 1897 and led originally by the celebrated Bendigo poet Mr William Gay, will resume proceedings at the Old Church Hall in Russell Street, Quarry Hill, on the evening of the first Monday of each month. 

The Society in its contemporary form has in fact been meeting intermittently and informally for many years at various venues around Bendigo, most recently at the city Library. 

The impetus for the monthly meetings has come largely from academics and students following La Trobe University’s controversial decision to discontinue its popular and influential Philosophy & Religious Studies programme at the Bendigo campus. In light of that decision – and with a surplus of retrenched philosophy academics resident in Bendigo – it was deemed that the time was ripe to revive the city’s illustrious Philosophical Society as a platform for philosophical discourse and related studies. 

The guiding light of the modern incarnation of the Society was the late scholar of Oxford and student of Plato Dr Roger Sworder, and it is under his inspiration that the Society today conducts its business. 

The original Society offered public talks on a wide range of topics, with ‘philosophy’ understood in a broad sense. Literary and historical talks found a place in the program, alongside philosophy proper, as did religious topics and topics that might today come under the heading ‘spirituality’. 

The motto of the Society sums it up; it is a famous quote from Socrates: Philosophy begins in wonder! The starting point for the Society’s agenda is a deep and wholesome sense of wonder about life, the universe and everything. We surely live in philosophical times!

Talks are offered by invited speakers and are open to all. (Talks are free but we request a gold coin donation to help cover costs.) After the talk interested parties adjourn to the nearby Queens Arms Hotel for a drink or a meal. Above all, and as always, philosophy thrives on good conversation!