Philosophy For Our Times: Recent Episodes
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Philosophy for our Times is a free philosophy podcast bringing you the latest talks and debates from the world’s leading thinkers. We host weekly episodes on today’s biggest ideas in news, society, culture, politics, science and arts. Subscribe today to never miss an episode.
Is human agency a fantasy?
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We may not always agree on questions of morality, but whatever standards we adopt we apply them to human action. We are less inclined to take a moral stance on human inaction and failure to act. Many would argue that Putin's attack on the Ukrainian people is morally evil, but there is less outrage that we fail to save any of the estimated 5.4 million children under five who died last year from preventable causes.
Is our moral emphasis on human agency a mistake? If we applied morality equally to inaction would it help to mark a shift to a more caring and socially responsible society? Or is the application of morality to inaction an impossible burden for us to carry, and one that risks undermining morality as a whole as we all become culpable all of the time?
Legendary moral philosopher Peter Singer (joining us live from Australia), eminent philosopher Julian Baggini and provocative biographer Sophie Scott-Brown clash over morality. Hosted by author Robert Rowland Smith.
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Is our future reality a digital utopia or impending nightmare?
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As tech giants promise a lavish digital existence and unparalleled virtual experiences, there's a rising concern. Will we be trading real-life relationships for virtual ones? Substituting nature for mere simulation? And at the forefront, will control rest solely with corporations like Meta? Dive into this pressing debate and navigate the line between digital advancement and the essence of human experience. Hosted by Maria Balaska.
Maria Balaska is currently a research fellow at the University of Hertfordshire and at Åbo Akademi University.
Anders Sandberg is a researcher, popular science debater, trans-humanist and author of Superhuman: Exploring Human Enhancement from 600 BCE to 2050.
Massimo Pigliucci is a philosophy professor at the City College of New York and former co-host of the Rationally Speaking Podcast. His research interests include the Philosophy of Science and the Philosophy of Biology.
Mazviita Chirimuuta is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. She is a self-described techno-pessimist and anti-transhumanist.
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Should we seek to fulfill our needs with multiple partners? Does dissecting a rat brain count as philosophy? Are we entering the age of corporate authoritarianism? Listen as Zizek guides us through these and other major questions of our time.
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Slavoj Žižek provides a Hegelian insight into historical and current political crises. The dialectical repetition of history is not inevitable, and the recent trend away from continental 'transcendental historicism' will allow the continental tradition to shed new light on the world. Slavoj takes us on a whirlwind tour of continental philosophy from the pandemic to how philosophy is like falling in love.
Slavoj Žižek is a globally renowned philosopher and cultural critic. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Philosophy. He is the author of several books, including The Sublime Object of Ideology, The Parallax View, Living in the End Times and Heaven in Disorder.
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Want lasting happiness? Paul Dolan reveals the secret: it's all about where you direct your attention to on a daily basis.
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Happiness isn't about what you think, it's about what you do. And you're more in control than you'd imagine. Join happiness expert and LSE Professor of Behavioural Science, Paul Dolan, as he explains how to create a happy life by your own design.
Paul Dolan is Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Professor Dolan's research focusses on the measurement of happiness, its causes and consequences, and the implications for public policy. He is the author of books: Happiness by Design and Happy Ever After.
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Are psychedelics the lens to reality or the key to delusion?
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With a resurgence in the cultural zeitgeist, psychedelics are now at the forefront of debates about mental health treatments. Critics challenge the efficacy of these substances, but are they missing a broader truth? Join Anne Katrin Schlag, Julian Baggini, and James Rucker as they grapple with the nature of psychedelic experiences and the fabric of reality.
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Is thought a distraction from reality?
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From the birth of reason to Descartes' "I think, therefore I am"; Western culture has placed thought at the centre of what it is to be human. We spend much of our time planning the future, reflecting on the past, puzzling about what to do, and talking about it with others. But might this be a mistake? Should culture, as Nietzsche proposes, 'free itself from the seduction of words and thought'? Should we focus on experience, and live a bit more? Or is this romantic nonsense?
Bestselling author Miranda Keeling, psychologist Steve Taylor and prison philosopher Andy West decide: to think, or not to think? Janne Teller hosts.
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Is language a flawed prism standing in the way of our understanding of the world?
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For much of the 20th century language was seen as central to our understanding of the world. 'The limits of my language mean the limits of my world', argued Wittgenstein. 'There is nothing outside of the text' claimed Derrida. But now it seems language is being jettisoned by philosophers as either containing puzzles that are insoluble, or irrelevant to the real issues facing us. The American philosopher, Hilary Putman, went as far as to say "the project to describe the relationship between language and the world is a shambles".
Should we conclude that the puzzle of language and its relation to the world is not solvable? Or is it essential we crack the problem and not give up? Or should we focus, not on the medium but, on the message and return to an era before the so-called 'linguistic turn' when language was largely seen as a transparent vehicle of our beliefs?
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What is behind the polarising debate on gender? How can we navigate the new politics of gender identity... if at all?
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Gender identity is the hot topic, but many argue that we must remain grounded in biological sex. Join philosopher Kathleen Stock as she seeks collaboration between trans rights activists and feminists to move towards less polarised future.
Kathleen Mary Linn Stock OBE is a British philosopher and writer. She was a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex until 2021. She has published academic work on aesthetics, fiction, imagination, sexual objectification, and sexual orientation.
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In a world that places a premium on independence, are we undervaluing the power of community?
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In this engrossing debate, we examine the societal shift towards solo living and ask critical questions about its impacts. Has our pursuit of independence led to a higher incidence of depression? Have we sidelined the significance of community, and in turn, our inherent need for interconnectedness?
We navigate the merits and potential pitfalls of intergenerational living and the rise of co-living spaces as modern answers to societal disconnection. However, the risk of oppressive and stifling hierarchies in these close-knit communities is not overlooked.
Join us as we unravel the complexities of independence versus community and reconsider the societal norms that we've come to accept.
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In a fascinating conversation, renowned theoretical physicist Marika Taylor and acclaimed philosopher Julian Baggini explore the history and evolving relationship between these two disciplines. Listen in as they delve into the intricacies of how science and philosophy have been intertwined, only to diverge since the Enlightenment. Can they be reconciled?
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Joining the debate are Professor Marika Taylor, the Head of School within Mathematical Sciences at University of Southampton with a focus on string theory, quantum field theory, and gravitational physics, and Julian Baggini, a celebrated philosopher, journalist, and the co-founder of The Philosopher's Magazine. The conversation is expertly hosted by Güneş Taylor.
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Are we bound by traditional rules for life or is it time for a new playbook? Tune in to find out!
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In this thought-provoking discussion, our distinguished panelists delve into the foundations of moral codes and rules for living. Sophie-Grace Chappell, Professor of Philosophy at the Open University, Massimo Pigliucci, Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York, and Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, wrestle with the question: Can life be reduced to a rulebook? They debate the influence of religious commandments, the rise of self-help books like Jordan Peterson's 'The 12 Rules for Life', and whether such codes are inherently flawed. Our panelists also ponder the role of these frameworks in upholding social order and institutions. This insightful conversation is moderated by journalist and broadcaster Myriam François.
The Panel
Sophie-Grace Chappell, Massimo Pigliucci, and Simon Baron-Cohen, all respected philosophers and psychologists, bring their deep insights to this critical discussion, posing thought-provoking questions about the nature of life's rules and moral codes. Myriam François, a seasoned journalist and broadcaster, expertly guides the conversation.
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Could it be that the world's true essence is beyond our comprehension? And what if this isn't a drawback, but an advantage? Explore this paradox in this interview with Hilary Lawson.
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We tend to think the world is divided into bits, and we spend time trying to define those bits. But what if this metaphysical approach is false? In this interview, we sit down with the post-postmodern philosopher Hilary Lawson who walks us through his theory of Closure, a non-realist view which describes the world as an open, unreachable 'other', and provides an account of how we enclose the world with our language, thoughts and categories.
Hilary Lawson is a philosopher and a renowned critic of philosophical realism. He is best known for his work on reflexivity and his theory of Closure, which puts forward a non-realist metaphysics arguing that we close the openness of the world with our thought and language.
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Can you understand a novel - or a life - before you know how it ends?
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From Beethoven's 5th to Batman, Harry Potter to Hamlet, we want and expect satisfying endings that tie up loose ends and provide resolution. But real life doesn't often come tied up so neatly. Relationships and careers often evolve in tangled confusion with transitions that can leave messy legacies. And, as TS Eliot said, often things end "not with a bang but a whimper."
Is it that our stories and narratives are in error, or the way we run our lives?
Academy award nominee David Hare, critically acclaimed writer Janne Teller and director-producer Sophie Fiennes talk endings. Hosted by Barry Smith, Director of the Institute of Philosophy.
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Is "truth" a redundant concept? Listen as Simon Blackburn grapples with the topic.
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Truth has had a difficult century. More than ever we are lost as to both 'what truth is' and 'what is true'. Should we instead turn to pragmatism? Join Simon Blackburn to explore why truth and pragmatism may be more aligned than at first it may seem.
Author of Think and Truth: A guide for the perplexed, Simon Blackburn has worked to bring philosophy to a wider audience. He was a Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University and Vice President of the British Humanist Association.
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Is our focus on happiness making us unhappy?
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"Oh happiness! Our being’s end and aim!” claimed Alexander Pope. Now, a few centuries later, it's not just smiling faces on billboards, some governments have made happiness measures a central goal. 89% of young people in their twenties think life has no purpose other than happiness. But might this be a fundamental error? Income in the West has gone up three fold since the 1950's, but those who say they are unhappy has not fallen, instead it is up 50%. Countries, like New Zealand, that target a happiness index have some of the highest rates of depression and suicide.
Should we see happiness not as the goal, but as the outcome of other actions and focus instead on purpose and achievement, both individual and collective? Or is the notion of an end or purpose to life, be it happiness or anything else, the fundamental mistake?
Cofounder of Novara Media Aaron Bastani, behavioural scientist Paul Dolan and multi-award-winning author Joanna Kavenna debate the the role of happiness in life. Rana Mitter hosts.
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Should we give up the dream of certainty?
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We look for certainty to know where we are, to feel safe. Descartes founded modern Western philosophy on the search for certainty. And in our daily lives we have institutions to create the illusion of certainty, marriage in the precarious world of relationships, schools and universities in the world of knowledge. For psychologists tell us that uncertainty is one of the strongest predictors of distress. Yet certainty is also the enemy of progress and change, and as Eric Fromm argued 'The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning'. To be certain is to have ended enquiry, to have called a halt to the new and the original, to have in a sense already died.
Should we recognise the pursuit of certainty in our personal lives, in our pursuit of knowledge, and in religion and philosophy is destined to fail? Should we instead welcome, even encourage, the uncertain and the unknown as a vehicle for growth and potential? Or without the safety of the known are we all lost?
Distinguished philosophy professor Simon Blackburn, maverick post post-modern philosopher Hilary Lawson and ground-breaking philosopher of value Ruth Chang question whether we can be certain about anything. Maria Balaska hosts.
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Can science and religion coexist? Listen to find out!
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In this interview, Alister McGrath, the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, explores the relationship between science and certainty. He charts his path from atheism to Christianity, and discusses how his faith is consistent with his scientific beliefs. McGrath asserts that reason is not a universal concept, but rather only a culturally contingent framework. He argues that a cross-cultural framework of reason is an essential tool that must be developed to ensure greater harmony between nations and cultures.
Alister McGrath is a theologian, intellectual historian, scientist, and public intellectual. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in the Faculty of Theology and Religion, at the University of Oxford, McGrath is noted for his work in historical theology, systematic theology and the relationship between science and religion.
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Have mundane setbacks become catastrophic? Our experts discuss.
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Trauma was traditionally associated with events such as war, assault and natural disasters. Now it is increasingly used to describe everyday experiences like personal criticism or romantic rejection, and of becoming an empty therapeutic buzzword. Some psychologists argue that we risk undermining diagnoses of serious disorders by treating the mundane as the catastrophic, at the same time as making us less resilient.
Should we stop describing everyday setbacks as trauma? Or is a looser understanding of trauma to be encouraged so that individuals can come to terms with their suffering? Or is this all a symptom of a broader cultural focus on our emotional lives which once promised better mental health, but which has now turned out to have undermined an entire generation?
Neuroscientist Sarah Garfinkel, bestselling author of Zed Joanna Kavenna and fearless psychoanalyst Ian Parker explore modern trauma and what we can do about it.
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Beyond right and wrong?
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Politicians, scientists, experts, specialists and even philosophers frequently claim to be right and to have understood how things ultimately are. Yet at the same time they know this can't plausibly be the case. In the history of humankind there is no theory that has been shown to be definitive, no claim that cannot be disputed. Nor can we imagine a time when such dispute will come to an end.
Should we give up the very idea that it is possible to be definitively right? Would this usher in a new era of compromise? Or is the possibility of being right essential to progress and culture, without which we risk violence and conflict?
Author of Freedom in Age of Alternative Facts Santiago Zabala, pragmatic epistemologist Corine Besson and expert of Indian thought Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad clash over whether it is ever possible to be definitely right about anything.
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Are we right to abandon objective truth?
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It has been forty years since postmodernism swept through the academy changing the character of the arts and social sciences, impacting everything from literary criticism to anthropology, art history to sociology. Soon after it invaded culture generally and technical terms such as 'deconstruction' became widespread. Yet now its critics, including members of the British Cabinet, argue it ushered in an era of tribal conflict, woke culture, and populist deception and is at the source of a pernicious decline in reason and objective truth.
Should we seek to reverse the changes that postmodernism brought about and overturn its attack on the intellectual tradition of the West? Or was postmodernism a progressive force whose insights were largely correct? Or, do we need a new radical approach altogether?
Co-founder and editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine Julian Baggini, award-winning journalist Minna Salami, radical philosopher Hilary Lawson and boundary pushing feminist Julie Bindel line up as prosecution and defence with postmodernism in the dock. Hosted by journalist and author David Aaronovitch.
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Are we incarcerating the innocent?
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Note: this episode was recorded live at our philosophy festival HowTheLightGetsIn.
Some argue behaviour is a product of our genes. Others that upbringing and environment play the primary role in determining who we are. So do we carry no responsibility for our actions? Courts have on occasion made judgments in this light. In 2006 Bradley Waldroup was acquitted of murder because he was found to have an unusual variant of a 'warrior gene' and to have been abused as a child.
Is responsibility for our actions an illusion? And should we as a result abandon moral responsibility to build a fairer world? Or is the notion that our actions are determined by our genes, our upbringing or some combination a dangerous mistake? Many want to have it both ways: we are the outcome of our genes and upbringing but also responsible for our actions, but how is this possible?
Eminent philosopher and literary critic Galen Strawson, stoic philosopher Massimo Pigliucci, and neuroscientist Sarah Garfinkel debate the essence of innocence and guilt. Hosted by novelist Joanna Kavenna.
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Is it bad if we are?
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From the evening news to the latest films and novels - we are attracted to crises and the trials and tribulations of life. The pandemic brought stories of human suffering, whether from illness, isolation or joblessness, which we readily consumed. But the healthiness of this fascination with misery is questionable, potentially leaving us with a distorted picture of the state of affairs and low expectations for our happiness. Is this focus on negative human experiences universal, a hangover from our evolutionary past and originally a survival technique? Or is it a symptom of a culture in decline? Should we seek to snap out of this pessimistic cultural focus and instead celebrate success stories and look positively to the future?
Award-winning authors Elise Valmorbida and Meg Rosoff and philosopher and an honorary professor at UCL Nick Zangwill discuss the call of the catastrophe and calamity. Mary Ann Sieghart hosts.
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How did consciousness come into existence?
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'Steven Pinker and Sam Harris have argued "the emergence of consciousness is simply incomprehensible". While recent neuroscientists have concluded "there is no convincing function to be found for consciousness". But if so, why are we conscious? Is consciousness an accurate description of what's happening to us, a sort of internal dashboard of the current state of affairs? Or is it a construction made to achieve certain outcomes?
Has evolution got something seriously wrong if consciousness is a mere by-product of being human? Do we need a new account of consciousness and how it fits into our model of the universe? Is it possible that consciousness itself is leading us astray?
Famed cognitive psychologist Donald Hoffman, celebrated psychiatrist and former literary scholar Iain McGilchrist, trailblazing evolutionary theorist and geneticist Eva Jablonka and pioneering philosopher of consciousness Michelle Montague lock horns over whether consciousness evolved. Robert Lawrence Kuhn hosts.
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Do we need suffering to lead a meaningful life?
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From the plots of Hollywood movies to the roots of Christianity, many see value in adversity and suffering. Be it in character building boot camps or overcoming the trials of a difficult childhood or adult life. Yet the great majority of us do our very best to avoid suffering in our own lives.
Should we conclude that the value of adversity and suffering is an illusion? A hangover from Christianity that modernity needs to excise? Or is it a vital and critical element in building personality and enabling a meaningful, fulfilling and significant life?
Britain’s most beloved psychotherapist and author of “Fat is a Feminist Issue” Susie Orbach, renowned transhumanist Anders Sandberg, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol Havi Carel explore the significance of suffering in modern society. Hosted by philosopher Julian Baggini.
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Is language capable of communicating experience?
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We think sharing experience is essential to being human. At an individual level, we share experiences to get to know others and understand them. Yet from the taste of an apple to giving birth, we know we cannot fully describe the experience to someone who has not already had it. Many now also maintain that it is impossible to communicate the experience of discrimination, and other cultures can only be understood by those who have experienced it. But even if it remains an impossible task - for language to truly bridge our separate realities - should it nevertheless remain something that is continually strived for?
Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University Kehinde Andrews, linguist and Associate Professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University John McWhorter, and Professor of philosophy and cognitive science at Yale University Laurie Ann Paul discuss whether or not language is capable of communicating lived experience. Mary-Jane Rubenstein hosts.
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Can empirical observation lead us to the truth?
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From Newton to Darwin, Curie to Einstein, science has been built on empirical observation. Now the very idea of neutral observation is under threat. In a postmodern world it is claimed all observation is perspectival, everything we see influenced by what we already think. The founder of quantum mechanics, Heisenberg went further arguing that observing reality was not even possible. Are we at sea in a world of competing models? Or is it time to reassert the value of empirical observation, supported perhaps by machine learning and big data, as a means of choosing between incompatible theories?
Steve Fuller is an academic studying science and technology. Fuller has published prolifically on such topics as intelligent design, the sociology of academia, and transhumanism.
Angela Saini is an award-winning science journalist, author and broadcaster. She regularly presents science programmes for the BBC, and her writing has appeared in publications ranging from New Scientist, Wired and the Guardian.
Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and bestselling author. Best known for his 2012 book 'The Science Delusion' and the controversial, viral TED talk he gave which was banned by the organisation.
Peter Atkins is a chemist and Fellow of Lincoln College. He’s a Distinguished Supporter of Humanists UK, Atkins is outspoken in his opposition to religion.
Danielle Sands hosts.
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Is pantheism more radical than atheism?
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Pantheism is the radical belief that reality and god are one and the same thing. Why has it been so feared for 400 years? Philosopher and author of Strange Wonder, Mary-Jane Rubenstein shows how the idea threatens much more than just religion.
Mary-Jane Rubenstein is Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA. Her book Worlds Without End: The Many Lives of the Universe examines cosmological models throughout history, from the world-views of the Ancient Greeks through to the well-respected multiverse theory in modern science. She links contemporary models of the universe to their forerunners and explores the reason for their recent resurgence.
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Are 'facts' a tool for manipulation? Listen to find out!
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Facts and reason are essential if we are to make progress and create a better world. At least that's how it used to be. But now it seems everyone has their own 'facts'. Our political leaders have 'alternative' facts, but so, it is also claimed, do the liberal elite and the mainstream media. Meanwhile, reason has been derided by many as a typically male bludgeon to deny alternative views. Should we welcome the challenge to facts and reason as a progressive move undermining the authority of traditional Western hierarchies? Or is the undermining of facts and reason a singularly dangerous exercise?
Professor of Philosophy at the Open University Sophie-Grace Chappell, Professor of Philosophy at Stockholm University Anandi Hattiangadi and Professor of Philosophy at the New College of the Humanities Simon Blackburn dicuss the changing value of truth in contemporary society. Julian Baggini hosts.
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Can we be sure there is a physical reality? Our philosophers and scientists debate.
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No-one who has ever stepped on a Lego brick could doubt the reality of physical objects. Yet from Heraclitus to George Berkeley, many philosophers claimed to have disproven the existence of things. Now even high-energy particle physicists are inclined to agree and describe material stuff as energy, or even as mathematical constructs. Could the world truly be made up of fields and processes, rather than physical stuff? Or is science trapped in a philosophical fantasy from which it needs to escape?
Chemist and Fellow of Lincoln College Peter Atkins, Philosopher of Science at the University of Bristol James Ladyman and author of A Field Guide to Reality Joanna Kavenna debate whether the everyday objects that surround us are an illusion. Julian Baggini hosts.
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Can we be sure there is a physical reality? Our philosophers and scientists debate.
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No-one who has ever stepped on a Lego brick could doubt the reality of physical objects. Yet from Heraclitus to George Berkeley, many philosophers claimed to have disproven the existence of things. Now even high-energy particle physicists are inclined to agree and describe material stuff as energy, or even as mathematical constructs. Could the world truly be made up of fields and processes, rather than physical stuff? Or is science trapped in a philosophical fantasy from which it needs to escape?
Chemist and Fellow of Lincoln College Peter Atkins, Philosopher of Science at the University of Bristol James Ladyman and author of A Field Guide to Reality Joanna Kavenna debate whether the everyday objects that surround us are an illusion. Julian Baggini hosts.
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Does nature always know best? Yuval Noah Harari and Slavoj Žižek debate.
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Most think of nature as good, while humans and human interventions are often seen as problematic and even on occasion evil. From eradicating e-numbers from our diets to refusing vaccines, many are motivated by the idea that nature knows best.
Yet malaria is natural, the malaria vaccine is not. Crop failure, hurricanes, tsunamis - all are deadly, and all natural. Human actions are essential to extend and save lives from natural calamity.
Is our attachment to nature undermining belief in ourselves? Should we have more faith in the human and less trust in nature? Or, are we right to be sceptical of human intervention and should we see the renewed reverence for nature as a positive return to an ancient and essential belief? Then again, should we accept that we are part of the natural world, and give up on the false distinction between real and artificial, natural and unnatural?
World-famous intellectual Yuval Noah Harari and firebrand philosopher Slavoj Žižek debate whether nature is friend or foe. Hosted by scientist Güneş Taylor.
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Are we living in a simulation?
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Modern technology has ushered in a new era of augmented reality - one so sophisticated that some argue within a century we will be unable to distinguish the 'real' from the 'virtual'. Yet with increasing concerns that virtual reality is simply a flawed escapism, could we imagine ourselves living meaningful lives inside a virtual world? World-renowned philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers outlines his highly original take on the matter.
David Chalmers is an Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist who specialises in the philosophy of mind, language and more recently, virtual reality. He is a Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science at New York University, as well as co-director of NYU's Center for Mind, Brain and Consciousness.
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Are we living in a simulation?
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Modern technology has ushered in a new era of augmented reality - one so sophisticated that some argue within a century we will be unable to distinguish the 'real' from the 'virtual'. Yet with increasing concerns that virtual reality is simply a flawed escapism, could we imagine ourselves living meaningful lives inside a virtual world? World-renowned philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers outlines his highly original take on the matter.
David Chalmers is an Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist who specialises in the philosophy of mind, language and more recently, virtual reality. He is a Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science at New York University, as well as co-director of NYU's Center for Mind, Brain and Consciousness.
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Is government responsible for people's happiness? Paul Dolan tells us how to reach happiness and how public policy could get involved.
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From ancient philosophers to modern scientists we have been perplexed by happiness. In this interview, Professor of Behavioural Science at the LSE, Paul Dolan, discusses what happiness is and whether it should affect public policy. He engages with purpose vs happiness and how we, as a society, can find ways to promote happiness via public policy.
Paul Dolan's main research interests are human behaviour and happiness, and the relationships between them, particularly as they apply to policy. He is author of the bestselling books Happiness by Design and Happy Ever After. He is also host of the Duck / Rabbit podcast about the polarisation problem in our society.
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Should we see nature as a divine source, or will doing so lead to self-annihilation?
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From Greece’s Gaia to the Hindu Prithvi, many cultures have seen the Earth as a divine being. Christianity and Western culture however removed god from nature deriding such outlooks as 'pagan'. The earth was recast as a resource for humans, to be conquered, settled and tamed. Now it seems the tides may be changing again. Rivers and rainforests are being given legal rights and some philosophers go further arguing that the planets of the solar system should too. Nature it would seem is the new god.
Might re-embracing Mother Earth be just what we need to prevent environmental catastrophe and destruction of society? Or is the return to the gods of nature a dangerous step that undermines human goals and values and threatens a return to superstition and fate?
Psychedelic philosopher Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, internationally-renowned climate scientist Tim Palmer, and author-broadcaster-podcaster Melanie Challenger test each other's beliefs about nature and god. Hosted by philosopher Hilary Lawson
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How our brains lie to us and science follows.
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With a background in psychiatry, neuroimaging, and philosophy, Iain McGilchrist has a unique perspective on the world, the mind, and everything in between. Here, he discusses his new book, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World.
Iain McGilchrist is psychiatrist, writer, and former Oxford literary scholar. He is committed to the idea that the mind and brain can be understood only by seeing them in the broadest possible context, a notion which is fundamental to his two most famous works: The Master and his Emissary, and The Matter With Things
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Is rationality productive or is it a method for manipulation?
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Rationality, once revered, has had a bad press. Increasingly derided as the rhetorical bluster of the educated elite, typically powerful and male. And seen as the prejudiced claim of those who are sure they are right. Yet in its absence public debate becomes ever more rancorous and tribal.
Do we need less emotion, more calm, and more rational conversation and debate? Should we see rationality as a method for positive change? Or is rationality a rhetorical delusion, a means of dressing up privilege and power, which should be seen for what it is, a defence of the vested interests it seeks to hide?
Eminent philosopher of mind and psychology Sophie Archer, ground breaking Oxford logician Timothy Williamson and trailblazing cultural critic Nina Power put reason and emotion to the test. Hosted by Mary Ann Sieghart.
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Should we be scared of AI?
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Joanna Bryson discusses how she became interested in the ways different species use intelligence, how the typical tropes in science fiction misunderstand AI and the problem of anthropomorphism. In this interview, Bryson discusses the most pressing ethical challenges concerning the future of artificial intelligence and whether or not we can stabilize democracy when we have so much information about each other. She also touches on how the problems that arise with AI aren't always to do with the technology itself but with the social conditions that often produce it.
Joanna Bryson is professor at Hertie School in Berlin. She works on Artificial Intelligence, ethics and collaborative cognition. She advises governments, corporations, and other agencies globally, particularly on AI policy.
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Will science ever come on top?
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In a survey of academic philosophers 85% identified as atheists. In Europe established religion has been in decline for a century; even in the States attendance is falling. Yet globally religion remains a potent force, and predictions of its demise have not materialised. Amongst those who have abandoned established religion new forms of spirituality, such as mindfulness and yoga are on the rise. Does religion, in all its many forms, provide a psychological support for humans that makes it essential - without which there is only the void?
Scientist, author, and parapsychology researcher Rupert Sheldrake, Hegelian psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek and Professor of History at University of Madison-Wisconsin Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen discuss whether the persistence of religion is an extended but ultimately temporary phenomenon. Wes Alwan hosts.
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Can you be an atheism 'expert'? And if you are, what do you have to say? Listen to find out.
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The first decade of the 21st century saw an extraordinary rise in confident atheism. Now the whirlwind has settled, what does the future of belief look like? In this talk philosopher and author of Atheism: A Very Short Introduction, Julian Baggini explores the new landscape of atheism.
Julian Baggini is a British philosopher, journalist and author of over 20 philosophical books. Since graduating with a PhD from University College London in 1997, he has co-founded The Philosopher's Magazine and been a regular contributor to both national and international newspapers.
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Are scientific metaphors a real description of reality? A discussion between our scientists and philosophers.
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From string theory to the Big Bang, black holes to dark matter, our big scientific theories are increasingly conveyed through metaphor. Yet from Newton to the latest theories, science is largely founded on mathematics.
Could Newton have chosen to call forces 'spirits' and Einstein have called fields 'matrices'? And if so would our understanding of reality have been profoundly different?
Fellow at the Francis Crick Institute Güneş Taylor, scientist and author Rupert Sheldrake, chemist and author of popular works of science Peter Atkins and post-postmodern philosopher Hilary Lawson debate whether scientific metaphors can be considered real descriptions of an underlying universe. Joanna Kavenna hosts.
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The case for nihilism, demons of materialism, and jazz?! Join us for a fascinating discussion.
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On this week’s episode we are joined by Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at Keele University, James Tartaglia, to discuss the meaning of life and common misconceptions surrounding nihilism. We dive into a fascinating conversation about the role of materialism in our contemporary experience of the world, and James puts forward an appealing argument for the return to idealism, while encouraging us to chuck out determinism. To top it all, he shares how and why he combines jazz music with philosophy in his personal life.
James Tartaglia is a British philosopher and the author of Philosophy in a Meaningless Life and Philosophy in a Technological World: Gods and Titans. James also leads a Jazz-Philosophy fusion band called 'Continuum of Selves'.
This interview was recorded at our philosophy and music festival HowTheLightGetsIn. If you want to check out the video footage click here.
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Should the origins of ideas matter as much as their substance? Our experts discuss.
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There has always been dispute over which ideas are most significant. But at least there used to be broad agreement about the hallmarks of quality and the great works in each field. Now, from literature to the social sciences, there are claims that previous standards were structures of prejudice and oppression, and calls are heard for greater inclusion.
How do we navigate this new space where there is so little agreement on merit? Should we abandon the notion of 'great works' altogether, or would this threaten the very survival of our culture and much that we hold to be valuable?
Literary theorist Stanley Fish, author of How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff, journalist and editor of MsAfropolitan, Minna Salami and writer and essayist Janne Teller rethink what makes a great work of art. Hosted by BBC Parliamentary Correspondent, Sean Curran.
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Are you ready for a different kind of 'trip'?
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We have a very special episode for you today, a truly fascinating (and at times even funky) philosophical discussion.
From Silicon Valley to the treatment of depression, psychedelics have entered the mainstream. And with them come new political, economic and philosophical horizons. Join us as scientist Rupert Sheldrake and philosopher Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes discuss the past, present and future of the mind.
Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist whose research led to the theory of morphic resonance and nature's memory. In his book Ways To Go Beyond he explores states of altered consciousness and their implication on the mind.
Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes is a philosopher of mind, described as "a psychedelic Nietzsche". He is a Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer in University of Exeter's Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology Department, who specialises in altered states of sentience.
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Is the brain just a computer? Are AI conscious? Or could they be? Our experts debate.
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The idea of the brain as a computer is everywhere. So much so we have forgotten it is a model and not the reality. It’s a metaphor that has lead some to believe that in the future they'll be uploaded to the digital ether and thereby achieve immortality. It’s also a metaphor that garners billions of dollars in research funding every year. Yet researchers argue that when we dig down into our grey matter our biology is anything but algorithmic. And increasingly, critics contend that the model of the brain as computer is sending scientists (and their resources) nowhere fast.
Is our attraction to the idea of the brain as computer an accident of current human technology? Can we find a better metaphor that might lead to a new paradigm? Is there something about computers that has indeed identified the very same processes that are operating in our brains, or is it a profound mistake to imagine the organic can be reduced to technology?
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Has science become the philosophical belief of our time? Leading scientists and philosophers discuss.
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In less than a lifetime, the first half of the twentieth century brought a series of life changing inventions. In combination with the all encompassing new stories of physics, science, once a branch of philosophy, became the philosophical belief of our time. Some claimed philosophy was over.
Yet in the last half century, technology has become more contentious and big scientific theory has seemingly stalled. Might philosophy once again find itself centre stage at a time when knowledge and progress are in question? Or is science still the only credible way to improve our circumstances and make sense of the world?
Co-founder and editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine, Julian Baggini, chemist Peter Atkins, Crick Institute Researcher Güneş Taylor, and consciousness philosopher Philip Goff argue over life, the universe and everything. Hosted by researcher and author, Melanie Challenger.
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Can science accommodate human subjectivity? Sabine Hossenfelder responds.
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In this interview, leading physicist and author, Sabine Hossenfelder, discusses the relationship between physics and philosophy. She examines the scientific community’s desire to find a unified theory of everything, and contemplates how science can accommodate human subjectivity. She also considers the role of physics in helping us tackle major philosophical issues involving time, free will, and consciousness.
Sabine Hossenfelder is a theoretical physicist who specialises in the foundations of physics. She is a Research Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies where she leads the group on Superfluid Dark Matter.
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Is our obsession with data healthy or dangerous? Our specialists discuss.
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Look to the science' was the call from politicians and the public alike throughout the pandemic. As if science has a single definitive view, and the data one interpretation. Yet science is full of competing and sometimes contradictory views particularly at the edge of current understanding. And increasingly scientists see themselves as operating with models of reality. Ultimate final accounts being perhaps more typical of religion than the exploratory and sceptical approach at the core of science.
Should we abandon the idea that science provides absolute answers? Should scientists and politicians avoid giving the impression that there is a single definitive account? Or do we need to cut through the complexity of competing outlooks and commit to a truth in order to drive action and change?
Pioneering American physicist Lisa Randall, renowned philosopher of science Tim Maudlin and legendary cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman argue over the fundamental nature of science. Biologist Güneş Taylor hosts.
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Does philosophy really have an impact on our daily life? Timothy Williamson explains.
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In this interview, professor of Logic at the University of Oxford, Timothy Williamson examines how common sense can sometimes not be fully self-consistent and can even lead us into certain logical paradoxes. The philosopher discusses in what ways philosophy is comparable to the natural sciences and how language is ill-equipped to describe people's experiences of reality. In this discussion, Williamson also touches on the arbitrariness of disciplinary boundaries when it comes to understanding life's fundamental questions.
Timothy Williamson is the Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford and a fellow of New College, Oxford. His main research areas are philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics. He is the author of the widely translated Knowledge and Its Limits and The Philosophy of Philosophy.
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Has contemporary culture abandoned the quest for the sublime? Our experts try to find out.
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From Rembrandt to Rothko, Mozart to Wagner, art and music have the capacity to give us a feeling of the sublime and transcendent wonder. Yet in contemporary culture the sublime is rare and for the most part not even desired. Few would claim that watching the WAP video or Takashi Murakami's art are gateways to the sublime.
What really is the sublime and where can we find it in the 21st century?
Thought-provoking author Olivia Fane, journalist and social critic Minna Salami, radical biologist Rupert Sheldrake and award-winning novelist Joanna Kavenna interrogate our awe at what lies beyond, and how it does - and doesn't - manifest today. Mark Salter hosts.
