What do I need to join this society?

• You need to have a great curiosity and an open mind to question everything. In our society we believe that there are no ring-fenced subjects or taboos that cannot be analysed.
• You need to have consideration and respect for the integrity of others, humans and other animals and the environment.
• You need to understand that there is a difference between respecting the dignity of people and their ideas. We abide by the principle that people have rights, ideas don’t.
• You need you need to be strong and accept that your own beliefs can be critically questioned by others. This questioning will help you to strengthen or weaken the reasons that support your beliefs.
• You need to be open to seek the truth through rational analysis and change your mind when you realise that you might have been wrong.
• You need to be aware of your bias and prejudices (we all have them), and question them through rational reflection.
• You need to be humble about your own knowldge
• You need to be prepared to contribute to debate

Yearly Fee: £25

Discounts in courses, counselling, workshops and other events.

Access to password protected pages with resources.

To join the society you need to send us an email with your name and tell us a bit aboutyourself.

Let us know if your ideas and how would you like to help forstering this society.

I have been taking the courses on critical thinking with this society for two seasons. The group is very friendly, multicultural and open to questioning and learning. I particularly enjoy the debates and I have learnt a lot about building string arguments and evaluate with a critical stance the information in the news, social media and general readings. I have also learnt a lot of new English words.

Marianne, Biochemist

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When I joined this group I was a bit sceptical about what they could do for me. I felt a bit threatened when they started questioning me about some of my New Age beliefs. As we proceeded to analyse the validity and strength of arguments I started questioning many of those beliefs myself. I identified some aspects of my beliefs that were completely meaningless because not only did I learn about argument analysis, but I also received a considerable amount of information about science and philosophy, which provided me with an understanding of the importance of evidence in accepting or rejecting the many claims that populate our linguistic universe. I became more critical of others and myself. I think this is a great improvement.

Danielle, Office Assistant

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I am very excited about this society. In the beginning I thought this was a group for atheists and since I am a Muslim I wasn’t sure I wanted to join, but after I got to know the group I felt surrounded by friendly and respectful people who share different views of the world. The group is inclusive and comprises people that embrace different life philosophies and religious beliefs. As we learn from each other’s experiences and views, we also learn to accept questioning and how to defend our points of view. The discussions are about attacking arguments, not people.  I think that this experience is enriching and promotes understanding of our diverse cultural backgrounds.

Ahmed IT engineer