University Philosophical Society (Trinity College, Dublin)

The University Philosophical Society (commonly known as The Phil) is a student paper-reading and debating society in Trinity College, Dublin. It has the largest membership of any student society in Trinity College, with over four thousand students on its books. The society meets every Thursday during term in the Graduates' Memorial Building to discuss a paper, debate a motion or hear an address.

The Society

The Phil is currently situated in the Graduates' Memorial Building of Trinity College, which it has shared with the College Historical Society (the Hist) and the College Theological Society (the Theo), since its construction in 1904. The Phil occupies three rooms in the building, the legal status of which was an area of conflict with College authorities in the past.

Like most other Irish debating societies, the University Philosophical Society is traditionally a paper-reading society, with a meeting consisting of responses to a paper rather than debate on a motion. Unlike those other societies, the Phil still keeps this tradition alive, though it now largely organises debates. In addition to debate, the Phil provides facilities for its members such as games and a conversation room, and organises traditional sporting events and blood drives.

The Phil has a number of traditions, like Trinity's other old societies. The lectern at which speakers stand symbolises the paper-reading tradition. Toasts are made to Society, College and Country at each Session's inaugural meeting, and at the end of each session, outgoing Council members drop their keys on the table and vacate their seats for the new Council at the end of the meeting (which always happens at "midnight", regardless of the actual time).

History

In 1843, the Dublin Philosophical Society was founded to cater for those Trinity College students too young to join other societies in Dublin (at the time, junior students were banned from many College societies and facilities). This became the Dublin University Philosophical Society in 1845 when it was recognized by the college. The target audience of undergraduates was deterred by the gradual take-over of the DUPS by older members of College. In 1853, the Undergraduate Philosophical Society was founded, with the Provost of the College as its Senior Patron. In 1860, the Dublin University Philosophical Society dissolved, and the Undergraduate Philosophical Society changed its name to the University Philosophical Society, incorporating both societies. This makes the Phil the oldest paper-reading society in the world, and the largest in Ireland.

The society served from its beginning as a popular arena of discussion and a training-ground for future notable Irishmen. Among the notable events held in its early years was the demonstration of an early telephone by Stephen Yeates in 1865. Presidents in the early years included students who would become classicist and Provost of the College John Pentland Mahaffy, poet Edward Dowden and Dracula author Bram Stoker. (In fact, the Society housed the Bram Stoker collection until the foundation of the Bram Stoker Society in the 1980s.)

The Phil suffered with the rest of Trinity College during the First and Second World Wars, though one notable President of the early 1940s was lawyer, Ugandan independence hero and Supreme Court Chief Justice Udo Udoma. The society admitted women in 1968 (after the resignation of the conservative President and Secretary), becoming the first mixed-sex debating society in Trinity College. A merger with the female-only University Elizabethan Society soon followed; this was a spur towards both increased female membership and increased debating in the Phil. Recent years saw the presidency of Niall Lenihan, son of then-Tánaiste Brian Lenihan, remembered as a defender of the Phil's rights of association and free speech during the visit of discredited historian David Irving.

The Dublin Philosophical Society

The Phil's age is a subject of controversy to this day. Some Phil members claim that the society dates from 1684 and the foundation of the Dublin Philosophical Society. However, this is unlikely, and a subject of dispute within the Phil and College. The Trinity College Calendar lists two dates, 1684 and 1853, as foundation dates of the society. The society's "sessions" (year-long terms in which it holds meetings) date from 1683. The Society celebrates jubilee anniversaries of both the 1853 foundation of the UPS and the 1683 foundation of the DPS.

Debating

The Phil has a strong competitive debating record of late, especially in the domestic Irish Times and international Observer Mace and John Smith Memorial Mace competitions. The society first won the Mace (the premier British and Irish university debating competition) in 1997 when the all-Scottish team of Matthew Magee, Librarian, and Alex Massie, Steward, won the title. A second victory was claimed three years later by Fergal Davis and Robert Cuffe, President.

The society runs internal debating competitions: the Eamon O'Coine Memorial Maiden Speaker's Competition, for first-time speakers in college, the satirically-titled Margaret Thatcher Memorial Debating Competition (or Maggies), a series of impromptu debates, and the John Pentland Mahaffy Memorial Mace. External competitions include an intervarsity debating competition, the Claire Stewart Trinity IV - Dean Swift Intervarsity, in association with the Historical Society, and a secondary schools' public speaking competition, the AIB Phil Speaks.

Notable Speakers

During its long history, the Society has recorded the presence of many notable guests, among them Frederick Engels, Karl Popper, and Bertrand Russell.

In more recent years guests have included all Irish Taoisigh since Charles Haughey, John Kenneth Galbraith, Salman Rushdie, FW De Klerk, Newt Gingrich, Peter Arnett, Mary Robinson, The Edge & Bono of U2, Peter Sutherland, George Galloway, Germaine Greer, Spike Milligan, Ron Jeremy, Vivienne Westwood, David Irving, Desmond Tutu and Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

Guests in the past year include conservative thinker, former head of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Prof. Joseph Nye, former New York Times journalist and former RNC communications officer Clifford D. May, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, controversial English peer Jeffrey Archer, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, Globalisation expert Prof. Dani Rodrik, former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, talk show host Michael Parkinson and Chief Economist & Vice President of the World Bank François Bourguignon.

Controversies

The Phil has been involved in several controversies relating to the balance between free speech and harm minimisation. In 1988, the Society invited then-Holocaust denier David Irving to speak. A large protest by students, staff, Jewish groups, socialists, and anti-Nazi activists resulted in the meeting being relocated to a hotel conference room and held in the small hours of the morning. The traditional vote of thanks to Mr Irving for his paper was defeated, which is rare in the society's history. More recently, the invitation to Austrian politician Jörg Haider to address the society in the Graduate Memorial Building (GMB) in late 2002 led to a protest by anti-Fascist activists, which continued through the debate, with noise being made outside the chamber and interjections in the society's proceedings within. An invitation to BNP official Tony Wentworth was revoked by Trinity College officials after threats of physical action by leftist groups.

Another guest to generate controversy was Islamist Anjem Choudary, who hailed the 9/11 terrorists as martyrs. The former Irish Taoiseach John Bruton threatened to withdraw from a Phil debate later that year over this invitation, which was not withdrawn. Mr Bruton is now an Honorary Patron of the Society, and Anjem Choudary has spoken at the Phil's lectern several times.

Notable Former Presidents and Members

Other notable former council members of recent years include ex-President of the Law Society of Ireland Geraldine Clarke, food critic Tom Doorley, journalists Mary Ellen Synon, Marc Coleman, Paul Gillespie, Alex Massie and Matthew Magee, and broadcasters Ruth McAvinia, Ken Early, Ger Gilroy and Colm O'Mongáin.

The current president is Daire Hickey, a past secretary of the society.

References

External links

Student debating societies | Trinity College, Dublin | 1853 establishments

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