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Is metaphysics back in fashion? Or is philosophy getting increasingly lost?
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The twentieth century began with a revolutionary new approach to philosophy. The great arguments about the nature of reality and human experience were deemed empty and meaningless. A new philosophical broom, in the form of analytic philosophy, claimed to sweep away vacuous grand theories and replace them with hard logic and analysis and a close attention to the meaning of the words. Yet, a hundred years on metaphysics is back. Theories of consciousness and the character of reality are once again the topic of debate.
Should we welcome this return to stories about the ultimate character of the world? Or do they risk being empty, conveying little other than the prejudices and desires of their authors? Are grand metaphysical theories about the nature of reality and consciousness vital topics of debate or a set of fairy tales?
Legendary Neurophilosophy pioneer Patricia Churchland, Closure theorist Hilary Lawson and analytic philosopher Galen Strawson lock horns over the future of metaphysics.
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How does panpsychism clash with fundamental physics? Does it? Can we find a theory that supports science AND philosophy to finally explain consciousness?
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In this episode Philip Goff responds to recent critiques of panpsychism by theoretical physicists Sean Carroll and Sabine Hossenfelder, and then explores some implications for the science of consciousness.
Philip Goff is a philosopher of consciousness at Durham University. His research focuses on integrating consciousness into our scientific worldview. His 2019 book Galileo's Error sets out his defence of panpsychism rooted in an analysis of the work of Arthur Eddington and Bertrand Russell.
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How do we make decisions regarding our children in an impossibly complicated digital world?
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Technology is changing parenthood. From children raised by smartphones, to making choices about gene-editing and enhancement, Melanie Challenger asks what it means to be a parent in a technological age.
Melanie Challenger is a researcher on the history of humanity and the natural world, and on environmental philosophy. Her latest book, How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human was published by Canongate in 2021.
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Is the abandonment of ritual a contemporary mistake? Listen to what our experts have to say.
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From greetings and introductions, to love and relationships, church services and dances, formality and ritual were once a central part of our lives. But form and ritual have been in retreat for more than a century. Many now see formality as outdated, an unnecessary sign of deference, and welcome a less constrained, more open culture.
Historian of ideas Hannah Dawson pulls no punches debating philosopher of religion Linda Woodhead and distinguished art critic Noel Carroll on the place of formality and ritual in the modern world. Writer and broadcaster Myriam Francois hosts.
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How wrong was Descartes exactly? Listen to find out!
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Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Anil Seth explores the ultimate mystery of our consciousness experience. In this interview, Seth discusses the misconceptions surrounding the difference between consciousness and intelligence, the link between consciousness and self-consciousness and why consciousness can be seen as similar to a controlled hallucination. Seth also considers whether or not he thinks science will ultimately dissolve the sense of mystery surrounding what consciousness really is.
Anil Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness. He is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness. He is also a regular contributor to the New Scientist, The Guardian, and BBC, and writes the blog NeuroBanter.
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Can morality lead society down dangerous roads? Listen to how our speakers deconstruct our idea of right and wrong.
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Many would argue that for at least a century we have been moving away from the moral certainties of traditional Christianity. Yet, a new form of moral certainty is now reappearing, with much of our culture seemingly gripped by a focus on virtue and a tightly policed sense of right and wrong.
Should we welcome this return to virtue and embrace a moralism that will purge society of its newly found sins? Or are these certainties a new prejudice and the intolerant assertion of tribal attachments? Is our culture morally bankrupt in need of greater virtue, or could we be in the early stages of a Salem witch trial?
Chief Executive of The RSA and former head of the No. 10 Policy Unit Matthew Taylor, ethicist Rebecca Roache and philosopher and Closure theorist Hilary Lawson ask whether it's time to move beyond our fixation on morality is misguided. Author Danielle Sands hosts.
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Free will? Nah...
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Do we have free will? Are we exercising our agency or following our predetermined destiny? How would we structure our society if we believed that individuals are not responsible for their actions? Or maybe we already do?
In this interview analytic philosopher Galen Strawson discusses free will, ultimate moral responsibility and the thin veneer of our own rationality. Strawson probes at how the narratives we require in order to have an idea of the 'self' allow us to follow misguided illusions.
Galen John Strawson is an acclaimed British analytic philosopher and literary critic who works primarily on philosophy of mind and metaphysics. His work covers free will, panpsychism, the mind-body problem, and the self. He has been a consultant editor at The Times Literary Supplement for many years, and a regular book reviewer for The Observer, The Sunday Times, The Independent, the Financial Times and The Guardian. He is the son of philosopher P. F. Strawson.
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Does life have meaning or is it time to embrace nihilism? Listen to find out!
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Humans have always sought meaning beyond themselves in stories about the gods and the “beyond”. Yet today contemporary culture and thought has left many alone with only human, and contradictory, perspectives on the universe. In the absence of something beyond ourselves some would argue we have also lost meaning and purpose.
Do we need the transcendental to give our lives meaning? Can we conjure a 21st century form of the transcendental in the philosophical mysteries of life and the universe? Or should we ring out a Nietzschean cheer at the death of god and focus our attention on creating our own, human meanings that have lasting value and importance?
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Can AI really help us reach our human potential? How reliant should we be on technology?
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We all know that the world of AI is rapidly changing. What is less obvious are the ways in which we change with it. In this talk, complex systems expert and pioneer of the world’s first empathic technology, Fotini Markopoulou, explores how we co-evolve with our technologies, and what this means as we build a new world of AI and emotion technology.
Fotini G. Markopoulou-Kalamara is a Greek theoretical physicist interested in quantum gravity, foundational mathematics and quantum mechanics and a design engineer working on embodied cognition technologies. Markopoulou is co-founder and CEO of Empathic Technologies.
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Can language ever truly capture reality? Is there anything unsayable? Listen to what the experts have to say.
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"What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence", famously claimed the philosopher Wittgenstein. He primarily had in mind the relationship between language and the world, and more generally the very idea of metaphysics. Yet, a century after Wittgenstein's conclusion, many continue to wildly speculate about the ultimate meaning and nature of reality using our all-to-human language.
Have we ignored Wittgenstein's clear message that we cannot know how language and our theories relate to the world? Are all our lofty descriptions about the nature of reality and metaphysics simply nonsense? Or was Wittgenstein wrong, and can we continue in our human quest to uncover the essential character of reality and our relationship to it?
Author of the bestselling Zed Joanna Kavenna, philosopher and neuroscientist Ray Tallis, and post-realist philosopher and author of Closure, Hilary Lawson lock horns over how we understand the world. Hosted by author and research fellow at the University of Hertfordshire, Maria Balaska.
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Have you ever wondered how animals, robots and even aliens think? Listen to find out!
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How do non-human minds think? Acclaimed science writer Philip Ball provides a whistle-stop tour of the kinds of minds that might exist in the universe and how these might be similar to and different from our own.
Philip Ball is a science writer and broadcaster. He is the former editor of the journal Nature and a prolific author of popular science books. Ball’s 2004 book Critical Mass won the Aventis Prize, and in the same year, he presented Small Worlds, a three-part series on nanotechnology for BBC Radio 4.
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Is there a universal moral code? Or are we lying to ourselves? Listen to find out.
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Absolute moral claims are making a resurgence along with demands for action in response. Yet at the same time many proclaim the value and importance of upholding diverse cultural outlooks with sometimes radically different moral codes.
To avoid this hypocrisy should we give up belief in a universal moral code, and see morality, as Nietzsche argued, as the product of a monotheistic culture which over the centuries has often led to violence and warfare? Or should we reassert confidence in our moral framework and deny alternative accounts? Is a 'universal moral code' a guise for the tyranny of western, Christian ethics, or is it the cornerstone of a fair and just society in any culture and at any time?
Infamous anarcho-capitalist David Friedman, leading analytic philosopher Timothy Williamson and morality specialist Maria Baghramian dig into the true nature of morality. Robert Rowland Smith hosts.
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Is it time to shift our perception of the universe? Listen to what the experts have to say.
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Since the 1970s we have understood the world through the lens of the Standard Model and its account of the forces and particles that make up the universe. But a series of deep puzzles have emerged. And now, even more significantly, a new force has been discovered throwing the whole theory into question.
Can the Standard Model be modified to answer the increasing number of challenges it faces? Or is the Standard Model fatally flawed - and time for the next great paradigm shift to a radically different account of the universe? Alternatively, should we conclude that all theories have limitations and not worry about the flaws, however profound they might be?
CERN research scientist Sam Henry, renowned author and theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder, and distinguished philosopher of science Bjørn Ekeberg discuss whether it is time to move past the standard model of particle physics. Acclaimed science writer Philip Ball hosts.
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What is wrong with truth? Can we find a solution? Listen to find out.
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There are many varied voices who see the attack on objective truth as the root cause of all that is wrong in today’s society, including recently Tom Stoppard, UK Cabinet member Liz Truss, and Pope Benedict. But philosopher and renowned critic of philosophical realism Hilary Lawson warns this is a dangerous and mistaken response. Instead we need a radical new way of looking at the world.
Hilary Lawson is a post-postmodern philosopher and is best known for his theory of 'Closure' which calls for a post-analytic return to metaphysics.
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Is there a connection between philosophy and psychoanalysis? A place for discussing children in philosophy? Listen to find out.
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Psychoanalysis and philosophy share a deep interest in what it means to be human and what it means to be in the world. At the heart of both philosophical and psychological investigations lies three questions:What can I know? What ought I do? And what can I hope for?
Dr Maria Balaska discusses the connection between our psychological understanding of ourselves, and our philosophical understanding of the world around us.
Maria Balaska is a philosopher at the University of Hertfordshire. Her book Wittgenstein and Lacan at the Limit: Meaning and Astonishment brings together philosophy and psychoanalysis on the significance and the challenges of experiences of astonishment.
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There is hope for academia after all.
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We need a revolution. Universities are turning into corporations, students, academics and the culture at large is damaged as a result. Cambridge academics Michael Hrebeniak and Isabelle McNeill lay out their vision of how to revolutionise education by removing neo-liberal "outputs" culture and democratising the university once again.
Michael Hrebeniak is a polymath: an academic, author, film-maker, ex-jazz musician, and journalist. He is Director of Studies in English at Wolfson College and Lecturer in English at Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Isabelle McNeill is Philomathia Fellow in French at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, where she teaches French literature and cinema.
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Is consciousness independent from our bodies? Or is it just a hallucination? Listen to find out.
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Somehow, within each of our brains, billions of neurons work to create our conscious experience. How does this happen? Why do we experience life in the first person? After over twenty years researching the brain, world-renowned neuroscientist Anil Seth puts forward a radical new theory of consciousness and the self.
Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. His TED Talk on the brain has had close to 12 million views and he is the author of multiple books alongside his blog, NeuroBanter.
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Why do Flat Earthers believe the world is flat even when confronted with scientific evidence? Why don't anti-vaxxers "trust the science"? Listen to find out.
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Dallas Campbell is one of the most celebrated science television presenters in the UK. He has been communicating complicated ideas to the nation for years. But what does it really take to mediate between scientists and the public? In this interview, Dallas shares his insights into the scientific community and sheds light on why we choose to believe what we believe. Gunes Taylor hosts.
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Have you ever wondered if birds talk to each other like we do? Listen in to find out whether we are really all that different.
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Many think language makes us uniquely human. Are humans no different in principle from other animals and plants? Or is language profoundly different from all other forms of communication and the enabler of consciousness itself?
Joining us to debate the uniqueness of human language are bestselling author of The Genius of Birds Jennifer Ackerman, philosopher and cultural critic Ray Tallis, and author of A Field Guide to Reality and Zed Joanna Kavenna.
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Have you ever wondered if you are a "good" person? Are any of us actually morally good? Listen in to find out.
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From fervent socialists to devout Christians, many have sought to live by a strict moral code. Yet from the gulags to the Inquisition it has often been those with the strictest codes who have perpetrated the greatest crimes. Is this just accidental, or is there something about a strict morality than makes hypocrisy unavoidable?
Professor of International Relations David Chandler, award-winning journalist Ece Temelkuran, and esteemed philosopher Julian Baggini debate the hypocrisy of the good. Myriam Francois hosts.
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How much risk is too much? Listen to find out!
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In a Covid world we have been focused on safety. Yet almost all of us choose to engage in activities, from swimming in the sea to driving a car or having a bottle of wine, that carry risks. In fact, more died globally last year from alcohol than Covid. So how do we assess what risks to take and how much time and resource to protect ourselves from future risk?
While it looks as if vaccines will bring the Covid pandemic under control, the next pandemic is potentially just a virus away. Must we act urgently now to safeguard the world from a further catastrophe? Or should we assess against other global risks and the cost and resource involved? Is our ultimate goal to eradicate risk or must we accept risk is unavoidable?
In association with Seqirus.
Head of Influenza Scientific Affairs at Seqirus Beverly Taylor, political commentator Ella Whelan and Emeritus Professor of Decision Sciences at LSE Lawrence Phillips debate playing with fire. Mary Ann Sieghart hosts.
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Was Planck wrong or was he into something? Our experts discuss.
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Most of us, scientists included, see physics as an attempt to provide an objective description of the world independent of human subjectivity and consciousness. Yet, Max Planck, one of major scientific figures of the twentieth century and the founder of quantum mechanics, stated as a result of his investigations and experiments: “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness.”
Should we listen to Planck? Can we plausibly see matter as derivative of consciousness? Might doing so help solve the deep puzzles facing contemporary physics and overcome the ‘hard problem of consciousness’ itself? Or does this outlook, as Einstein argued, undermine the very success and objectivity of science and take us back to a world of superstition?
Cosmologist, theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton, groundbreaking physicist Brian Greene, esteemed physics and philosophy writer Amanda Gefter and eliminative materialism pioneer Patricia Churchland debate Planck and the Consciousness Puzzle. Catherine Heymans hosts.
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Could this be the end of modernity?
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Whether it's the discussion on rising sea levels or nuclear waste, islands have gravitated to the epicentre of the geopolitical zeitgeist. But why are we more interested in islands than ever before? Professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, David Chandler explores the importance of islands in the Anthropocene.
David Chandler is Professor of International Relations at the University of Westminster, and edits the journal Anthropocenes: Human, Inhuman, Posthuman and the book series Routledge Studies in Resilience. His most recent monograph is Ontopolitics in the Anthropocene: An Introduction to Mapping, Sensing and Hacking (2018).
Chandler’s long-term research focus is on new forms of subjectivity, shaped by both a retreat from the human as subject and the world as object.
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Should narratives reflect or escape reality? Our panellists discuss.
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From fairy tales to Harry Potter, from Avatar to James Bond, we love fantasy and expect our books and films to take us there. Yet at the same time we want our poems and plays, novels and movies, to reflect life and reality.
Should our narratives be seeking to uncover reality or be seeking escape from it? Or are both goals impossible? Are we on the one hand unable to create a narrative that tells it how it is, and on the other incapable of making a fantasy that does not reflect our current circumstances? And if so, why?
Director and producer of The Pervert's Guide to Cinema Sophie Fiennes, leading figure in contemporary philosophy of art Noël Carroll and myths expert Betty Sue Flowers explore whether narratives should reflect reality, or escape it. Mark Salter hosts.
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Are humans beyond nature?
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Humans are unlike anything else in the universe. We're the only part of existence that can observe and reflect on being itself, that can choose to destroy or repair our own habitat. Or so Raymond Tallis argues in this deep dive interview into what it means to be human. Watch to find out how we came to be so unique, what it means for our relationship to nature, and what Parmenides has to do with all this.
Physician, philosopher, poet and novelist Raymond Tallis is ‘one of the world’s greatest living polymaths’ (Intelligent Life). He is the author of such wide-ranging books as The Enduring Significance of Parmenides, The Kingdom of Infinite Space and Aping Mankind.
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Are we all hypocrites?
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Most of us want to be good and be seen to be good. But aren't these goals contradictory? Isn't the desire to be seen to good a means of placing ourselves higher than others and wishing to gain status and position as a result?
Should we conclude that the attempt to be seen to be good is immoral and call it out as hypocritical, including philanthropist donation, explicit piety on the part of the religious, and virtue signalling be it on campus or on social media? Or is being seen to be good vital to cement socially positive behaviour? And explicit public demonstration of morality the only morality worth having?
World-leading cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of sociology and African Studies and international authority on race, Crystal Fleming, and founder of Prospect Magazine David Goodhart probe the moral maze of public morality. Mark Linsenmayer hosts.
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Might consciousness operate in an entirely different sphere, outside of the world of space and time?
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We imagine ourselves as existing within time and space. Yet, we only ever experience the present moment. It is all we have. And within the present moment there is no direct experience of past or future. Nor is the present moment located anywhere, since it is everything for us. In short, there is no map reference for being or consciousness. No time zone or hour.
Renowned multiverse theorist Laura Mersini-Houghton, legendary physicist, writer and broadcaster Paul Davies, post postmodern philosopher and Closure theorist Hilary Lawson and philosopher of science Craig Callender lock horns over the arrows of time. Sara Walker hosts.
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Sci-fi dream or reality? Listen to find out!
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The practice of putting electrodes in the pleasure centres of the brain - otherwise known as 'wireheading' - has been a sci-fi dream for decades. Oxford professor and transhumanist Anders Sandberg, explores the history and modern impact of the idea. Anders takes us on a journey from Rosseau’s critique of civilisation via Victorian parasitologists to weird 70s science and all the way to cutting edge AI research today.
