The Oxford Socratic Club was a student club that met from 1942 to 1954 dedicated to providing an open forum for the discussion of the intellectual difficulties connected with religion and with Christianity in particular. The club was formed in December 1941, at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, by Stella Aldwinckle of the Oxford Pastorate and a group of undergraduate students. A student by the name of Monica Shorten had expressed a need for such a club. The society was to follow the practice of Socrates to "follow the argument wherever it led them." As all inter-college clubs at Oxford had to have a "senior member of the university" as a sponsor, Aldwinckle implored

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...

to be its first president. Lewis enthusiastically served as president from 1942 until he left for

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

in 1954. Basil Mitchell succeeded Lewis as president in February 1955. The first meeting was held on 26 January 1942, and the club disbanded in 1972. The Oxford Socratic Club met on Monday evenings during term from 8.15 pm to 10.30 pm, with many undergraduates lingering long afterward. Many of the most notable figures of Oxford University presented or responded to papers, including G.E.M. Anscombe,

Antony Flew Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was a British philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught a ...

Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. He ...

Austin Farrer Austin Marsden Farrer (1 October 1904 – 29 December 1968) was an English Anglican philosopher, theologian, and biblical scholar. His activity in philosophy, theology, and spirituality led many to consider him one of the greatest figures of 20t ...

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, D.M. MacKinnon,

C.E.M. Joad Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad (12 August 1891 – 9 April 1953) was an English philosopher and broadcasting personality. He appeared on ''The Brains Trust'', a BBC Radio wartime discussion programme. He popularised philosophy and became a celebr ...

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, I.M. Crombie, Basil Mitchell, R.M. Hare,

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, J.L. Austin,

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. Commenting on the Socratic Club at Oxford, C.S. Lewis stated, "In any fairly large and talkative community such as a university, there is always the danger that those who think alike should gravitate together into 'coteries' where they will henceforth encounter opposition only in the emasculated form of rumor that the outsiders say thus and thus. The absent are easily refuted, complacent dogmatism thrives, and differences of opinion are embittered by group hostility. Each group hears not the best, but the worst, that the other groups can say.”

Famous debates

24 January 1944,

and C.S. Lewis, "On Being Reviewed by Christians." This debate involved a presentation by Joad that was based on his recent book, published in November 1942, ''God and Evil'', which contained his arguments for theism, but also against Christianity. Joad was at this time taking a closer look at Christianity because of the evil he saw in Nazi Germany. He cited Lewis many times in his book, which was undoubtedly one of the reasons he was invited to address the Socratic Club. Joad later became a Christian. 2 February 1948, Elizabeth Anscombe and C. S. Lewis, "The Self-Refuting Nature of Naturalism" Catholic philosopher G.E.M. Anscombe debated Lewis about a portion of Lewis's 1947 book, ''

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'', known today as the

Argument from Reason The argument from reason is an argument against metaphysical naturalism and for the existence of God (or at least a supernatural being that is the source of human reason). The best-known defender of the argument is C. S. Lewis. Lewis first defende ...

, in which he stated that since naturalists claimed all of nature to be irrational, that would make the claim of the naturalists also irrational and therefore contrary to reason (for example, that if there is no God, if nature is the product of chance, then how can a human brain offer anything but chance observations that have no authority?). She

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that he had mistakenly equated non-rational causes with irrational causes and confused the concepts of cause, reason, and explanation.

John R. Lucas John Randolph Lucas (18 June 1929 – 5 April 2020) was a British philosopher. Biography Lucas was educated at Winchester College and then, as a pupil of R.M. Hare, among others, at Balliol College, Oxford. He studied first mathematics, then ...

later helped in a rerun of this debate, which ended up vindicating Lewis.

Victor Reppert Victor Reppert (born 1953) is an American philosopher best known for his development of the " argument from reason". He is the author of ''C.S. Lewis's Dangerous Idea'' (2003) and numerous academic papers in journals such as ''Christian Scholars' R ...

's book, ''C.S. Lewis's Dangerous Idea'', further supports Lewis's original argument.

Meetings of the Socratic Club

;1942 :Can Science Render Religion Unnecessary?

H. A. Hodges Herbert Arthur Hodges (4 January 19052 July 1976) was a British philosopher and theologian. He was Professor of Philosophy at Reading University from 1934 to 1969. He was a member of The Moot, the discussion and study group begun by J. H. Oldham. ...

;1943 :Science and Faith,

Frank Sherwood Taylor Frank Sherwood Taylor (1897 – 5 January 1956) was a British historian of science, museum curator, and chemist who was Director of the Science Museum in London, England.Ralph E. Oesper"Frank Sherwood Taylor" '' Journal of Chemical Educati ...

