10 week online course
Practical Philosophy
Set your Loved One on a New Course
Practical life skills with enough toughness to last a lifetime.
A Gift of Wisdom
Philosophy aims to set you free. Free from pressures and worries, free from limiting ways of thinking, free to grow and be yourself.
Take your first steps to freedom with our 10 week course.
Online Course
Join in with the course online via Zoom in the comfort of your own home
Peace of Mind
A safe online space with experienced & supportive tutors & others looking to philosophy to set them free.
Practical Wisdom
Courses in practical wisdom for everyday living. Meet with like minded individuals.
Offer only £30
Introductory offer – 10 week course only £30. (50% 0ff special offer. Normally £65). Limited spaces.
This popular course is practical rather than academic and draws on sources of wisdom from East and West, past and present.
Explore Life To The Full…
The course offers a practical means to discover fully who we are, understand how to relate to the world we live in and see what gets in the way of being happy, peaceful and free.
Students are invited to see life as a place to test the words of the wise through practical and mindful exercises. (Mindfulness practices included).
10 weekly sessions
The ten weekly sessions explore central human questions through discussion, practical observation, conversation and reflection in good company.
Self-enquiry through practical philosophy
click each title below for more details
These opening sessions consider how philosophy can help us enjoy richer, less stressful lives.
What is practical philosophy?
‘What would a wise person do here?’
Philosophy means the love of wisdom. Our course is intended to show how philosophy can help us enjoy richer, less stressful and more useful lives. This opening two sessions consider these aims, and introduces simple exercises in mindfulness and the application of wisdom you can practise in daily life.
You can download or listen to the Mindfulness Awareness Exercise, introduced in week one here. To download, right-click, choose ‘Save link as…’ and save the MP3 wherever you want.
You can also download a PDF of the Mindfulness Awareness Exercise
Who or what am I?
What is my potential?
Who am I, really? My body? My emotions? My strongly held beliefs? My soul? Possibly all of these? Possibly none?
Such questions have preoccupied philosophers down the ages. We look at practical ways to explore who we really are and how to tap our true potential.
Plato’s views on justice.
What does it mean to live justly?
According to Plato, justice and injustice do not start ‘out there’. They begin within us. For justice to prevail, Plato suggests that we must learn to avoid being ‘tyrannised’ by our passions and fears to the extent they overrule our reason.
We discuss the practicality of Plato’s ideas on justice in our daily lives.
The Vedic model of three fundamental energies.
Sometimes we seem not to have enough energy, or the wrong kind. A wise person can act consistently despite these varying conditions.
We consider how to recognise differing energies, how to gain and conserve them and how to use them wisely.
What is reason? How can it enrich our lives? We look at guidelines for Socratic dialogue and how to use them. Developing reason in decision-making and action are also discussed, with practical applications. Obstacles to reason are considered. Everyone has the faculty of reason and we can all use it and develop it.
What is beauty?
Is there such a thing as absolute beauty?
Beauty has the capacity to open the heart and bring delight. In this session we discuss our direct experience of beauty in its different form: of the sensory world, of thought, of feelings, of the inner nature, and of conduct.
We consider Plato’s idea of there being ultimately one beauty – beauty absolute – ‘not knowing birth or death, growth or decay’.
How it works
A tutor presents philosophical ideas, and leads a discussion based on what arises in the group. Being practical rather than academic, the emphasis is on personal knowledge and experience. Students are encouraged neither to accept nor reject the ideas put forward, but to test them in practice for themselves, in the light of their own experience.A choice of Start Dates & Times
- Monday 2nd May 2022
- Tuesday 3rd May 2022
- Wednesday 4th May 2022
- Thursday 5th May 2022
- Friday 6th May 2022
- Saturday 7th May 2022
- Time: Choice of times available
- Limited Spaces
- Introductory Offer only £30
Any questions or Gift Voucher requests email: hello@fses.org
Location
- Online via Zoom
- Zoom access details will be emailed to you
How to Enrol
- Step 1 - Click 'Enrol Today' & enter your details
- Step 2 - Select your preferred day and time
- (on the next page) & click 'Add to cart'
- Step 3 - Check out & Pay the £30 fee to secure your place
- on the course. (Nothing more to pay)
- Step 4 - Receive your receipt and course details by email.
Frequently asked questions
The course is practical in the sense that it takes philosophical ideas and shows how they can be of direct use in our everyday lives. The intention is to stimulate enquiry and through this expand the way we look at the world and ourselves.
First you need to enrol on a course. Our courses will be held online via the Zoom application, which we use to deliver all our online courses. Zoom is easy-to-use and can be accessed through a PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet.
Please follow this link to download Zoom onto your device. It would be beneficial to take some time to familiarise yourself with the app. This link provides guidance on the app and how to join a classroom. We also offer in-person courses at various locations in London and around the rest of the UK.
Online or by calling 020 7034 4000 (while our building is closed, the temporary number is 020 3287 1443).
If you register online, you will receive a confirmation email with your day of attendance. If you register by any means other than online, you will receive a receipt confirming your registration.
For online courses, you will receive an email with your Zoom log-in details a few days before the start of your course.No, all you need is an open and enquiring mind. The course is intended for everyone, regardless of education, occupation, race, political or religious belief.
Yes, we offer the course as an online course via Zoom.
Yes, we have many local venues where you can attend the course face-to-face.
What some of our students say...
Introductory Online Course Enrolment
The courses have limited spaces and can get fully booked up in advance, so to save disappointment it is advisable to reserve your place on the next course well in advance. Enter your details below and pay the £10 enrolment on the next page.
Enrol below
1. Enter your details below and click 'Choose day & time'
2. On the next page: choose day and time & click 'Add to Cart'
3. Pay the £30 enrolment fee to secure your place.
Some of the themes included in the course:
- Relevance of philosophy to today’s world
- Meeting the challenges of life, with wisdom
- The importance of observation and stillness
- The spirit of enquiry
- Seeing things as they are, rather than as we imagine them to be
- Living in the present moment
- Employing reason in discussion and making decisions
- Different levels of awareness
- Acting with justice
- What changes our states of mind and emotions
- Questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is life about?
- What in essence, is human nature?
- The nature of beauty and reason
- States of attention and personal freedom
- and so much more...