Anders Sandberg is a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford, where his research concerns the societal and ethical issues surrounding human enhancement and new technologies. He is also research associate to the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics.
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What would you feel if you found out you are bad? Why?
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In our largely secular world, most think there is no afterlife, no reward or punishment in the hereafter. Yet most still wish to act morally and even ascetically, delaying or refusing gratification in favour of some higher ideal. Even though, without God or an afterlife, there is no-one watching and judging us, and 'right and wrong' are seen as merely human creations.
Are we living in the long shadow of a dead God, as Nietzsche suggested, and would we be better to break free? Is moral constraint a means of maintaining social order essential to the smooth running of society? Or can a merely human morality also be transcendent and ultimate?
Turkish journalist, author and activist Ece Temelkuran, Anglican priest and scholar Alison Milbank and philosopher of mind Peter Sjöstedt-H debate the existence of a secular morality. Mark Salter hosts.
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Sounds impossible? Listen to find out!
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Are the laws of nature nothing more than habits that natural systems have learned to repeat over time? While it might sound impossible, Rupert Sheldrake will be explaining the phenomenon in this episode. Rupert Sheldrake is a scientist, author, and parapsychology researcher. Best known for his 2012 book The Science Delusion and the controversial, viral TED talk he gave which was banned by the organisation.
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Can we hold multiple truths at once? Listen to find out!
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Many still remain convinced that their own views and opinions are not just culturally relative but are true and accurate accounts of the way things are.
Should we conclude that all forms of relativism are a mistake and insist on the importance and need to identify the true version of events, and the correctness of our own outlook? Alternatively, are some beliefs, such as morality and politics, contextual, while science remains objective? Or are all views essentially perspectival and we have no alternative to give up on the very possibility that we can be ultimately right about anything?
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Don't look up?
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In this interview, philosopher Santiago Zabala details why the greatest emergency is the absence of emergency itself, the problem with freedom and our perception of postmodernism, and why we need to take warnings of emergencies far more seriously.
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Are we cheating ourselves?
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In our post truth age it seems that we can collect beliefs on a whim or a tribal fashion. And many are happy to hold contradictory views to suit their temporary desires.
Is this a dangerous approach that threatens not only the coherence of our own outlook but the stability and success of culture and society as whole? Do we need to apply reason to sort wild opinion from truth, eradicate our hypocrisies and build a better society? Or is the era of enlightenment reason over, and time to see its assertions as the prejudiced theories of a privileged class who used logic to promote a particular world view.
Distinguished philosophy professor Graham Harman, author of Oughts and Thoughts Anandi Hattiangadi and post-post-realist Hilary Lawson explore the difference between opinion and truth. Hannah Dawson hosts.
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Do your beliefs control you?
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Once faith was revered. Now in a secular age, it is seen by many as an irrational dedication to an unproven belief. Yet science, Marxism, and liberalism, all rely on core beliefs that are unprovable. And to live without belief in anything at all would be considered empty and meaningless.
Should we accept that an element of faith is required whatever our perspective, and embrace the comfort and purpose that stems from unqualified belief? Or is this to undermine the very idea of knowledge and progress, heralding a world where evidence means nothing and only rhetoric matters?
Former Director of Human Rights NGO Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, groundbreaking physicist Carlo Rovelli, Consciousness expert Philip Goff, and world leader in relativity and cosmology George Ellis discuss the necessity and danger of belief. Isabel Hilton hosts.
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How much should we trust our leaders? Listen to find out!
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Great leaders promise to change the world. They claim to have the vision and the values to transform our lives. But rarely do they deliver. Again and again the promises are not kept, the transformation fails to arrive, and instead there is incompetence, deceit and duplicity.
Are leaders a singularly useless and malevolent bunch? Or could it be that the hypocrisy is in fact ours, demanding ethical standards we do not apply to ourselves and which none can live up to, and expecting leaders implausibly to solve intractable problems once and for all? Would we be better to stop vilifying our politicians and leaders and focus on the complexity and challenge of finding the best solutions, or is it simply the case that absolute power corrupts absolutely and we should redouble our oversight to ensure they remain in check?
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Is consciousness all in the brain after all? Listen to find out!
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Have you ever made a decision and wondered why you made it? Or wondered where your morality comes from? Renowned philosopher of mind and founder of Neurophilosophy Patricia Churchland takes us on a journey into the brain, the nature and data of morality and the origins of nonconscious decision-making.
Patricia Churchland is a the distinguished founder of neurophilosophy. A pioneer of eliminative materialism, Patricia heralds a radically different way to understand the brain, arguing that ideas like pure morality and reason will eventually be abandoned in favour of a purely scientific view of the human mind.
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Is there more?
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Many despise the arrival of a post-truth world and fear politicians who blatantly manipulate facts and peddle falsehoods. But does this rely on assuming that truth is objective and falsehoods can be simply identified? Does the demise of truth mark the end of centuries of progress? Or is truth a construct of the powerful and post-truth a revolution against elites?
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When did we become MORE THAN...? And why?
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Many think fur coats immoral yet are happy to wear leather shoes. We fiercely protect tigers and pandas from extinction, while thousands of vital insect species get notably less attention and concern. Many claim to be concerned about the welfare of animals. But it is the cute and the charismatic that come first. The others are largely an after thought.
Should we end this hypocrisy by treating animal species equally, however difficult this might be? Should biodiversity be an end in itself and the basis for intervention? Or are we right to make distinctions based on the value we attach to the species along with the accident of human desire, fashion and aesthetics?
Philosopher, cultural critic and author of Aping Mankind Ray Tallis, writer, poet and podcaster Melanie Challenger, farmer, author, politician Jamie Blackett and Professor of Sociology at Kingston University Kay Peggs debate the hypocrisy of the way we treat animals. Myriam Francois hosts.
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Who are we really?
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NYU Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah details his journey and life's work, from why identity is such an important issue to how his experiences have differed across countries, and to the impact he wants his writing to have.
Kwame Anthony Appiah is Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University and author of 'The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity and Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers.'
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We keep looking for something more... for a reason.
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Pilgrimage is undergoing a revival across Europe. But why are so many non-religious people drawn to spiritual journeys? Author of Ways To Go Beyond Rupert Sheldrake asks why we are attracted to holy places.
Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist, author and parapsychology researcher, best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. He is a critic of New Atheism, and has also challenged the idea that the laws of nature are fixed and unchanging.
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Can we crack to key to happiness once and for all?
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Most of us think of suffering as a necessary feature of life. But what if that's just a lie we tell ourselves because we can't imagine the alternative? In this interview, David Pearce explores the practical possibilities of biomedically engineering a world of intelligent bliss.
David Pearce is an eminent figure within the transhumanist movement, and co-founder of Humanity+, an international organisation which advocates for the technological enhancement of the human species. He envisions a future completely free of suffering for both humans and non-human animals, a pain-free paradise in which all thought, feeling, and experience is sublimated into what he calls "gradients of bliss". The abolition of suffering is for David an ethical necessity, elaborated in his manifesto, The Hedonistic Imperative.
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Is your experience of this episode even real?
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We are working toward a true account of the universe, and the world we see around us is an accurate picture of reality. Or so most of us believe. At the same time we think we, along with our experience, are a product of evolution. Yet evolution is driven by survival not by truth. Some scientists go further and argue that evolution rules out even the possibility that we experience an accurate and true account of reality.
Should we conclude that while our biology enables us to successfully function in the world, our experiences and theories are illusions rather than truths? Is the theory of evolution itself flawed, unable to account for the truth of the theory itself? Or can we fashion a new account of ourselves that would give us a better way to understand both who we are, the process of evolution, and our relationship to reality?
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Graham Harman, Associate Professor of History and Philosophy of Science Mazviita Chirimuuta, and cognitive psychologist Donald Hoffman debate the survival paradox. Hosted by documentary film-maker David Malone.
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What even is "expertise"?
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We turn to experts for guidance in uncertain times, but what happens when the experts disagree? Should we just wait until they figure it out, or disregard evidence and go with our gut? Professor of Philosophy at Stockholm University Anandi Hattiangadi investigates the logical labyrinth of expertise.
Anandi Hattiangadi is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Stockholm, with interests in the philosophy of mind and language, epistemology, and meta-ethics. She is a core part of the interdisciplinary program 'Knowledge Resistance: Causes, Consequences, and Cures'.
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If we put barriers up to silence 'unpleasant' ideas, what's to stop the silencing of any discussion? Professional sceptic and bestselling author of 'Giving the Devil his Due' Michael Shermer explores the dangerous possibility of a world without free speech.
Michael Shermer is the founder of The Skeptics Society, the editor-in-chief of its magazine 'Skeptic', and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, where he teaches Skepticism 101.
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Is it possible to tell the truth? Or is it time to accept that lying has a central role in all social discourse?
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On today’s episode The Times journalist David Aaronovitch, author of Freedom In the Age of Alternative Facts Santiago Zabala, and philosophy of the mind specialist Åsa Wikforss lock horns over whether telling the truth still matters at all.
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Could they possibly be connected? Listen to find out!
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Many have argued that Western civilisation was born in Ancient Greece by combing art, democracy, religion and science. Fewer have explored the role that psychedelic experiences played in building these traditions as we know them.
On today’s episode we’re joined remotely by New York Times bestseller Brian Muraresku who takes us on a trip back in time to uncover the importance of psychedelic experiences to Ancient Greek and early Christian culture.
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A decade ago scientists enabled a monkey to control a robot on the other side of the world with its mind. Now the technique has been extended to enable paraplegics to move robotic arms with their thoughts, and Elon Musk claims to be launching mind control technology this year.
Today we’re asking whether this marks the beginning of a new age in which humans control things around them with their mind alone?
Joining us remotely to discuss mind control is panpsychism researcher Rupert Sheldrake, artificial intelligence expert professor Susan Schneider and chairman of Humanity+ Natasha Vita-More.
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Today we release the fifth and final episode of Beyond Us, a mini-series made in association with Essentia Foundation, which explores four concepts that define the modern world: knowledge, competition, language and growth.
In each of the previous four episodes, series hosts Fred Matser and Bernardo Kastrup were joined by a leading thinker with a unique take on one of these fascinating topics. But in this bonus episode our hosts reflect on the series as a whole, discuss the views of their guests, and see if they have come to any new conclusions of their own.
In association with Essentia Foundation
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Are humans any good at making decisions? Are we motivated by reason? Or are humans evolved to make social and emotional decisions, relying on the value and importance of crowd responses? On today’s episode we’re asking whether the best strategy for survival is emotion or reason.
Joining us remotely to discuss rationality is Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Economics at Duke University Dan Ariely, Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale Paul Bloom and Director of UCL IRDR Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, Patty Kostkova.
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Award winning author Daniel Dennett is one of the best known living philosophers of today. Shooting to notoriety as one of the 'four horsemen' in the New Atheist movement, he has written with acclaim on topics ranging from free will, consciousness and the self.
But how does he reconcile being an unbeliever with believing so vehemently that there is a right and a wrong answer to the big questions? On today’s episode of Philosophy for our Times we find out how Daniel’s life shaped his ideas in this exclusive interview with neuroscientist Daniel Glaser.
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The notion that there is no self has won over philosophers and scientists since Hume argued that the self is nothing but a 'bundle of perceptions'. So is our experience of a unified, continuous self merely illusory? And if the self does exist, how should it be understood?
Joining us remotely to ask whether the self is an illusion is author of Self and Other Dan Zahavi, Philosophy Professor at the University of Birmingham Lisa Bortolotti and Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute Anders Sandberg. Joanna Kavenna hosts.
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Today we bring you the fourth episode of Beyond Us, an IAI mini-series made in association with Essentia Foundation.
The ancient concept of growth referred to a function of nature, the development of natural phenomena and their qualities. While in many modern contexts growth simply means 'bigger' on some numerical scale, the word has come to play a key role in almost everything we consider important and desirable. But rather than appreciating the limits and costs to growth, we often assume it can continue infinitely, if managed. Has modern society’s hijacking of this ancient concept unlocked humanity's true potential, or put us on the road to dysfunction and ruin?
Series hosts Bernardo Kastrup and Fred Matser discuss this fascinating topic with former Chief Business Officer for Google X, entrepreneur and the author of the book Solve for Happy, Mo Gawdat.
In association with Essentia Foundation
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It is the question that has rocked humanity for millennia, the conundrum that has confounded scientists, philosophers, politicians, artists and everyone in between: which came first, the chicken or the egg?
And here we find ourselves, in need of help from the world’s greatest thinkers to settle this issue once and for all.
To ask whether we’re looking at life wrong we’re joined remotely by three leading thinkers: Legendary American philosopher Daniel Dennett, astrobiologist and famed science communicator, Sara Walker, and evolutionary (and revolutionary) biochemist Professor Nick Lane.
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Why do people trust some experts but not others? And how can we improve trust between the public and experts. On today’s episode we’re exploring the philosophical relationship between trust and relativism.
To help us we’re joined by one of the world’s leading experts on moral and epistemological relativism, Professor of American Philosophy at University College Dublin, Maria Baghramian.
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When we look back our century will undoubtably be defined by the rise of intelligent machines. But in the future will humans and artificial coexist symbiotically? And is it possible that we'll ever be able to merge with AI?
On today’s episode we’re joined remotely by American philosopher and cognitive scientist Susan Schneider who delves into the future of AI-human relations.
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Today we bring you the third episode of Beyond Us, an IAI mini-series made in association with Essentia Foundation.
Language is at once one of the most fulfilling and frustrating of human faculties. It allows us to communicate vital information and to organise communities. But language also has limited use in conveying the feelings and intuitions experienced by individuals. We often take this limitation as grounds for disavowing the complex inner world of consciousness. Some even think that what cannot be put into words does not exist. What is the relationship of language to the world and to human consciousness?
Series hosts Bernardo Kastrup and Fred Matser discuss the fascinating topic of language with renowned British philosopher of language, Jennifer Hornsby.
In association with Essentia Foundation
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For centuries we have distinguished between our experience and the world, between the subjective and the objective, between consciousness and material reality. Might the very distinction between subject and object, conscious experience and the world, be the mistake? Or could we formulate a new conceptual framework that might enable us to escape the puzzle?
To help us discuss the relationship between experience and reality we’re joined remotely by four leading thinkers: author and philosopher Annaka Harris, post-postmodern philosopher Hilary Lawson, computer scientist Bernardo Kastrup and philosopher Reza Negarestani.
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Is empathy a prerequisite for a successful society? Or is empathy an irrational emotion which appeals to our narrow prejudices? This week we’re asking whether empathy is our best base for morality and we explore the implications of empathy in the modern world.
On Today’s episode we’re joined remotely by Oxford professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Subjectivity Research, Dan Zahavi, who explores the value of empathy.
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How should we treat time in our lives? What should time mean to us? And can psychedelic experiences allow us to reconfigure our sense of time.
On today’s episode we’re joined by philosopher of the mind, metaphysician and associate lecturer at The University of Exeter Dr Peter Sjöstedt-H, who breaks down our relationship to time through the lens of psychedelic experience.
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Today we bring you the second episode of Beyond Us, an all-new series made in association with Essentia Foundation.
Evolution favours cooperation as well as competition. But to what extent is human competitiveness culture-bound? Is the competitive dynamic environmentally, politically and psychologically sustainable, or excessive, delusional and bound for disaster? Do the values and assumptions that drive competitive behaviour still serve us? And what, in any case, are the alternatives.
Series hosts Bernardo Kastrup and Fred Matser discuss the fascinating topic of competition with the American evolutionary psychologist, Donald Hoffman.
In association with Essentia Foundation
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How much can we possibly know about the universe? And where do the boundaries of scientific knowledge lie? The more we discover, the more we realise we have yet to learn. On today’s episode we’re discussing the philosophy of science and the limits of what we can know.
We’re joined remotely by paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and senior editor of the scientific journal Nature Henry Gee who dares us to consider everything we cannot know.
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On today’s episode we’re discussing the role of idealism in the world of politics. Whether it's tribal nationalism, radical socialism, or environmental activism, the goals and ideals of politics are once again taking centre stage. Is a return to idealism dangerous or a necessary antidote to a bland politics that has served no one other than the ruling elite?
To help us discuss idealism in politics we’re joined remotely by three leading thinkers Former Conservative MP Rory Stewart, economist Grace Blakeley, and Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel.
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In Western society, individualism is everywhere – whether it’s being fuelled by capitalism, technology or populist politics, we are being encouraged to think of ourselves more than ever before. But how do other parts of the world understand the self?
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, FBA is the Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University. His research focuses on Indian religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism – and comparative phenomenology, epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of religion.
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Today we bring you the first episode of Beyond Us, an all-new series made in association with Essentia Foundation.
Few things are more valued by 21st century humans than knowledge. But how is it acquired? Cognitive psychology tells us that we leverage a variety of functions which can be roughly divided into two classes: the 'mental' and the 'feeling' faculties. Our culture increasingly champions knowledge based on reason and disparages feelings and intuitions. But what might we have lost (as well as gained), from this epistemic hierarchy, and how should knowledge be made and managed to produce the best possible outcomes?
Series hosts Bernardo Kastrup and Fred Matser discuss the fascinating topic of knowledge with Canadian philosopher and champion of the enlightenment project, Rebecca Goldstein.
In association with Essentia Foundation.
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The LGBT+ community has won many hard fought battles. But that doesn't make up for the years of suffering caused by prejudice and oppression. So how should we redress the wrongs done to that community in the past? And is it even possible?
On Today’s episode we’re joined by Renowned LGBT+ activist Peter Tatchell who outlines a direction to move forward without forgetting our past.
