WEA Courses

History of Philosophy 2: Aristotle 1 meeting on Saturday 07/03/2020. 10:00am - 4:00pm Tutor: Karim Esmail

In the second of our series of study days charting the history and development of western philosophy, we look at the towering figure of Aristotle. We consider some of the key elements in his thought – considering among other things his views on language and logic, change and cause, and the notion of “happiness”. In subsequent study days, we will continue our journey through to the great modern philosophers - Descartes, Hume, Locke, Berkeley, Hobbes and Marx.

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Parties and Polls: Navigating Change 1 meeting on Saturday 14/03/2020. 10:00am - 4:00pm Tutor: Philip Giddings

In marked contrast to the 1950s and 1960s, in the last thirty years Britain’s electoral politics have seen a great deal of change, affecting the number and size of political parties, the basis of their support and their varying electoral successes. We shall look at possible reasons for this volatility, as well as examining our changing electoral and governmental systems. We shall then gaze into our crystal ball and seek to see what the future holds for our democracy.

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Elizabethan and Jacobean Houses and Their Families 1 meeting on Saturday 28/03/2020. 10:00am - 4:00pm Tutor: Adam Smith

The century after 1550 saw many newly wealthy families, who had often benefitted from the dissolution of the monasteries, create splendid new country houses such as Longleat to show their wealth and power. These houses were increasingly influenced by ideas from the Renaissance. We will see how these houses reflected their owners’ lives and aspirations, including the Cecil family as chief ministers to Elizabeth I and James I, builders of great houses including Burghley and Hatfield.

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Aspects of Prehistory 5 meetings on Mondays starting 20/04/2020. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Michael Pengelly

Prehistory, before there were written records, is shrouded in mystery. What was the purpose of Stonehenge? How did our ancestors view the stars? What are hillforts for? Why did they leave images in caves and rocks? These and many other fascinating subjects will be explored. No previous experience of archaeology is necessary and afterwards participants will have a much better understanding of the world in which our early ancestors lived.

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Behind the Headlines: False News or Reality? 5 meetings on Mondays starting 20/04/2020. 2:00pm - 4:00pm Tutor: Ian Mulholland

In 1921 C P Scott of ‘The Manchester Guardian’ wrote that ‘comment is free, but facts are sacred’. In 2017 Collins’ Dictionaries made ‘Fake News’ their word of the year. In this course we will investigate how ‘facts’ are presented in the news and how words and images can influence our perceptions. Through close analysis of print, online and broadcast items we will discuss whether the news stories presented can ever be truly factual or entirely fake.

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Heart of the Silk Road: The Art and Architecture of Uzbekistan 5 meetings on Tuesdays starting 21/04/2020. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Dalila Castelijn

Persian rule and an important stop on the Silk Road left a rich artistic legacy of mosques, mausoleums, madrasas and caravanserais in this colourful country. We shall focus on key monuments in the celebrated cities of Samarkand, Khiva and Bukhara. The impact of the Soviet era on the capital, Tashkent, will then be studied in relation to its striking modernist architecture.

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Anarchy in the UK? Civil Unrest in Modern Britain 7 meetings on Tuesdays starting 21/04/2020. 2:00pm - 4:00pm Tutor: Dan Renshaw

This course will examine major civil unrest in Britain from the Georgian period up to the early twenty-first century. Beginning with the Gordon Riots and then looking at Victorian strike action, Edwardian suffragette protests, anti-fascism and the police-public violence of the 1970s and 1980s, this will challenge the notion that British politics was fundamentally and intrinsically ‘peaceful’.

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Discovering Ancient Rome 5 meetings on Wednesdays starting 22/04/2020. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Sandra Smith

This short course will investigate some of the great monuments of ancient Rome and the Roman world. Although hugely influenced by the Greeks, the Romans innovated in architecture, public and domestic decoration, all made to celebrate the power of the emperor and the glory of the gods. Major structures to be explored include the Colosseum and Circus Maximus, the great villas of the Roman world and the magnificent remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum where mosaic, painting and sculpture have survived in near perfect condition.

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New Worlds: Discovering Czech Symphonic Music 7 meetings on Wednesdays starting 22/04/2020. 2:00pm - 4:00pm Tutor: Tony Short

The Czech symphony is not all about Dvořák’s New World! Though, undoubtedly a key figure in internationalising his country’s music, Dvořák was certainly not alone in composing Czech symphonic masterpieces. In this course, we trace the history of the symphony in Bohemia and Moravia from the eighteenth century to the present day, looking at composers such as Smetana, Janáček and Martinů, and exploring Mozart’s Czech associates who played a vital role in raising the symphony to such heights.

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The Philosophy of Humour 5 meetings on Wednesdays starting 22/04/2020. 2:00pm - 4:00pm Tutor: Michela Bariselli

Humour is a universal human phenomenon. Yet humour raises many questions, including those regarding its nature, its value as well as its ethical status. This course looks at how humour has been described by philosophers over the centuries, as well as examining its contemporary status and complexity.

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The Architecture of the USA 5 meetings on Thursdays starting 23/04/2020. 10:00am - 12:00pm Tutor: Keith Hasted

Thomas Jefferson brought Palladio’s style to the architecture of US government. Chicago was the world’s proving ground for high-rise building techniques – as well as being the cradle of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style. Mies van der Rohe demonstrated how “less is more” and Philip Johnson and others tried out Post-Modernism before Frank Gehry exploited computer aided design to make fantastic shapes buildable.

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Post-War British Film and Society 5 meetings on Thursdays starting 23/04/2020. 2:00pm - 4:00pm Tutor: Julie Charlesworth

This course will look at film and society in post-war Britain, from the 1940s to the early 1960s. We will explore how people’s hopes for a reconstructed Britain and changes and conflicts in society were represented on film. We will also look at how and why films during this time of rapid change became bolder in exploring issues of sexuality, youth culture, race and ethnicity.

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GM Crops: Solution or Threat? 1 meeting on Saturday 09/05/2020. 10:00am - 4:00pm Tutor: Marco Bernardini

GM crops have been hailed by some as an essential tool in the fight against a range of problems now facing humanity, from hunger to climate change to ‘superweeds’ and ‘superpests’; all this while being safe for both the environment and human health. Is this too good to be true? Are there dangers in meddling with nature? We will debunk the myths surrounding GM crops by considering what these crops are, how they are regulated, and the different social, economic, and environmental effects they have across the world.

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’Immortal Beloved’: Muses of the Great Composers 1 meeting on Saturday 16/05/2020. 10:00am - 4:00pm Tutor: Chis Carter

Love, in its many varied forms, lies at the core of much of the world’s greatest music - as a subject in its own right, but more importantly as a source of inspiration. In this study day, we look at a range of composers – from Beethoven and Berlioz through to Brahms and Britten – where desire, admiration or a vision of a beloved unlocked their creativity and helped give it voice. While the attention these muses received was not without its difficulties, without them some of the great masterpieces of all time would never have been written.

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America and the World 1941-2020 1 meeting on Saturday 23/05/2020. 10:00am - 4:00pm Tutor: Robert McKeever

Forced out of Isolationism by the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States emerged from World War II as the world’s pre-eminent power. With some reluctance it then assumed the role of ‘world policeman’ and fought both the Cold War and hot wars against Communist enemies. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, America anticipated a more peaceful world and a reduced role for its own forces. Yet for many, the US remains the ‘indispensable nation’: the only country powerful enough to underpin world order in an anarchic international system.

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