School of Philosophy

North West

Practical Philosophy for Everyday Life

Explore some of life’s important questions and discover how philosophy can be put into practice in everyday life.

Our introductory courses are open to everyone. No previous knowledge of philosophy is needed – just an interest in looking more deeply and seeing what you discover for yourself. 

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Chorley Course
Stockport Course
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Limited seats due to room sizes

Practical Philosophy looks at questions that arise in ordinary life: how we see things, how we relate to others, what influences our choices, and what it means to live well.

The course draws on philosophical ideas from different traditions and considers what light they can shed on our own experience.

What questions have you stopped asking?

No time like the present

The course is practical rather than academic and draws on sources of wisdom from East and West, past and present.

Local Courses

Local face-to-face courses available in Chorley, Wirral & Stockport.

Peace of Mind

A safe space with experienced & supportive tutors. Meet with like-minded individuals.

Practical Wisdom

Courses in practical wisdom for everyday living. 

Offer only £30

Introductory offer – 10 week course only £30 (Normally £65). 

What are the classes like?

Classes are friendly and conversational. A tutor introduces a philosophical idea or question and invites the group to explore it together.

Practical exercises are suggested for trying at home so that ideas can be tested during the week and discoveries brought back to the group. 

Being practical rather than academic, the emphasis is on personal experience. Students are encouraged to neither accept nor reject the ideas put forward, but to test them for themselves, in the light of their own direct experience.

 

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Could This Be for Me?

People come to our courses from many different backgrounds and at different stages of life. You don’t need to have studied philosophy before, and you won’t be expected to accept a particular point of view. What matters is a willingness to consider the questions, join the conversation and see what you discover.

Start with the Introductory Course

The 10 week introductory course is the starting point for anyone new to the philosophy school.

For those who would like to continue after this there are follow-on courses that work in the same way.

What's Covered in the 10-weeks
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Next Introductory Course

Choice of locations, dates and times in Chorley, Stockport and Wirral

Philosophy belmont house philosophy course stockport
Stockport Course
Practical Philosophy Course Brinscall Hall Chorley
Chorley Course
Quaker Meeting House Practical Philosophy Course Wirral
Wirral Course

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.

Online or by calling 0800 803 0799.

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.

Click on to the Enrolment page, Select Date, Add-to-Cart and Checkout.

Yes, we have local venues in Chorley, Stockport & The Wirral where you can attend the course face-to-face. We also have other venues in other parts of the UK.

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. For more details go here.

Practical Philosophy Course FAQs

What some of our students say...

“Absolutely loving the course!!"

“Absolutely loving the course!! …Really changing how I think about things and life in general.”

“I am benefiting greatly ..."

“I am benefiting greatly from the content and the practical nature of it. Thank you, it is enriching my life.”

"Lovely people with a strong sense of why learning is valuable at any stage in life."
"I started off with the Introduction to Practical Philosophy during the first lockdown and can honestly say it was a lifesaver."
"Have thoroughly enjoyed the introductory course and the daily awareness exercise practice. "
“I feel more relaxed...”

“The daily awareness exercises … have changed my thinking and I feel more relaxed about situations in the media and other aspects of my daily life.”

" has helped me..."

"The knowledge and experience that I have gained from the philosophy classes has helped me to discover more about myself and better prepare for dealing with life's daily surprises."

FREE Course Prospectus: A breakdown of our 10 week courses

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Themes included in the course…

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 Awareness Exercise, introduced in week one here. To download, right-click, choose ‘Save link as…’ and save the MP3 wherever you want.

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.

What is our state of awareness?

Why does it fluctuate during the day?

Often the most notable quality of wise people is their alertness to the subtleties of a situation. They are awake, perceptive and curious.

We look at deeper levels of awareness, and consider how we may become more awake to ourselves, our surroundings, and the events we meet.

Living in the now, mindfulness.

What is the potential of the present moment?

We review our own experience of attention through a model featuring attention centred, captured, open and scattered, and how these each relate to the past, present and future.

We examine the extraordinary brightness and freedom naturally available in the present moment. A straightforward practice is introduced. 

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’. 

Looking for the common thread in life.

What is the effect of finding unity?

When we look around, we see enormous diversity in nature. The wise person looks for the unifying factor: that which allows all this apparent diversity to be seen as part of a single whole.

Seen in this way, life then has the best chance of being led freshly and openly. 

What is truth?

How does the desire for truth show itself?

Practical philosophy is about discovering the truth of things – not theoretically, but in our own experience.

In this final session we look back and ask ourselves how our search for truth has fared as the term has progressed. We discuss what has been discovered and how, in our own way, we may continue to develop it in our daily lives.