Peter Tatchell is a prominent activist, author and co-founder of the queer human rights group OutRage!. Through the Peter Tatchell Foundation, he campaigns for human rights in Britain and internationally.
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Philosophy for Our Times is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of Beyond Us, an all-new podcast series by the IAI, exploring four concepts that define the modern world: knowledge, competition, language and growth.
In each episode, humanitarian Fred Matser and philosopher Bernardo Kastrup are joined by a leading thinker with a unique take on one of these fascinating topics. Episode one, released next Friday, will be all about knowledge and features Canadian philosopher and champion of the enlightenment project, Rebecca Goldstein.
In association with Essentia Foundation.
Read Beyond Us
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Beyond-Us-by-Fred-Matser-author/9781789045512?a_aid=HTLGI
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https://www.beyondmedocumentary.org/en/watch-film-en/
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Is the greatest emergency in our current age the absence of emergency itself? And how helpful is freedom in tackling emergencies? On today’s episode we’re discussing the philosophy of crises and how society should respond to emergencies.
Santiago Zabala is a philosopher and ICREA Research Philosopher at the Pompeu Fabra University, where he currently teaches contemporary and political philosophy.
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We value the feeling of happiness above all else. But is it time we outgrew this self-centred ideology? On today’s episode we’re discussing happiness and the future of our society.
Joining us to share his vision for a post-liberal society is John Milbank, renowned theologian and President of the Centre of Theology and Religion at the University of Nottingham.
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How has language informed the evolution of philosophy? And is there a point where the usefulness of words ends? On today’s episode we’re discussing philosophy’s linguistic turn as well as the general relationship between language and philosophy.
To help us discuss our descriptions of the world we’re joined remotely by professor of philosophy Jennifer Hornsby, Pulitzer Prize winning poet Paul Muldoon, post-realist philosopher Hilary Lawson and senior philosophy lecturer Rebecca Roache.
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On Today’s episode we’re discussing meritocracy and social models of success. Is sorting people by merit dangerous and should we be championing an alternative model, one more attentive to the role of humility, solidarity and luck?
Renowned philosopher Michael Sandel exposes the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind. He puts forward his vision of an alternative way of thinking about success - more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility and solidarity, and more affirming of the dignity of work.
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From eating to dating, the modern world presents us we are endless choices. But is this leading to lives full of anxiety and guilt? On today’s episode we’re discussing happiness and freedom of choice.
Renata Salecl is a philosopher, sociologist and legal theorist currently working as a senior researcher at the Institute of Criminology at the University of Ljubljana.
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In our modern world of encroaching digital connectivity, is it curiosity that enables individuals and businesses to survive and thrive?
On today’s episode we’re discussing curiosity and how practicing being curious can improve our private and professional lives. We're joined by businessman, academic and co-author of The Curious Advantage, Garrick Jones, who takes us through the 7 C’s of curiosity.
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Are our descriptions of the world independent from our morality? And should philosophy aim to interpret change the world or to change it?
On today’s episode we’re discussing the relationship between morality and metaphysics and whether putting morality first is a good idea when proposing theories.
To help us debate the role of morality we’re joined remotely by cultural critic and polymath Raymond Tallis, award-winning novelist Joanna Kavenna and renowned philosopher and ethicist Simon Blackburn investigate the relationship between metaphysics and morality. Hilary Lawson hosts.
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At the heart of our understanding of reality is physics, the cornerstone of science. But it appears to be in all sorts of trouble. On today's episode we ask whether the whole framework of contemporary physics might be wrong? And if so, where can we turn for an alternative?
CERN physicist John Ellis, theoretical physicist and Research Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies Sabine Hossenfelder, and award winning science writer and quantum expert Jim Baggott debate the crisis in physics. David Malone hosts.
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What is our relationship with other species? And can we care about animals if we eat them? On today’s episode we’re discussing the morality of our relationship with animals.
World-renowned moral philosopher Peter Singer, Honorary Associate in Philosophy at the Open University Christopher Belshaw, former assistant editor of The Times Mary-Ann Sieghart and British actor and longtime vegan Peter Egan debate in love with animals. Myriam Francois hosts. In association with Future Normal
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Is the purpose of life personal development or changing society for the better? And what is the future of political engagement? On this week’s episode we’re discussing the relationship between our personal beliefs and civic engagement.
We’re joined remotely by anarcho-primitist John Zerzan, author and Buddhist nun Emma Slade, radical left-wing journalist Aaron Bastani and former liberal democrat leader Vince Cable.
This episode is in association with Say Your Peace. Say Your Peace aims to spark global change through self-transformation and community dialogue. Find out more at sayyourpeace.org, and check them out on Instagram and Facebook.
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Are humans incapable of weighing up risk rationally? And are governments any better? Should we seek to reduce all risks and outlaw activity we deem dangerous?
Nobel Prize winning economist Daniel Kahneman, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker and Labour MP, barrister and human rights activist Shami Chakrabarti explore risk, rationality and coronavirus. Anil Ananthaswamy hosts.
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Do we choose to follow the rules? Are we really free to decide, or is choice just an illusion? On this week’s episode we’re trying to understand why many neuroscientists and philosophers argue that there is no such thing as free will.
Groundbreaking philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett, Cognitive Neuroscience specialist Patrick Haggard and author of A Metaphysics for Freedom Helen Steward deliberate over the existence of free will. Mark Linsenmayer hosts.
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In the modern world we seem to benefit from an abundance of choices in our day-to-day life. But are we really free to decide, or is choice just an illusion? On today’s episode we’re joined remotely by cultural critic and philosopher Raymond Tallis who unpicks the arguments against the existence of free will.
Professor Raymond Tallis is a philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic and was until recently a physician and clinical scientist. In the Economist's Intelligent Life Magazine (2009) he was listed as one of the top living polymaths in the world.
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Has physical materialism been undermined in favour of fields and energy, mathematics and information? This week we’re asking whether the world is only material, only made of physical stuff.
Metaphysical idealist Bernardo Kastrup, chemist and Fellow of Lincoln College at Oxford University Peter Atkins and Philosopher of Science Nancy Cartwright debate beyond material. Founding director of the Centre for the Study of the Senses Barry C. Smith hosts.
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How can mathematical models inform our understanding of the world? And how can we explain overwhelming experiences? This week, philosopher Silvia Jonas investigates how mathematics shapes the way in which philosophers conceptualise reality and considers how we can use mathematical models to answer big philosophical questions.
Silvia Jonas is a philosopher at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy working in metaphysics, philosophy of mathematics, and epistemology. She is the author of 'Metaphysics: The Unspeakable in Art, Religion, and Philosophy'.
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For much of human history people have held firm - if mistaken - beliefs about the nature of the world and the right course of action. But now a steep decline in religious belief, compounded by doubts about the very possibility of objective truth, has left many in the West profoundly lost. Should we welcome this new uncertainty and revel in the absence of a constricting set of agreed beliefs? Are we only now recognising the limitations of the human condition, which our hubris once obscured or denied? Or must we escape from being lost - even if it means adopting illusory certainties - in order to provide social identity, personal well being and purpose?
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Can the radical elements of religion help us today? And how should we view martyrdom and sacrifice? To help us discus the role of religion today we’re joined this week by Marxist literary critic and public intellectual Terry Eagleton who explores the intersection between faith, martyrdom and sacrifice in a post 9/11 age.
Terry Eagleton is widely recognized as a mainstay of British academia. He has published over forty books on topics ranging from Samuel Richardson to banality of evil in his On Evil.
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Should it be a philosopher’s duty to discuss politics? And how can philosophy be used to improve public life? This week we’re discussing the roles and responsibilities of philosophers and the everyday applications of philosophy.
Julian Baggini is a philosopher, journalist and the author of philosophy books for a general audience. He is co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine and has written for international newspapers and magazines.
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Should we conclude that consciousness cannot be explained in terms of the physical? But if so what is the alternative? Or is it just a matter of time, and one day an AI machine will miraculously find itself experiencing the world, and its mere components will have soul?
Philosopher of mind Tim Crane, metaphysical idealist Bernardo Kastrup and consciousness specialist Susan Blackmore debate the miracle of mind. Closure theorist Hilary Lawson hosts.
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The radical idea that everything is conscious has a small but growing following in Anglo-American philosophy. How deep are the philosophical roots of panpsychism? And how do older Indian systems of thought inform modern philosophical ideas?
To explore these questions we’re joined on this week’s episode by Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University who helps us explore the realms of consciousness and experience through the lens of classical Indian philosophy.
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Should we trust our senses? And how can we know that the waking world is real but the dreaming world is not?
On this week’s episode we are interviewing Professor of Buddhist Philosophy at Oxford University, Jan Westerhoff. Westerhoff discusses the philosophy of illusions, dreams and outlines his theory of an external world whose fundamental constituents are bits of mind, not bits of matter.
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Is it possible for all matter in the universe to hold consciousness? And can the theory of panpsychism be the solution to the problems of materialism and dualism?
To help us explore realms of panpsychism we’re joined by author and professor of philosophy at the university of Durham, Phillip Goff.
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Is the sun setting on Western ideas as well as Western economies? Or is Western thought, essential to growth and progress, already embedded in China's success? On this week’s episode we’re discussing the influence of the Eastern and Western worlds of philosophy on the modern global stage.
Author of How the World Thinks Julian Baggini, political philosopher Jamie Whyte, and Oxford Professor of China Studies Vivienne Shue consider China's influence on the future of ideas. Journalist and broadcaster Isabel Hilton hosts.
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How important is trust and authority to the healthy production of modern science? At a time of uncertainty and doubt, many of us look to science to provide the answers. But does science deserve the authority we give it? And does our trust help, or are challenge and criticism better drivers of progress?
A former mathematician turned philosopher of science, Nancy Cartwright breaks down the importance of evidence and trust in the processes of science.
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Should we upgrade our bodies and minds? Will developing technologies create utopian or dystopian futures? On today’s episode we’re discussing transhumanism, artificial intelligence and ageing.
Anders Sandberg is a researcher, science debater, futurist, transhumanist and author. He holds a Ph.D. in computational neuroscience from Stockholm University, and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University.
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Is it possible for certain experiences to reveal specific truths to the experiencer? On this week’s episode we’re discussing ephipanies, experience and ethics. Sophie-Grace Chappell explores the moments of discovery which shape our moral identities.
Sophie-Grace Chappell is the author of numerous books and articles on ethics, ancient philosophy, epistemology and philosophy of religion. TLS described her as "an inspiring expression of an ethical vision"
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How closely do science and spirituality inform our daily practices? How closely does science underpin the spiritual practices which so many embrace in the modern world?
To explore these issues we are joined this week by author, scientist and researcher in the field of parapsychology Rupert Sheldrake. Sheldrake discusses the importance music festivals, learning from animals, existing in the moment and the boundaries of modern science.
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Many take pride in their family, ancestors and social origins, and we think it wrong to forget our roots, and where we came from. But can we justify these tribal allegiances, or are they a source of conflict and division? Should we all see ourselves as members of the human family and have done with tribal identities? Or is where we come from essential not only to our culture, but to knowing who we really are?
Post-colonial theorist Homi Bhabha, activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied and political theorist David Miller debate tribal division.
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On this week's episode we interviewed cognitive psychologist Donald Hoffman. He talks through his work on evolutionary game theory and puts forward the radical view that we have evolved to experience something different to reality.
Donald Hoffman is an American cognitive psychologist and popular science author. He is a Professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California and specialises in the study of consciousness, visual perception and evolutionary psychology using mathematical models and psychophysical experiments.
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Is it possible to do a morally wrong action in order to do what is morally required? To help us answer this question we're joined by political philosopher and author Stephen de Wijze who explores the 'dirty hands' idea.
Stephen de Wijze is senior lecturer in political theory at the University of Manchester. His work is concerned with the interface between ethical constraints and effective political action. He co-edited (with Eve Garrard) Thinking Towards Humanity: Themes from Norman Geras in 2012.
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Is being good an innate component of the human condition? Or is morality just a story we tell ourselves rather than a set of rules we must follow?
Psychologist Simone Schnall, Cambridge philosopher Rae Langton and anthropologist and author of Becoming Sinners Joel Robbins rethink meaning, morality and what it is to be human.
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When it comes to making risk-reducing decisions how does one strive for ethical and responsible outcomes? And how do we make any choice, if saving one group of vulnerable people has a disastrous impact on another?
To help us explore the ethics of the pandemic we are joined by moral philosopher Susan Neiman, analytical philosopher Patricia Churchland and conservative journalist Peter Hitchens.
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We use language every day to communicate with others and understand the world. Yet, from metaphors to the mystical, there are many things we seem unable to directly express.
To help us explore the limits of language we are joined by eminent literary critic Stanley Fish, Wittgenstein expert Genia Schönbaumsfeld and post-realist philosopher Hilary Lawson. Joanna Kavenna hosts.
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With the rise of 'fake news' and the publicising of blatant lies, how important is it to reassert the importance of accuracy and truth?
Åsa Wikforss is a professor of theoretical philosophy at Stockholm University. Wikforss is a member of Swedish Academy whose research focuses on the intersection of philosophy of mind, language and epistemology, ans in 2017 Wikfoss published Alternative facts. On knowledge and its enemies, a book that has had a great impact in Sweden.
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Is the brain a conscious control centre? Where is my mind? Many believe the mystery of consciousness will be solved once we understand the physical brain. Philosopher and author of I Am Not A Brain Markus Gabriel challenges scientific complacency and argues for a different view of the self, the mind and human freedom.
Markus Gabriel is a German philosopher and author at the University of Bonn
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Is there space left for individual autonomy when we are constrained by our genes, manipulated by technology and shaped by the cultural zeitgeist? Should we conclude that the very idea of freedom was a mistake, which once abandoned will enable us to reframe human behaviour and success and create a more equal society?
Historian of ideas and author of Life Lessons from Hobbes Hannah Dawson, post-realist philosopher Hilary Lawson, neuropsychologist and science writer Paul Broks and author of Freedom Regained Julian Baggini ask who's really in control. David Aaronovitch hosts.
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How can we protect ourselves from the dangers we wilfully don't see? Businesswoman and author of Willful Blindness Margaret Heffernan puts forward her theory and outlines how and why institutions and individuals need to open their eyes to information they do not want to know.
An entrepreneur, CEO and author, Heffernan's book Willful Blindness was chosen as one of Financial Times' business books of the decade.
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We know authority is dangerous yet we assume it is necessary for society to work. Should we dream of a free and flourishing world without leadership and rules? Or do we want and need leaders and authority to feed our hopes and dreams?
Philosopher Noam Chomsky, political scientist Mark Lilla and professor of economics Deirdre McCloskey ask whether we need authority at all.
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Can an action that is 'right' become 'wrong' without any other change taking place in the world? And do we need to apply ethics to real-world issues to feel that these theories matter? Bart Streumer unpacks these questions and more in this in-depth interview, before making the case that we should understand philosophy as a cooperative enterprise, in which debate, learning what others have to say, and changing your own mind, is crucial.
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It seemed that we had all got used to the idea that rather than a single definitive truth there are a multiplicity of competing and alternative perspectives. Now with the rise of 'fake news' and the publicising of blatant lies, we want to reassert the importance of accuracy and truth. Author of Post Truth Steve Fuller, theoretical philosopher Åsa Wikforss, continental philosopher Sacha Golob, and former Moscow journalist and author of This is Not Propaganda Peter Pomerantsev ask whether anybody has a monopoly on truth.
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As our churches have emptied our belief in progress, science and reason has also begun to falter, and we find ourselves in a new space in which all beliefs are challenged, and perspectives jostle in a relative world. Might religion, in the form of shared rituals and values, once again have a role to play? To discuss the role of religion we are joined by three leading thinkers: acclaimed chemist Peter Atkins, writer and broadcaster Myriam Francois and philosopher Hilary Lawson.
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No-one who has ever stepped on a Lego brick could doubt the reality of physical objects. Yet from Heraclitus to George Berkeley, many philosophers claimed to have disproven the existence of things. Could the world truly be made up of fields and processes, rather than physical stuff? Are the everyday objects that surround us an illusion? To help us discuss the existence of things we are joined by three leading thinkers: chemist Peter Atkins, philosopher of science, James Ladyman and novelist Joanna Kavenna.
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Is the mind just a part of the world? Or is the world all in the mind? Neither, argues physician, philosopher and poet Raymond Tallis as he puts forward his take on how we make sense of experience.
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It is said that Mother Theresa allowed many to die unnecessarily and glorified suffering. While Stalin was a loving son to his parents, and Hitler - a vegetarian who adored his dog. Are we wrong to assume that there is a single self behind our actions? Are people not good or bad but only individual actions? Should we accept that we are inconsistent and unpredictable? Or is consistency and integrity the cornerstone of what it is to be human? Professor of religion, politics and ethics John Millbank, co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine Julian Baggini and Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy Angie Hobbs explore our multiple selves.
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Has science killed philosophy as Hawking famously claimed? What would Plato make of the debates between psychoanalysts and tiger mums, atheists and the religious, or search engines like Google? In this episode of Philosophy for Our Times, philosopher Rebecca Goldstein returns to philosophy's roots and makes her case for why humanity can't thrive without it.
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Philosopher of science Tim Maudlin discusses interpretations of quantum mechanics, explaining the pilot wave theory and objective collapse theory, and considers what we stand to learn from quantum theory about the nature of our universe. Tim Maudlin, author of Philosophy of Physics, is an American philosopher of science responsible for influential works on metaphysical foundations of physics and logic.
