The University Philosophical Society, commonly known as The Phil, is a student paper-reading and debating society in Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. It is one of the two debating societies in the university. The Phil was founded in 1853 but hearkens back to the Dublin Philosophical Society founded in 1683 and so styles itself as both the oldest student society and the oldest paper-reading society in the world. The society meets every Thursday during term in the Graduates Memorial Building to discuss a paper, debate a motion or hear an address. The society also hosts numerous social events, weekly paper readings (which are available to read on the website), the occasional concert, internal competitions as well as providing debating workshops and developmental competitions for members and school children. It publishes The Philander as an annual Freshers' guide to the society. It also competes in intervarsity debates at both an international and national level.
Read more about University Philosophical Society: Society, Governance, Competitive Debating, Honorary Patrons, Controversies, Notable Former Presidents and Members
Famous quotes containing the words university and/or society:
“It is in the nature of allegory, as opposed to symbolism, to beg the question of absolute reality. The allegorist avails himself of a formal correspondence between “ideas” and “things,” both of which he assumes as given; he need not inquire whether either sphere is “real” or whether, in the final analysis, reality consists in their interaction.”
—Charles, Jr. Feidelson, U.S. educator, critic. Symbolism and American Literature, ch. 1, University of Chicago Press (1953)
“One set of messages of the society we live in is: Consume. Grow. Do what you want. Amuse yourselves. The very working of this economic system, which has bestowed these unprecedented liberties, most cherished in the form of physical mobility and material prosperity, depends on encouraging people to defy limits.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)