UCC Philosophical Society

Debating society at University College Cork, Ireland

The UCC Philosophical Society, commonly known as the Philosoph,Unreliable source: date=November 2018 is the largest debating society at University College Cork, Ireland. The Philosoph was founded in 1850, making it the oldest society at UCC. House meetings of the society are held every Monday evening during UCC's term time.

The list of former auditors includes Sean O Riada and Eoin "The Pope" O' Mahony. Former presidents include Charles Haughey. Unreliable source: date=November 2018 Other members include professor Kieran Healy of the University of Arizona. Journalist Brendan O' Connor was a former recording secretary.

The society runs several internal debating competitions each year. These include the 'George Boole Internal Maiden Speaker's Competition' (an event for first time speakers), the 'Lord Mayor's Gold Medal' (and individual competition), and the 'Philosoph Mace' (a team competition). In addition, the society funds speakers in competitions throughout Ireland and internationally. A number of Intervarsity competitions are hosted throughout Ireland and the UK which the society participates in such as the UCD Vice President's Cup, the Oxford Union and Cambridge Union Intervarsities and the National Law Debates in Galway. The society also enters the John Smith Memorial Mace and the Irish Times competition. Internationally, the society participates in the World Universities Debating Competition and the European Universities Debating Competition, and has had some success in international debating. For example, two UCC debaters members won the World University Debating Championship at Fordham University in 1986. As well as participating in competitions, the society also hosts competitions. It became the first Irish society to host the European Universities Debating Championships in 2005. UCC was also the venue for the World University Debating Championships in 1996 and in 2009. The 2009 event was jointly hosted by the UCC's Law Society and Philosophical Society. The society hosts its own Inter Varsity each December. It dates back to the Mercier Cup of the 1970s whose winners include Charles Kennedy. The Philosoph also hosts the Cork Invitational Intervarsity (IV), which hosted 80 teams in 2014.