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From remote groups in Papua New Guinea to Pentecostal Christians, what can values and desires around the world tell us about the nature of morality? Cambridge anthropologist Joel Robbins tours the globe in search of the good. Joel Robbins is the Sigrid Rausing Professor of Social Anthropology at Cambridge University and author of Becoming Sinners. He specialises in the anthropology of religion and anthropological theory.
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For millenia, humans have looked to philosophy to help them understand the world, but why is it then that so many people find philosophy confusing? Is the confusion perhaps part of the solution? Philosopher of logic Timothy Williamson outlines how philosophy can help us think more clearly, such as Alan Turing's use of logic to invent the computer, how the principles of logic can be understood as the laws of reality, and the importance of debate in making philosophy more inclusive.
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From populist demagogues to liberal elites, Fox News to the BBC, the warring tribes of our troubled world agree on few ideals and still fewer facts. Yet they all share the belief that they are right. Are we all suffering from the illusion that we can uncover the truth? Should we embrace a world of competing facts while still seeking a progressive and stable society? Or do we need new grand narratives to help us escape a dangerous, relativistic world? Post-Capitalism author Paul Mason, Cambridge sociologist Ella McPherson, philosopher and former editor of The World This Week Hilary Lawson question whether it is ever really possible to report the truth. Roger Bolton hosts.
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What does mathematics have to do with the nature of human thought? How does it change how philosophers think of reality? Philosopher and author of 'Ineffability and its Metaphysics', Silvia Jonas explains how mathematics has come to shape our politics, ethics and our very idea of what the world is.
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In a post-truth world, tribal agreement seems to have replaced reason and evidence. But is a world where our truths are tribal sustainable? Don't we need a shared framework of thought to prevent fragmentation and confrontation? Can we rely on evidence and reason whilst abandoning absolute truth, or do we need reality after all? Philosopher and novelist Rebecca Goldstein, post-colonial theorist Homi Bhabha and post-postmodern metaphysician Hilary Lawson confront the future of the post-truth world.
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We all get dressed. But how often do we pause to think about the place of clothes in our lives? Can a philosophy of living be wrapped up in a winter coat? Can we see a suit not just as an object, but as an idea? Philosopher, broadcaster, and author of 'Dressed: The Secret Life of Clothes', Shahidha Bari, unveils the hidden power of what we wear.
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We all want to lead a good life. But that goal seems always elusive. What can we learn from the ancient Stoics? Hear philosopher of science and author of How to be a Stoic Massimo Pigliucci explain how the philosophy that inspired the great emperor Marcus Aurelius can help us focus on what really matters, and confront the challenges of modern life.
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From Cleopatra to Beyonce women have used sexuality to increase their power and influence. But many feminists warn that it is undermining to be seen as a sex object and some in the #MeToo movement propose culture should banish such behaviour. In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Minna Salami, Rowan Pelling, and Julia Long debate whether sexuality is a vehicle for power or for subservience.
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Once we assumed that reason and rationality would gradually uncover the truth. But from quantum mechanics to set theory, paradox it seems is found at the heart of our most revered theories and at the cornerstones of our thought. Are these paradoxes evidence that our theories are wrong and is it essential that they are overcome? In this episode of Philosophy for Our Times, Slavoj Žižek, Sophie Allen, and Hilary Lawson debate whether paradox is an unavoidable consequence of human thought.
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Once, Britain was the dominant power, then the US. Now, with the largest economy in the world by purchasing power, it seems China's turn has come. Should we accept, even welcome, the passing of the West? Or is there a response that would enable the West to retain significance, if not the dominance it once had? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Linda Yueh, Rana Mitter, and David Aaronovitch explore whether it is the end of the West.
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The anonymity of the internet has enabled an epidemic of abuse. Was Hobbes right after all, and humankind are at core wicked and requiring constraint? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, former director at MI6 Nigel Inkster, assistant editor at Spiked Ella Whelan, renowned journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, and novelist Janne Teller ask should we abolish online anonymity to create a better world?
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Few now doubt that China will soon eclipse the US to become the world's largest economy. Is the sun setting on Western ideas as well as Western economies? In this episode of Philosophy for our Time, philosopher Julian Baggini, politician and academic Jamie Whyte, and Professor of Contemporary China Studies at Oxford University, Vivienne Shue, discuss the future of Western and Chinese thought.
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Constrained by our genes, manipulated by technology and the cultural zeitgeist, there seems little space left for individual freedom. Should we conclude that the very idea of freedom was a mistake? Or is this a madness that threatens our personal lives and the culture on which the West was built? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Julian Baggini, Paul Broks, Hilary Lawson and Hannah Dawson go in search of freedom.
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Identity politics has become ever more influential. Does our desire to belong to one tribe or another make conflict with others inevitable? Could we do away with tribal allegiances and see ourselves as part of the same human family? Or are group identities based on class, race, sexuality or nationality the only effective vehicles for political change? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, David Blunkett, Dawn Butler and Phillip Blond dispute the politics and perils of identity.
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Although most of us are critical of gender stereotypes, few deny the existence of two discrete biological sexes. Yet biology itself shows dozens of combinations of human sex chromosomes. Could biological sex itself then be an illusion, constructed from human categories? Or is this a futile attempt to deny the reality of two biological sexes? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Head of Psychobiology at Tel Aviv University Daphna Joel, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatrist at KCL Stuart Ritchie and sociologist of science Barry Barnes rethink sex and gender.
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As we explore the planets of the solar system and look out at those beyond, researchers hope they will find evidence of life. But would it be like life on earth? Or is the wish to find other life forms a science fiction fantasy that serves Hollywood well but has little to do with reality? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Biochemist and author of The Vital Question Nick Lane, Head of Future Missions at Airbus Ralph Cordey, and leading British space scientist Monica Grady grapple with the mysterious puzzles of life.
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An ever growing number of people are being treated for mental illness. Some blame the modern world, yet critics warn that psychiatrists and big pharma have an interest in describing normal human behaviour as an illness or disorder. Might we do better to give up the notion that mental distress implies illness? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, author of Madness Explained Richard Bentall, clinical psychologist Lucy Johnstone, and consultant for Public Health Wales and Swansea Professor of Medicine Ann John examine the evidence.
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Many would argue that for at least a century we have been moving away from the moral certainties of traditional Christianity. Yet now a new form of moral certainty is reappearing, with much of our culture seemingly gripped by a focus on virtue and a tightly policed sense of right and wrong. Should we welcome this return to virtue and embrace a new moralism that will purge society of its newly found sins? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Matthew Taylor, Rebecca Roache and Hilary Lawson grapple with the new moralism.
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Fifty years ago we landed on the moon, and imagined that in 2001 we would be travelling vast distances through space. But the fantasy died, and we went nowhere. Now a new age of space exploration is underway - this one driven by companies, billionaires, and new players like China and India. Is it an essential trait of being human to reach out into the unknown? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Astronomer Royal Martin Rees, philosopher and author of Nobody Owns the Moon Tony Milligan, and Senior Strategist for Airbus Elizabeth Seward reach out to the cosmos.
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For much of human history, nature was our god. Yet now science and technology, which once we used to tame nature, are increasingly seen as plundering the planet and wrecking the climate. Were the ancients right, and nature the source of all things and that which we should guard most closely? Or should we instead renew our belief in progress and human ingenuity to solve our current problems? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, David King, Sister Jayanti and Natalie Bennett tackle modern crises with ancient gods.
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Ever since the discovery of DNA, we have fanstasised about creating new species of animals, or even 'improved' humans. But it is only in the last few years that a new gene editing technology, CRISPR, has made this a reality. Many claim it is already unstoppable, that we will always demand solutions to diseases if they are possible. Is CRISPR the key to improving health and defeating ageing? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Natalie Kofler, Steve Fuller and Angela Saini ask if we are now the masters of the universe.
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Should we seek to eradicate offence? Last year Ireland voted to get rid of its blasphemy laws, and most applauded the new right to offend the Catholic Church. Yet to avoid giving offence, student campuses are introducing no-platforming and safe spaces. Should we seek to eradicate offence to create a more tolerant and equal society? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, David Aaronovitch and Joanna Williams pull no punches. Please be aware that, due to the nature of this debate, this podcast may contain language that some listeners may find offensive.
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In a world obsessed with Trump, alternative facts have not had a great press. But it is a century and more since Nietzsche claimed 'there are no facts, only interpretations' - and fifty years since Thomas Kuhn argued that facts were theory dependent. Is an insistence on 'the facts' the dogmatic prejudice of believers in their particular truth? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Barry Barnes, Joanna Kavenna and John Ellis explore the prejudice of facts.
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Seeing is believing, yet cognitive scientists seem to have uncovered these views as incorrect. Evolution led us to perceive what is best for survival and it turns out this has little to do with what we call 'reality'. Is reality then a creative construct that helps us to live but doesn't reflect the world? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, cognitive psychologist and author Donald Hoffman, philosopher Maria Baghramian and post-realist Hilary Lawson embark on a radical rethink of reality.
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The brutal mechanism of natural selection gave rise to all life on our planet. Or so the Darwinian story goes. But from mice to great whales, it now appears that animals inherit socially acquired characteristics. Is the theory of natural selection a Victorian relic, about to be replaced by a new science of cultural evolution? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, philosopher of science Massimo Pigliucci, psychologist and primatologist Zanna Clay and professor of philosophy Tim Lewens ask if there is more to evolution than we might think.
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In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Saul Kripke and Timothy Williamson discuss why language has come to dominate their field, why logic matters, and what the future for the Anglo-American tradition looks like.
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Many philosophers have concluded that morality is a subjective human invention. Should we then simply encourage and argue for acts we support and do without morality altogether? Or is the authority of morality the tenuous thread that holds society together? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Justin Smith, Jason Alexander McKenzie and Barry C. Smith question the necessity of morality.
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We admire achievers, from James Watt to Mandela, Marie Curie to Emmeline Pankhurst. Yet many spend their lives waiting for weekends and holidays. And does not play, both as sex, drugs and rock and roll, and as creative and physical endeavour provide us with the most memorable events in life? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Helen Lederer, Julian Baggini and Susan Neiman debate what it's all for.
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Talk of other universes has become fashionable amongst physicists and string theory alike. Should we recognise ours as the only universe and give up on others as fantasy science? Or is slipping through a worm hole into another universe a credible reality rather than a Hollywood fairytale? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Cumrun Vafa, Mary-Jane Rubenstein and John Ellis go in search for the meaning of the multiverse.
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Language is widely seen as the critical tool which has set our species apart. We assume that it is successful because our words are able to describe reality. Yet from Wittgenstein to Derrida, no satisfactory theory has been able to support this intuition. Might the problem be not with our theory of language, but with the very idea of reality? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Saul Kripke, Paul Boghossian and Silvia Jonas get lost in language.
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'Love conquers all' is a motto central to our culture and its Christian heritage. Yet Buddhists think love an obstacle to enlightenment. Nietzsche went further and called love barbaric ‘for it is practised at the expense of all others’. Is love for all an illusion? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, consultant psychiatrist Mark Salter, Anglican Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley and Political Philosopher Phillip Blond debate the darker sides of the most powerful emotion.
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The self is an illusion, our passions a by-product of the brain. Or so neuroscientists and philosophers would have us believe. Is dismissing the self a mistake driven by the desire to uphold a purely material universe? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, author of A Field Guide to Reality Joanna Kavenna, Oxford University metaphysician Jan Westerhoff, philosopher Silvia Jonas and author of The Ego Trick Julian Baggini set out in search of the self.
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We tend to think of physical, material things as the ultimate stuff of the universe. Yet contemporary physics has largely abandoned physical things in favour of energy and fields. Should we give up on our conviction that physical stuff is the bedrock of the world, or is such talk ivory tower nonsense? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, John Dupré, Subir Sarkar, and Nancy Cartwright debate the materialist view of the universe.
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We may condemn tyrants and abhor serial killers, but we are obsessed with evil and violence. Are we fascinated by evil, violent characters because they make life more exciting? Or because they express our real nature? Should we look to end this morbid obsession, or accept it as a feature of humanity? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, cultural critic Terry Eagleton, author of Evil in Modern Thought Susan Neiman and philosopher Stephen de Wijze get to the bottom of evil's strange allure.
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Reason was traditionally seen as the Enlightenment’s great legacy and the origin of our success. Yet reason is increasingly derided as just the rhetorical bluster of the educated elite, typically powerful and male. Is rationality just the prejudiced claim of those who are sure they are right? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Professor of Religion at Wesleyan Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Silver Professor of Philosophy at New York University Paul Boghossian and Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University Alister McGrath debate the right way to think.
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Many see the search for universal truths about the world as the noble aim of philosophy. Yet our universities largely dismiss non-Western philosophy, and critics argue that British students are taught a narrow analytic approach. Are great ideas independent of time, place and tradition? Do African conceptions of the self or Chinese Mohist logic offer equally valid insights? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Timothy Williamson, Nivi Manchanda and Chakravarthi Ram Prasad uncover the prejudice of philosophy.
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Past and future are worlds we can never inhabit. We live of necessity in the present. But physicists and philosophers with very different outlooks, from Einstein to Derrida, claim that the present is an illusion. Are we deluded by experience into imagining the present is real? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Philosopher of science Tim Maudlin joins author of The End of Time Julian Barbour and philosopher and historian of science Emily Thomas go in search of lost time.
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Freedom is often seen as the vital oxygen of creativity. Yet Shakespeare worked within a framework of censorship, Don Quixote was written from prison and Leonardo argued that at 'lives on constraint and dies of freedom'. Can oppression help produce masterpieces or do the free always write the greatest poetry? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, Novelist and Author Joanna Kavenna and hip hop artist Lowkey debate creativity and constraint.
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According to current theories, Dark Energy and Dark Matter make up 95% of all the stuff in the universe. Yet we still have no direct evidence for them. Might we need to rethink our account of the universe entirely? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, String theorist Erik Verlinde, astrophysicist Catherine Heymans and physicist and writer Sabine Hossenfelder propose radical solutions to the mystery of the dark universe. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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The left has traditionally seen itself as progressive, with history and morality on its side. But is history on anyone's side? And as for morality, don't all politicians think they're in the right? Should the left then give up its claim to the moral high ground and argue for policies on pragmatic grounds alone? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Peter Hitchens, Sophie Walker and Chris Bryant debate the morality of the left and right. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Neuroscientists believe that our minds and conciousness are no more than matter and mechanism. But if they are right, is all meaning, purpose and feeling illusory? Or do the secrets of experience lie beyond neuroscience's grasp? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Raymond Tallis, Susana Martinez-Conde and Markus Gabriel explore the latest in the neuroscience of conciousness. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Once beauty was about goodness and truth, now we think it means little more than models, products and outdated art. Have practical concerns and the economy of desire made beauty trivial and expendable? Is there a difference in the feeling of pleasure one gets from looking at a Magritte painting, or at Kim Kardashian's bum? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Philosopher Bence Nanay, activist Sam Roddick and Public Sphere Salons founder Justien Kolata explore beauty and pleasure. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Many think Donald Trump a buffoon and a threat to world peace. But with IS weakened, and signs of progress in North Korea, perhaps his supporters can point to some initial successes. Could a belligerent approach to foreign policy make for a safer world? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, George Galloway and Mark Leonard debate the threat of Trump's foreign policy. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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We think that lightning strikes, and waves crash, even if there is no one to see them. Yet according to quantum physics, the observer is critical to reality. Theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg even argued that, in contemporary physics 'objective reality has evaporated'. Is a world independent of the observer an illusion? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Nobel prize winning Gerard t'Hooft, constructor theorist Chiara Marletto and Oxford quantum philosopher Christopher Timpson debate the mysteries of reality. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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From Milton's Paradise Lost to bad boys and femmes fatales, we are seduced by the dark and dangerous. Why does the devil have all the best tunes? Have we sanitised the good and made it vacuous? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, moral philosopher Christopher Hamilton, theologian and Zizek collaborator John Milbank, and Professor of Continental Philosophy Patricia MacCormack look into our dark side. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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From yoga retreats to mindfulness, meditation is fashionable and now even prescribed by the UK's National Health Service. Yet in some cases it can lead to depression and even psychosis. Is it a mistake to think that self-exploration and being at one with ourselves are necessarily good things? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, The Buddha Pill author Miguel Farias, Buddhist teacher and broadcaster Vishvapani Blomfield, and sociologist of religion Linda Woodhead explore how we can reach peace. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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The idea that the world is made of physical stuff alone has been central to scientific progress. But our theories do not account for experience or thought. Might materialism be a profound mistake? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, CERN physicist John Ellis, Consciousness author Susan Blackmore and Closure theorist Hilary Lawson uncover the problem with materialism. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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From gene therapy and fad diets to cryonically frozen corpses, many still hope to find a way to live forever. But Heidegger famously thought life's transience gave it meaning. So should science one day banish death's shadow? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Philosopher and author of 'Post-Human Ethics' Patricia MacCormack, Oxford transhumanist Anders Sandberg and author and novelist Janne Teller imagine a life without end. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Patricia MacCormack is Professor of Continental Philosophy at Anglia Ruskin University, known for her work on Posthuman ethics. In this exclusive interview, Patricia explains why she thinks the world would be a better place without humans. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Many believe that porn's dark fantasies risk corrupting relationships and society. Has this arisen because pornography is largely created by men? Or is porn fundamentally incompatible with intimacy and a problem for all of us until its abolished? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, feminist thinker Finn Mackay, author of Belle de Jour: Diary of a London Call Girl Brooke Magnanti, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and Erotic Review editor Rowan Pelling imagine the future of pornography. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD This debate references adult content.
