Aristotelian Society
Description
On April 19th 1880 at 17 Bloomsbury Square a group of five men met to discuss the establishment of a new student organisation for the serious discussion of philosophy. Far from a gathering of professional academic philosophers, the group included a British Socialist activist, a Shakespeare scholar and importantly a young chemist – Dr. Alfred Senier – whose original idea it had been, along with some of his students, to set up a philosophical society. It was decided that the group would meet fortnightly on Monday evenings, and the minutes record the group’s aim of reaching a size of about 20 members, a number which was 'to include ladies’.
The stated aim of The Society was ‘the systematic study of philosophy; 1st, as to its historical development; 2nd, as to its methods and problems’. As befits its beginnings, however, the activities of The Society have been marked from its earliest days by a distinctive tone of openness and inclusivity reaching beyond the limits of academic philosophy.
For the first four years The Society met at 20 John Street in an area of London then known as ‘Adelphi’, in the borough of Westminster. Relocation after that time to rented rooms in the Royal Asiatic Society on Albemarle Street was necessitated by a somewhat dramatic episode in The Society’s young life: an attempted coup by some of its members, prompted largely in reaction to the domineering style of The Society’s first president Shadworth Hodgson, which saw the loss of The Society’s original meeting place. The Society continued to meet at the Royal Asiatic Society until 1920, when it returned to Bloomsbury, taking rooms on Gower Street. It moved to its current location, in The Senate House, in 1995.
The Aristotelian Society has recently adopted the British Philosophical Association/UK Society for Women in Philosophy (BPA/SWIP) Good Practice Scheme.
Offers funding
Yes, this infrastructure provides funding in the following categories:
Founding year
1880
Contact details
Senate House
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HU
United Kingdom
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Categorisation
Type
Parent infrastructure(s)
The Institute of Philosophy is a constituent institute of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London. It was established in 2005 through a generous private donation and matching funding … read more about Institute of Philosophy (IP)
University Of London
Senate House
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HU
United Kingdom
University affiliation(s)
University of London
Senate House
Malet St
London
WC1E 7HU
Last modified:
2023-10-30 16:27:49