; :Is the New Testament Reliable Evidence?

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;1944 :On Being Reviewed by Christians, C. E. M. Joad; :Materialism and Agnosticism, J. K. White,

Gordon Preston Gordon Bamford Preston (28 April 1925 – 14 April 2015) was an English mathematician best known for his work on semigroups. He received his D.Phil. in mathematics in 1954 from Magdalen College, Oxford. He was born in Workington and broug ...

; :The Grounds of Modern Agnosticism,

H. H. Price Henry Habberley Price (17 May 1899 – 26 November 1984), usually cited as H. H. Price, was a Welsh philosopher, known for his work on the philosophy of perception. He also wrote on parapsychology. Biography Born in Neath, Glamorganshire, Wa ...

; :Has Psychology Debunked Sin?

L. W. Grensted Laurence William Grensted (1884–1964) was a British Anglican priest and theologian. He was Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion, associated with Oriel College at the University of Oxford. Laurence Grensted studied at Uni ...

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;1945 :Marxist and Christian Views of the Nature of Man, Archibald Robertson,

Emile Cammaerts Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

;1946 :Can Science Provide a Basis for Ethics?

C. H. Waddington Conrad Hal Waddington (8 November 1905 – 26 September 1975) was a British developmental biologist, paleontologist, geneticist, embryologist and philosopher who laid the foundations for systems biology, epigenetics, and evolutionary develop ...

; :The Limits of Positivism,

Friedrich Waismann Friedrich Waismann (; 21 March 18964 November 1959) was an Austrian mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. He is best known for being a member of the Vienna Circle and one of the key theorists in logical positivism. Biography Born to a Jewis ...

;1947 :Did the Resurrection Happen?

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T. M. Parker T is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet. (For the same letterform in the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets, see Te and Tau respectively). T may also refer to: Codes and units * T, Tera- as in one trillion * T, the symbol for "True" in lo ...

;1948 :The Self-Refuting Nature of Naturalism,

Elizabeth Anscombe Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (; 18 March 1919 – 5 January 2001), usually cited as G. E. M. Anscombe or Elizabeth Anscombe, was a British analytic philosopher. She wrote on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, ...

; :

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and the Scientific Outlook, Alfred Heidenreich,

; :Atheism,

J. B. S. Haldane John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (; 5 November 18921 December 1964), nicknamed "Jack" or "JBS", was a British-Indian scientist who worked in physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics. With innovative use of statistics in biolog ...

Ian M. Crombie Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name ( Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name i ...

Trinity Term, 1949 :25 April Can Science Create Values? J. Bronowski, Basil Mitchell :2 May Some Remarks on Analysis, Personality, and Religion, G. J. C. Midgley :9 May Christianity, the Church, and the Churches, Oliver Tomkins, T. M. Parker :16 May Psychoanalysis and Religion, Anita Kohsen, R. S. Lee :30 May Value Judgments, R. M. Hare :6 June The Morality of Dangerous Devices, I. M. Crombie, N. J. P. Brown Michaelmas Term, 1949 :10 Oct Are Tautologies Really Necessary? P. J. Fitzgerald, C. S. Lewis :17 Oct Agreement and Disagreement in Ethics, A. C. Ewing, R. M. Hare :24 Oct Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, John Wisdom, Leycester King :31 Oct Some Displaced Questions, E. L. Mascall, A. G. N. Flew :7 Nov Hindu Speculation and Jung, Basil de Mel, Vernon Katz :21 Nov Can Science Be Creative? C. H. Waddington, Frank Sherwood-Taylor :28 Nov Physics and philosophy, Lord Cherwell, J. C. Stuart Hilary Term, 1950 :23 Jan The Nature of Faith, J. P. Hickinbotham, E. L. Mascall :6 Feb Certainty, L. A. Grint, C. D. Rollins :13 Feb Grounds for Disbelief in God, Archibald Robertson, C. S. Lewis :20 Feb Freudian Psychology and Christian Faith, B. A. Farrell, R. S. Lee :27 Feb The Relation of Psychical Research to the Scientific Method, N. M. Tyrell, L. W. Grensted :6 Mar Marxism, Douglas Hyde,

V. A. Demant Vigo Auguste Demant (1893–1983), known as V. A. Demant, was an English Anglican priest, theologian, and social commentator. He was one of the 14 committee members who served on the Wolfenden Report on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution. Ear ...