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Brooke Magnanti is best known by her pen name Belle de Jour, from the blog behind Secret Diary of a Call Girl. In this exclusive interview, Brooke explains how we should free ourselves from the shackles surrounding sex from shame, to guilt and toxic femininity. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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'Dare to know' was the radical rallying cry of the Enlightenment. But since then, philosophers from Nietzsche to Derrida have argued there are limits to knowledge so profound that truth is an impossible goal. Is the enlightenment dream over? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, A Short History of Truth author, Julian Baggini, post-realist philosopher Hilary Lawson and metaphysician Amie Thomasson go in search of a new enlightenment. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Hilary Lawson is a post realist philosopher, known for his theory of Closure. In this exclusive interview, Hilary explains how we should understand truth in a post truth world and why we need Enlightenment thinking now more than ever. In association with the New College of the Humanities bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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The fundamental problem of philosophy, argued Heidegger, is 'why is there something rather than nothing?' Now, some scientists claim nothing doesn't exist and that even deepest space is full of virtual particles. Have we misunderstood the very idea of nothing? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Templeton prize winning cosmologist George Ellis, metaphysician Amie Thomasson and author of The Science Delusion Rupert Sheldrake unlock the mystery. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Rupert Sheldrake is a renowned author and biologist, known for his research into parapsychology. In this exclusive interview, Rupert shares with us the secrets of consciousness, putting forward a panpsychist view of what it is to be conscious and debunking why materialism has failed. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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There are many who see Trump and Putin as a threat to world peace. But are they in power because we believe that strong leaders are good for us? Is it a mistake to imagine that leaders can solve all of our problems? Can we imagine a politics where we voted for policies rather than personalities? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, outspoken Labour MP Jess Phillips, Guardian journalist and China expert Tania Branigan and author of Democracy squared Jon Barnes imagine a different sort of politics. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Jon Barnes is a guest lecturer at the world's top business schools, innovator and author. In this exclusive interview, Jon shares with us how technology is already being used to shape the way we vote, organise and think about politics. From Democracy Squared to Tech Monopolies, Jon's work has focused on the relationship between technology and democracy and here he shares why he thinks we should be optimistic about the digital revolution which can democratise our democracies. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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How have ideas across the world shaped the places from which they emerged? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, author and philosopher Julian Baggini explores global thinking and its varied influence on our cultures, our ideals and how we see ourselves. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Can our legal system ever keep its promise of justice? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, author of ‘In Your Defence’ Sarah Langford tells her story of a life in the courtroom, and shows us how our attitudes and actions can shape not only the outcome of a case, but the legal system itself. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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From medieval legends to Hollywood endings to the horoscope, we are led to believe that lifelong love means happiness. But a recent survey of 814 separate studies showed single people to be happier, more fulfilled and less stressed. Is it time to stop seeing romantic love as all-important? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, psychologist and author of Singled Out Bella DePaulo, Oxford transhumanist Anders Sandberg and romance author Heidi Rice challenge our ideas about the narratives of love. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Where once we made sense of the world using the idea of God, most of us now believe in a more scientific story, of an unfolding universe and evolution. Yet scientists increasingly see their theories as useful models rather than ultimate accounts. Is science then just another human description limited by language, culture and circumstance? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, author of Conjuring the Universe Peter Atkins, Harvard historian of science Sophie Roosth and Cambridge philosopher and author of the Meaning of Science Tim Lewens scrutinise the limits and possibilities of science. In association with the New College of the Humanities: bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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We think everyone should be treated equally. Yet we also think we are right to care most about our family, our friends and our lovers, and 82% of charitable donations in the UK are given to the causes closest to home. Should we just accept that our ethics are in practice tribal? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, barrister and founder of Effective Giving UK Natalie Cargill, Oxford political theorist and author of On Nationality David Miller and human rights activist Peter Tatchell examine the tribal nature of morality. In association with the New College of the Humanities: bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Most think that social progress should be driven by ideas and persuasion not force. Yet from the French and Russian Revolutions to the Suffragettes, violent action has been instrumental to generating change. Is violence ever justified as a political strategy? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Enlightenment Now author Steven Pinker, filmmaker and author of The Clash of Fundamentalisms Tariq Ali and Kurdish Women's Movement activist Elif Sarican grapple with the forces of history. In association with the New College of the Humanities: bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Britain is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, so why do so many feel short-changed? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Labour MP and former minister Angela Eagle sees an urgent need to protect social cohesion and makes a case for radical economic reform. In association with the New College of the Humanities: www.nchlondon.ac.uk
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The big bang theory won out over the Steady State alternative 50 years ago because we discovered the universe was expanding. But now we know that the universe is in fact accelerating away from us. Might the whole big bang theory be mistaken? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, eminent mathematician Roger Penrose, CalTech physicist and author of From Eternity to Here Sean Carroll and multiverse cosmologist Laura Mersini-Houghton look at the story of creation once again. In association with the New College of the Humanities: bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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'Innocent until proven guilty' is a core principle of democracy. Yet from the BBC's coverage of the Cliff Richard raid to the social media storms around MeToo, it seems we are increasingly happy to destroy reputations and careers before the proof is in. Can trial by media be more effective than the legal system? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Times columnist David Aaronovitch, performance artist dubbed as 'Mattress Girl' Emma Sulkowicz and criminal barrister and author of In Your Defence Sarah Langford debate how justice gets made. In association with the New College of the Humanities. bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Our worlds were once human and solid, but now our lives are increasingly virtual. What place has reality in this fantasy world? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, ‘Picnic Comma Lightning’ author Laurence Scott explores the challenges of finding meaning amidst the digital noise. In association with the New College of the Humanities: bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Besides being illegal, LSD has not had good press, associated with bad trips and psychological breakdown. But with a new craze for microdosing acid amongst Silicon Valley whizz kids and management gurus, and respected scientists claiming antidepressant benefits, might we have been too quick to ban psychedelics? In this episode of Philosophy for our Times, Pharmacologist and former Home Office drugs advisor David Nutt, drugs reformer and director of the Beckley Foundation Amanda Feilding and founder of the Psychedelic Society Stephen Reid explore the promise of psychedelics. In association with the New College of the Humanities: bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Is there a universal morality, and if not, are moral beliefs actually the cause of some of the greatest human suffering? To debate this issue, we have on our panel literary theorist Stanley Fish, writer, broadcaster and SOAS researcher Myriam Francois, and journalist and former speech-writer to Tony Blair Phillip Collins. In association with the New College of the Humanities: bit.ly/2FdPgLD
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Deaths from heart disease have fallen by almost two thirds since the 1960s, yet outcomes for those with mental illness have not improved for decades. Is this because we have the wrong categories and the wrong diagnoses? Might neuroscience enable more precise descriptions and more effective treatment? Or is it a mistake to think that biological accounts of mental illness will ever provide the answers? Users and Abusers of Psychiatry author Lucy Johnstone, psychiatrist David Nutt and author of The Antidepressant Era David Healy consider plausible alternatives to diagnosis.
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Ten years ago, the US elected its first black president. Yet race-related hate crime has increased 216% in the last year. Are we wrong to suppose that racial prejudice will be overcome by equal opportunity? Should we dream of a world where race is not a basis for social identity? Or are social groupings inevitable and equality the only possible solution?
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Suicide is a terrible but commonplace event amongst all societies within the human race. But at what point in our evolution did suicide come into being, and for what purpose? Can suicide be explained, and if so, can we provide an answer to those who become so desperate? Neuropsychologist and author of A History of the Mind Nicholas Humphrey answers these questions.
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We think love an indisputable force for good. Yet from Jihadi John to Anders Breivik, extremists often cite love of creed or country to justify atrocities. Might love of a person or group also be the origin of prejudice and hatred towards others? Are love and hatred forever entwined, as Freud suggested? Or can we imagine a society built on love but free from tribalism? Former Archbishop of Cantebury Rowan Williams, sociologist and author of Perversions of Love and Hate Renata Salecl and philosopher Robert Rowland Smith debate the dark side of love. Michael Crick hosts.
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In the wake of the Weinstein scandal, many called for a boycott of the films of Roman Polanski and Woody Allen. Yet 20th century literary critics encouraged us to look at the text alone, citing "the death of the author." Can and should we separate the artist from the art? Are the misdeeds of writers, thinkers and artists irrelevant to their work? Or should we excise the morally indefensible? Literary critic Stanley Fish, Carry That Weight performance artist Emma Sulkowicz, novelist Nell Stevens and Cambridge cultural theorist John Harvey untangle the beautiful and the good.
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Once dismissed as a utopian fantasy, universal income has now hit the mainstream. With new technologies, support from across the political spectrum, and advocates from Stephen Hawking to Mark Zuckerberg, it’s no surprise people have begun to take the idea seriously. In a combative head-to-head debate, author of Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen Guy Standing goes head to head with leading libertarian economist Deirdre McCloskey.
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We are paying tribute to philosopher Mary Midgley who passed away last week at the age of 99 by revisiting our episode 'Are you an illusion?' in which Midgley investigates the self with fellow philosopher Simon Blackburn and neuroscientist Colin Blakemore. (With special thanks to the In Parenthesis project for interview excerpts - http://www.womeninparenthesis.co.uk/)
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Can we ever observe universes beyond our own? Astrophysicist Catherine Heymans reveals the latest innovations that might help map out the multiverse.
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In a world with artificial intelligence, how will we maintain control? Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Open Data Institute co-founder and researcher at Oxford University, examines how AI looks set to reshape our lives and society.
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Belief in the Gods once filled lives with purpose and a vision of truth. Now many in the secular West dismiss the divine yet also rue the loss of meaning and belief. Is this because evidence and reason are not sufficient to make sense of the world? Is there something about the world that is deeply strange and justifies spirituality? Or is the worldwide flourishing of religion a temporary blip in human history? Sociologist of religion Linda Woodhead, former executive editor of The Economist and author of The Dream of the Enlightenment Anthony Gottlieb, TV presenter and Research Associate at SOAS Centre for Islamic Studies Myriam Francois explore the link between reason and religion. Julian Baggini hosts.
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Consciousness is one of the unresolved philosophical questions. There was hope that neuroscience might find some answers. But we still have no explanation for where brain activity ends and experience begins. Is it a mistake to think we can explain consciousness by examining the brain? Should we look elsewhere to our evolutionary roots perhaps? Or might neuroscience pull the cat from the bag after all? Psychologist and author of Seeing Myself Susan Blackmore, panpsychist and author of Consciousness and Fundamental Reality Philip Goff, and psychologist Nicholas Humphrey, whose books include The Mind Made Flesh and Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness, explore the unknown corners of our minds and lives.
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Would a meritocratic society provide a fair equality of opportunity? Can discrimination based on merit ever be justified, or should we aim to solve social inequality through equality of outcome? Kwame Anthony Appiah is a British Ghaniain philosopher at Columbia University and author of Cosmopolitanism and The Honor Code. www.iai.tv/podcasts
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Stephen Hawking once predicted a theory of everything by 2000. However, after decades without one he began to doubt its existence. Have we failed because no one theory can make sense of reality? Must we "employ different theories in different situations" as Hawking suggested, or is there a final theory just waiting to be discovered?
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What does is mean to socially construct a gendered identity, and why do some feminists insist on separating this from the sex we are assigned at birth? On the panel: activist Finn Mackay, Labour politician Angela Eagle and post-human philosopher, Patricia MacCormack
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Some refer to millennials as entitled avocado-eating lay-about’s who care more about their social media presence than engaging with and caring about the world. Millennials, on the other hand, soothe their sorrow at never being able to afford a mortgage (even if they didn’t eat avocados) by eating avocados. Who deserves sympathy and crucially, whom does the state support? The older generation or the younger? Our panel for Generation Wars, part 2, features Labour MP Dianne Abbott, economist Anatole Kaletsky, People’s Peer Victor Adebowale and Momentum campaigner Joe Todd. Tom Clark hosts
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What’s the price we pay for the buzz we get from likes online? Are tech companies forcing us to follow their every whim? Mining us for data they can profit from? Or do we have the power to harness technology for good? Making our lives easier and giving us more free time? Connecting us with people and enriching our lives? To debate this issue, we have on our panel Chi Onwurah, shadow Minister for Industrial Strategy, Science and Innovation. Kate Russell, a technology reporter and presenter of BBC Click. And professor of philosophy at the university of Bristol, James Ladyman. Isobel Hilton hosts.
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Isn’t it funny that a day at the office seems to drag by so slowly, and yet a day in the park is over in a flash? Is time, and the way it passes something that actually exists in the physical world? Or is it something that only humans perceive? In this debate Back from the End of Time. We’ve brought you a world leading Physicist Erik Verlinde, a world leading philosophers Huw Price and Alison Fernandez to debate the nature of time.
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The dogma of development has left a society divided and a planet endangered. Former UK Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett envisions a radical new future.
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Our obsession with the apocalypse is everywhere from fiction stories to news headlines. Is the belief that the end is nigh rooted in the changing reality around us, or is it just a story that sells? On our panel to discuss this question is philosopher and author of Breakfast with Socrates Robert Rowland Smith, Professor of Continental Philosophy at Anglia Ruskin University Patricia MacCormack and Director of the Pervert's Guide to Cinema Sophie Fiennes. Danielle Sands hosts. www.iai.tv/iai-podcasts
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In a post-truth world, the evidence of experts is constantly being called into question. But is abandoning the expertise of learned folk a little extreme? Green Party politician and philosopher Rupert Read takes us through the tyranny of evidence.
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China may be on the way to replacing the US as the world's dominant economic power, but with Russia also growing its reach, could the future be more dangerous still? Do we face an uncontainable multipolar world with many nations vying for power? Or should we applaud a break from US global dominance and look forward to a more equal future? Mary Ann Sieghart asks Oxford historian Rana Mitter, HSBC chief economist Stephen King and politician George Galloway to envisage the world's future.
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Is science more sinister than an honest pursuit of the truth? Is there enough evidence to support man-made climate change? Usually, we associate climate change critics with the right but this time the counter-narrative comes from outspoken astrophysicist Piers Corbyn, who situates himself even further on the left than his brother, UK's Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
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Is it better for us to resist temptations or avoid them altogether? Philosopher of perception and action Bence Nanay argues that our ability to say no is connected with the fragmentation of our minds.
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From quitting a job or relationship in the heat of an argument to taking on a new project in a flush of excitement, we think emotional decisions are often bad decisions. But might it be that emotion is the best guide to action and, as Hume thought, reason is and should be the slave of the passions? Or is this a quick route to chaos and conflict? Philosophers Bence Nanay, Naomi Goulder and Barry C. Smith debate what it means to be on the right path.
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Can philosophy help us make real life decisions? Can actions speak louder than words? Our producer interviews philosophers Bence Nanay, Angie Hobbs, Christopher Hamilton, Barry Smith, Shahidha Bari, and performance artist Emma Sulkowicz about the power of ideas in their lives.
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It's Philosophy Fest! A week of bonus content to celebrate our hundredth episode of Philosophy For Our Times. Today's bonus content is an audience Q&A with psychiatrist David Nutt, which followed on from his talk, The Science of Psychedelics. David fields questions on synthetic cannabis in prisons, whether LSD can make you a genius, and treating addiction with psychedelic drugs. We released the talk as episode 97 if you'd like to take a listen to that first.
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Is our attitude to drugs harming mental health patients? Imperial College psychiatrist and former UK government drugs adviser David Nutt argues for an evidence based revolution in drugs policy.
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To celebrate our 100th episode of Philosophy for Our Times, we're treating you to a week of bonus content. To kick off, here's an interview with Elif Sarican, a Kurdish rights activist, about the experiment in direct democracy currently taking place in Northern Syria.
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Does our abuse of 'elites' ignore their necessity, or should all elites be challenged and dissolved? Author of The Leaderless Revolution Carne Ross, Political Theorist at Cambridge Hugh Drochon, and activist Yassmin Abdel Magied put elites on trial.
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Many of us intuitively believe that art, philosophy and culture, from the evolution of cinema to the rise of performance poetry, is trying to constantly progress towards something better. But is this a myth? In art and philosophy, is the best yet to come? Or, as Eliot said, 'is there only the fight to recover what has been lost and found and lost again'? Critic and author of Con Art Julian Spalding, TS Eliot prize-winning poet and musician Don Paterson, and author of The Utopia Experiment Dylan Evans revisit the future of art.
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What happens to our bodies when we die? Forensic scientist and Belle de Jour blogger Brooke Magnanti anticipates life's strangest certainty.
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In 1859, Charles Darwin changed the course of history for ever by publishing On the Origin of Species. In 1872 he published ‘The expression of the emotions in man and animals.’ Which didn’t rock the boat quite so much, but it continues to be a source of controversy in our ongoing scientific debates on evolution, and specifically, how it relates to human psychology. Can evolution explain cultural and social differences? Or do we need something new? Julian Baggini explores the limits of evolution with philosopher Janet Radcliffe Richards, anthropologist Daniel Everett and Oxford evolutionary psychologist Oliver Scott Curry.
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Outspoken critic of Richard Dawkins, and renowned Professor of English Literature Terry Eagleton launches himself heroically at the twin hornet’s nests of modern religious apathy & radicalism. Where should the unreligious look for answers? What has caused the recent growth in radicalism? Supported by Routledge - Associate Academic Partner of the IAI. To learn more, and for exclusive discounts and prizes visit: bit.ly/2huBNRx
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In Europe, belief in organised religion continues to decline as science advances. Yet strangely interest in everything from ley lines to solstice rituals is on the rise. Should we dismiss this as empty fantasy? Or is there in nature something essential to ourselves, beyond science and beyond monotheistic religion? Sociologist Eileen Barker, comedian and Dawkins collaborator Ariane Sherine, and fantasy novelist Phil Rickman find meaning in spirituality.
