Since 2012 I have enjoyed facilitating interest groups on a variety of topics for the Calgary Association for Lifelong Learners (CALL). Information about this group and others to which I have been involved can be found below:
1.Calgary Association for Lifelong Learners (CALL). This is a dynamic volunteer-run group with over eight hundred active members in the Calgary area. For persons over 45 years of age, CALL offers participatory learning opportunities in arts, philosophy, politics, health and science. CALL shares space in the arts incubator, c-Space, built in and around the old (1912) King Edward School in the Marda Loop area of Calgary. For CALL I have facilitated or co-facilitated interest groups on a variety of topics including philosophy in everyday life, philosophy of religion, and women in the history of philosophy. (2013 and ongoing).
Seminars (referred to by CALL as ‘interest groups’) Co-ordinated since retirement
Since the winter of 2013, these have included the following:
‘Philosophy in Everyday Life’
‘Six Philosophical Ideas’
‘Six (More) Philosophical Ideas’
‘Writing Philosophical Dialogues’
‘Exploring Philosophy of Religion’ (with Jim Bannard)
‘Women in the History of Philosophy’
‘Voices of Humanism’
'Reading Non-Fiction' (with Tamara Seiler)
2.Calgary Ploughshares Society. This is a peace education and advocacy group, founded in 2017, formerly (1982-2017) known as Project Ploughshares Calgar7; since 2017 I have been chair on the board of this group.
3.Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association (RMCLA). This group was founded to promote respect for and observance of, fundamental human rights and civil liberties. It is a volunteer society and, most recently, has explored issues of privacy and police carding; a future project concerns ethical and civil rights issues associated with Catholic health care. I was on the board from (2015-2018).
4.The Apeiron Society for the Practice of Philosophy (Apeiron). Apeiron is a non-profit philosophical group founded by Petra von Morstein in 1987. It offers seminars, lectures, group discussions, and an annual spring-time retreat in the Kananaskis area. Philosophy is broadly understood: speakers have included persons from psychology, literature, science, and local action groups. I was on the board (2012 to 2017).