Trinity Term, 1950 :1 May Can We Trust the Gospels? D. E. Nineham, G. E. F. Chilver :8 May Biology and Theism, A. Rendle Short, A. C. Hardy :15 May Theology and Verification, A. G. N. Flew, Bernard Williams :22 May The Spirit of Religious Intolerance, Gervase Mathew, H. C. Carpenter :29 May Criteria in Ethical Judgment, G. E. Hughes, S. E. Tomlin :5 June Personalism, J. B. Coates Michaelmas Term, 1950 :16 Oct God and History, Michael Foster, C. S. Lewis :30 Oct Explanation: Scientific and Philosophical, David Mitchell, S. F. Mason :7 Nov Is Theology a Science? G. C. Stead, Austin Farrer :13 Nov Reason and Rationalism in Religion, R. S. Lee, A. P. d’Entreves Hilary Term, 1951 :22 Jan The Problem of Freedom, J. Ward-Smith :29 Jan On Clearing Up Philosophical Muddles, Bernard Williams :12 Feb Psychopathology and Sin, Seymore Spencer, Victor White :30 Apr The Philosophical Basis of Marxism, Marcus Wheeler, S. F. Mason Michaelmas Term, 1951 :22 Oct Appreciation of Linguistic Analysis, I. T. Ramsey :5 Nov Do the Mystics Know? Thomas Corbishley Hilary Term, 1952 :28 Jan Imago Dei and the Unconscious, Oswald Summer, R. W. Kosterlitz :4 Feb The Buddhist Approach to Philosophy, Auguste Purfurst, Basil Mitchell :25 Feb The Gospels—History or Myth? Christopher Evans, P. H. Nowell-Smith :3 Mar Rational Existentialism, E. L. Mascall, Iris Murdoch :10 Mar Cosmology and Theism, G. J. Whitrow, E. L. Mascall Trinity Term, 1952 :28 Apr The Notion of Development in Psychology and Its Bearing Upon Religion, R. S. Lee :5 May Creation Never Was, Michael Scriven :12 May Christianity and Humanism in Western Culture, Christopher Dawson, I.T. Ramsey :19 May What Is Theology? H. D. Lewis, J. J. Hartland-Swann :26 May Subjective and Objective Language,

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, Gilbert Ryle :2 June The Stability of Beliefs, Michael Polanyi, C. T. W. Curle :9 June Guilt and Freedom, John Wisdom, J. L. Austin Michaelmas Term, 1952 :17 Oct Contemporary Philosophy and Christian Faith, Basil Mitchell :24 Oct The Logic of Personality, Bernard Mayo, R. M. Hare :3 Nov A Living Universe, D. E. Harding, C. S. Lewis :10 Nov A New Humanist Alternative to Christ and Mary, H. J. Blackham, Iris Murdoch :17 Nov The Ethic of Belief, Brand Blanshard, H. H. Price :24 Nov Topic Unknown, J. N. Findlay :1 Dec Soloviev and His Idea of Good and Evil, Nicholas Zernov, E. W. Lambert 1953 :The Gospels: Myth or History? R. Creham, A. R. C. Leaney 1954 :The Anatomy of Atheism, E. W. Lambert, John Lucas

Other Socratic Clubs

Though the Oxford Socratic Club disbanded, several Socratic Clubs now exist in colleges and universities. Among these are Socratic Clubs in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

, the Netherlands,

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degree ...

, the University of Gonzaga,

Trinity Bible College Trinity Bible College and Graduate School (TBCGS) is a private bible college and graduate school in Ellendale, North Dakota. It is affiliated with the Assemblies of God USA. History The school was first founded in Devils Lake in 1948, but after ...

Samford University Samford University is a private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama. In 1841, the university was founded as Howard College by Baptists. Samford University describes itself as the 87th oldest institution of higher learning in the United S ...

(founded in 2007) and the

Queen's University of Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

, in Northern Ireland. As of 2007 there has been an Oxford University Socrates Society with similar aims to those of the Socratic Club. The Queen's University of Belfast Socratic Club, founded in 2013, holds similar aims to that of the original at Oxford. There are also branches of the society at

West Buckland School West Buckland School is an independent school in West Buckland, Devon in the English public school tradition. It comprises a senior school, preparatory school, and a nursery. It is a relatively high performing school in Devon. It was one o ...

in Devon and King Edward's School at Bath, where these branches are referred to as "The Socrates Club" and have the same aims as the original Oxford University "Socratic Society" of C.S. Lewis.

Notes

References

* Hooper, Walter. "Oxford's Bonny Fighter." Chapter 16 in ''C. S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table''. James T. Como, ed. Pages 137–185. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1992.

External links

The Socratic Club: Religious Debate at Oxford University

The Samford University Socratic Club

The Anscombe Affair, studied from the primary sources

Is Theology Poetry?
presented by CS Lewis before the Socratic Club in 1944. (PDF, Canadian public domain edition) Clubs and societies of the University of Oxford Debating societies History of Oxford Culture in Oxford Samford University Student organizations established in 1941 Organizations disestablished in 1972