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Is consciousness stranger than we thought? The Science Delusion author Rupert Sheldrake strikes out against orthodoxy and asks: is the sun conscious?
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From Galileo to Mandela, history is made by those with strong convictions. Yet as Nietzsche argued and Islamic State attest, those most convinced of their righteousness are often the most dangerous. Should politicians and the rest of us avoid convictions and see them as dangerous fantasies, or is conviction essential to leadership and action? Philosophers Julian Baggini and Andrew Bowie, and former Conservative politician Edwina Currie debate. Richard Coles hosts.
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Time appears to be the ultimate form of progress: an unavoidable direction imposed on the universe. Some physicists claim this is an illusion. How should we make sense of time? As a dimension, a flow, a place, a process, a social construct, or something altogether more mysterious? Physician, poet and thinker Raymond Tallis, philosopher and broadcaster Angie Hobbs, theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili, and philosopher of time Craig Bourne go in search of time's direction.
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In today’s debate Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality Party faces Helena Cronin, Darwinian philosopher and a strong believer in natural sex differences. Joined by Psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple, they debate the pros, cons and possibilities of equality.
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Over a century after Freud wrote the interpretation of dreams, how much of our unconscious minds have we uncovered? Writer, academic and critic Shahida Bari, Philosopher and Director of the Institute of Philosophy at the Institute of Advanced Studies in London Barry C Smith and Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool Richard Bentall debate the relevance of Freud's work today. Supported by Routledge - Associate Academic Partner of the IAI. To learn more, and for exclusive discounts and prizes visit: bit.ly/2huBNRx
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Darwinian philosopher Helena Cronin breaks a 21st century taboo: Did men and women evolve differently?
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A world where men and women shared power equally is thought desirable. Yet from Angela Merkel and Mrs Thatcher, to Marissa Mayer and Sheryl Sandberg, leading women often appear to behave similarly to men. Would a world run by women actually be fundamentally different? Orwell Award-winning journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Labour politician Margaret Hodge and BBC broadcaster Ritula Shah envisage a more equal world.
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Assistant Producer at the IAI, Bridey Addison-Child, speaks to some of our female speakers from our HowTheLightGetsIn Festival to find out what being a woman means in today's society, and explore some of the philosophical issues raised when we talk about womanhood.
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In this week’s episode, we’re looking at the science behind monogamous relationships and asking the question: have we, as a species, evolved beyond them? Screw the Fairytale author Helen Croydon, UCL anthropologist Kit Opie, and psychologist Susan Quilliam imagine new models for relationships.
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There is perhaps, nothing more contentious in a romantic relationship, than our partner’s attitude to pornography. Here to break through this taboo is our speaker for today’s podcast - former MP and LGBT rights activist Peter Tatchell.
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We rely on a narrative about who we are and what we are up to in order to make the everyday and the big decisions in our lives. But who is the I that writes the story of ourselves and how do we choose the narrative of our life? Are our choices more like reflexes and decisions an illusion? Or do we create both who we are and what we want to do? Philosopher and author of Western Philosophy John Cottingham, East End psychiatrist Mark Salter and Altered Carbon author Richard Morgan seek out the all-seeing I. Supported by Routledge - Associate Academic Partner of the IAI. To learn more, and for exclusive discounts and prizes visit: http://bit.ly/2huBNRx
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From love at first sight to falling head over heels, it seems love isn’t something we do but something that happens to us. Yet relationship experts say successful relationships are built on hard work. Can we construct the romantic narrative? Would power over love’s story improve the experience? Or is love a wild adventure best left untamed? Award-winning director and artist Martha Fiennes joins Relate CEO Chris Sherwood and Senior Lecturer in Romanticism at QMUL Shahidha Bari to imagine new narratives for love.
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We’re happy taking drugs to fight depression. But what about a pill for engineering romance? Oxford neuroscientist and Future of Humanity Institute fellow Anders Sandberg makes the case for chemically enhancing our love lives.
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In this podcast we’re going to be uncovering the unknown by pitting science against religion in the ultimate quest for truth. Theologian Rosie Harper, chemist Peter Atkins and philosopher Steve Fuller debate whether science is the only way to truth.
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Socrates famously claimed 'the unexamined life is not worth living'. Yet from surfing to sex, playing an instrument to riding a bike, our most joyous moments are not when we are lost in thought but when we are lost in experience. Do we reflect too much and should we explore just 'being' more? Philosopher and author Robert Eaglestone, Coco de Mer founder Sam Roddick and author of Authenticity is a Con Peter York
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Is Theoretical Physics on the cusp of discovering a new theory of gravity? Theoretical physicist Erik Verlinde outlines how spacetime and gravity dissolve.
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Can you ever really know yourself? And if you can’t know yourself, how can you ever know the people around you, even those closest to you? Professor of Contemporary Literature Robert Eaglestone, theoretical psychologist and author of 'Soul Dust' Nicholas Humphrey and Oxford philosopher Anita Avramides investigate knowing ourselves and others.
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Visions of a violent and lawless future are a commonplace, yet strangely crime has fallen 66% in the UK in the last two decades. Do we want to imagine the world is dangerous because our lives have become too safe? Or is the world scarier than the figures suggest? Former Anglican Priest Chris Bryant, feminist Finn Mackay and outspoken libertarian and editor of Spiked Online Brendan O'Neill examine risk. Supported by Routledge - Associate Academic Partner of the IAI. To learn more, and for exclusive discounts and prizes visit: http://bit.ly/2huBNRx
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We keep searching for life's meaning, but we still have no answer. Philosopher and author of 'Wolf' Mark Rowlands shows us where we might look.
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A third of all deaths are due to medical intervention and some argue that eradicating poverty, not pathogens, makes the biggest difference. Is it a fantasy to believe that medical technology can solve health? Should we spend more on social justice and less on hospital medicine? Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, psychiatrist Mark Salter, Labour politician Diane Abbott and author of Pharmaggedon David Healy get real about health, the NHS and the dangers of modern medicine.
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In our topsy turvy post-modern world, we're held captive by the promise of the new. One of Britain's most influential cultural critics, Terry Eagleton, examines novelty's strange perils. Supported by Routledge - Associate Academic Partner of the IAI. To learn more, and for exclusive discounts and prizes visit: http://bit.ly/2huBNRx
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The world is awash with debt. Economists argue it is essential to growth and that repayment is a legal and moral obligation. Yet from Payday lending to the debts of Greece and the Third World many see debt as unfair and unjust. Should we be less dependent on debt? Is it a trap that maintains wealth and poverty, or a gift that enables growth? Capitalism 4.0 author Anatole Kaletsky, Senior Economic Adviser at HSBC Stephen King and LSE anthropologist Laura Bear dispute morality and money.
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With technological advancements in the world of computer science and robotics, sci-fi sex robots such as Ava from Ex Machina, and Joi from Blade Runner 2049, are coming closer and closer to becoming real. Would sex robots be a disaster for healthy sexual relationships? Or might they actually help us? In this episode, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths Kate Devlin explores the possibilities of sex robots.
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There was a time when gold money had real value. Yet now it floats free, a fantasy made real by our belief. Are there alternative fantasies that we could create to generate different and perhaps better realities? Or is there something special about the fantasy of money that makes it irreplaceable? Guardian columnist Stephen Hewlitt asks CEO of Timebanking UK Sarah Bird, reporter for the Financial Times Izabella Kaminska and The Social Life of Money author Nigel Dodd to explore the alternatives to money.
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Over 40 years have passed since string theory was first developed: what questions have been answered? Philosopher James Ladyman examines one of our strangest endeavours. "Challenging and provocative" TLS
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Weapons of mass destruction, the NSA, and Watergate: many have felt cheated by the lies of the powerful. Yet we all twist the truth to keep people happy and deceive in order to protect. Is lying oddly essential? Should we accept lying as part of personal and public life? Or is there always more beauty in truth? New York philosopher and author of Lying for the Sake of Truth James Mahon, Absolutely Fabulous star Helen Lederer, and psychiatrist Mark Salter dissect the ethics of deceit.
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The goal of feminism seemed simple: equal rights for both sexes. Yet tabloid controversy is raging now Beyonce, GaGa and Sandberg have claimed the label. Can female sexuality be a vehicle for female power? And is feminism recast as female power a desirable goal or a threat to the original ideals? Sociologist and author of Erotic Capital Catherine Hakim, Smack The Pony star Doon Mackichan, and activist Peter Tatchell confront sexuality. Supported by Routledge - Associate Academic Partner of the IAI. To learn more, and for exclusive discounts and prizes visit: http://bit.ly/2huBNRx
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Being a real man used to be about courage, grit, and determination. But in an age of increased empathy and softness the story is getting blurred. Is the 'real man' a fantasy we should be pleased to see relegated to history along with Marlboro ads, or are these qualities that women still want and society needs? Jamie Whyte chairs this debate between Labour MP Dianne Abott and radical feminist Julie Bindel, who both argue that male stereotypes should be relegated to history, and Erotic Review founder Rowan Pelling and BBC journalist Serena Kutchinsky; who argue that there is still a place for the Real Man in the modern world. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License.
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Only 3 percent of mammals are monogamous. The faithful few include beavers, wolves, bats, and, of course, humans. Why is monogamy so rare? And how did we come to practise it? UCL anthropologist Kit Opie takes you on journey back to the beginning of human relationships. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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Disillusioned with the mainstream, Sophie Walker joined and now leads the Women's Equality Party. Here she asks: is radical thinking enough to change society? Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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We all want a better world and most see morality as helping to choose the right actions. Yet we can't know for sure the outcome of any action. Is morality therefore curiously independent of outcomes? Does this leave it without foundation or function? Or do good and bad have no place in this world at all? Centre for Secular Space founder Gita Sahgal, philosopher and author of Causes and Coincidences David Owens, and director of the Centre for Effective Altruism Sebastian Farquhar discuss the outcomes of our actions. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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What is the strange allure of opiate addiction? Author and former prison psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple argues his personal take on the problems poppies pose. "A modern master" Guardian Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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From the existence of the self to the nature of free will, many philosophers have dedicated their lives to the problems of the mind. But now some neuroscientists claim to have settled these raging debates. Is it possible we have discovered a science to replace philosophy and we can finally make real progress? Cognitive scientist Margaret Boden, philosopher of mind and language Barry C. Smith and neurobiologist Steven Rose put neuroscience on trial. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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Aristotle said that we "acquire a particular quality by acting a certain way" - he believed that you could fake it 'til you make it. But is this a reductive understanding of confidence? Are we right to desire confidence, or should we reimagine our understanding of it? WIRED editor and author Rowland Manthorpe examines our self-belief, from Nietzsche to now, and proposes a more collaborative definition of confidence. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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What could secular Buddhist philosophy bring to a dissatisfied West? Buddhist teacher and author Stephen Batchelor gives ancient wisdom a 21st century home. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License.
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The headlines of new discoveries about the universe continue, but are we approaching our limits? Mathematician and broadcaster Marcus du Sautoy explores. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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We effortlessly use language to describe the world. Yet the puzzle of how language achieves this has stumped philosophers for a century. Are we simply missing the right theory? Or is something more profound at stake if language does not in fact provide descriptions of the world at all. 2017 Lebowitz Prize-winning philosopher Nancy Cartwright, Closure theorist Hilary Lawson and Director of the Centre for Logic and Language Corine Besson Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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We think information provides facts about the world around us. Yet some in quantum physics now claim that information is primary, more fundamental than matter. Could information provide the ultimate constituents of the world? Or is this a delusion borne from the specific and passing vocabulary of a digital age? Emeritus Oxford chemist Peter Atkins, quantum physics information pioneer Chiara Marletto and author of Everything Must Go James Ladyman decode the universe.
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How can we rethink society to halt existential crises as rapidly as the threats can occur? Director of the Centre for Effective Altruism Sebastian Farquhar outlines his solution.
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From writing to art, the intense to the light hearted, imagination transports us to untold fantasy worlds. Yet Picasso claimed "everything you can imagine is real". Should we dismiss this as the overblown claims of a celebrity artist, or might what we take to be reality actually be a product of the power of imagination? Literary critic Terry Eagleton, New york University philosopher Paul Boghossian and Chocolat author Joanne Harris find places where reality ends and the power of imagination begins.
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Has Westminster made progress to equality? Cameron told Shadow Secretary for Business Angela Eagle to “Calm down dear”; here she forecasts the future of sexism in politics. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men and Enter the World of Paradise by D SMILEZ available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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Far flung destinations are often home to those seeking to 'find themselves'. Encouraged perhaps by Socrates’ maxim for an ethical life: 'know thyself'. But do any of us ever arrive? Is the self a real and stable enough 'thing' that it can be known? Or can we never catch sight of ourselves in the mirror? Anthropologist and author of Stuff Daniel Miller, actress and writer Adjoa Andoh, KCL philosopher Christopher Hamilton examine the limits of self-knowledge. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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Can the threat of terror be fought with compassion? Conservative politician and Spectator's 'Backbencher of the year' Charlotte Leslie issues a rallying cry for the politics of love. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men and Enter the World of Paradise by D SMILEZ available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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Is statistical and scientific ignorance undermining the fight against sexism? Darwinian philosopher Helena Cronin argues sex difference should be accepted not ignored. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men and Enter the World of Paradise by D SMILEZ available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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The shaming exposes and social media scandals of today can seem as backwards as the stocks or the pillory. Yet the fear of shame can bring the powerful to heel. What is our curious shame about shame? Might shaming be our best tool for change? Or should we always be fearful of the tyranny of the mob? Comedian Robin Ince, Sugar Daddy Diaries author Helen Croydon, and theologian and Zizek collaborator John Milbank uncover the strangeness of shame. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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The first female to enter the Radio Hall of Fame, MBE recipient Annie Nightingale is the BBC's longest serving DJ. Join the "first lady of radio" as she discusses 50 years at the forefront of Britain's shifting music scene. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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Fulfill your dreams and make the most of your life! So advocate headmasters, moralists and revolutionaries. Yet poet John Betjeman's principal regret was that he did not have more sex. Is life not about goals and ambition but about the moment of being? Or is making our dreams real the only way to fulfillment? Writer of The Guardian's This Column Will Change Your Life Oliver Burkeman, author of A Life Inside Erwin James, and Absolutely Fabulous star Helen Lederer debate the best way to live. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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Copernicus and Darwin taught us to be skeptical of feeling we were special. Yet from the size of the electron to the cosmological constant our universe is strangely fine-tuned for life. Is this a spectacularly fortuitous accident? Has the universe been tailored for us or do the theories just make it look that way? New York philosopher Massimo Pigliucci, M-Theorist and author of Universe or Multiverse? Bernard Carr, and Oxford constructor theorist Chiara Marletto wonder why we are here. Music: Apache Force by Little Glass Men available under an Attribution Creative Commons License
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At 10 billion matches, Tinder has made more connections than there are people. But neuroscience reveals that too much choice can increase expectations and reduce desire. Is choice actually a bad thing? Have dating apps democratised intimacy, or are they warping our relationships beyond repair? KCL philosopher Christopher Hamilton, eHarmony’s Chief Scientist Steve Carter, and Oxford neuroscientist Anders Sandberg tackle technology’s impact on our relationships.
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Mathematics is rarely seen as a romantic discipline. But 30% of couples now meet using online algorithms. Could big data be the key to making love last? And if so what makes for the perfect match? eHarmony's Chief Scientist Steve Carter unveils new research into the science of love and compatibility. (Supported by eHarmony)
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Terror attacks on satellites would cause mass destruction within moments. Why are we ignoring the risks? Space security expert and Chatham House Research Director Patricia Lewis reveals the silent dangers in space.
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In 2013 we found the Higgs boson. Then, in early 2016, we found Gravitational Waves. Eminent CERN physicist John Ellis asks: what's next for 21st-century physics?
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Where are the alternatives to injustice and uncertainty? Author of The Establishment Owen Jones makes the case for an end to despair and a new era of politics.
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We all think we know what gravity is. But where gravity comes from stumped Newton, and 300 years later we are no closer to an explanation. We don't even have a mathematical account of gravity that applies in all situations. Why is a force so central to the universe so elusive in its character? Theoretical physicist Laura Mersini Houghton, Nobel Prize-winner Frank Wilczek and string theorist Eric Verlinde examine the enigma of gravity.
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We think we know what is real and what is not. Yet strangely we can't even agree what reality is made of - everyday things, particles and energy, or language and thought. Is reality essentially incomprehensible because it is beyond us? Or do we just need time and patience to uncover the truth? CERN physicist Tara Shears, author of Closure and post-postmodern metaphysician Hilary Lawson, and theologian Alison Milbank question reality beyond experience. In assocation with Philosophy Now.
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The $3bn Human Genome project to uncover the genetic cause of disease was billed as ground breaking. Despite frequent positive newspaper headlines, critics argue we have uncovered almost nothing about disease. Will it eventually prove useful or are genes not the blueprint for life we had imagined? Author of The Science Delusion, Rupert Sheldrake, Imperial College geneticist Anne Bowcock, and author of The Music Of Life, Denis Noble, look beyond the genome.
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Freedom is a goal we all endorse. Yes as neuroscience shows and history suggests, we are less content when we have more choice. Is too much freedom paradoxically debilitating? Do we need constraints to thrive, and might our chains be key to our freedom? Or is this a dangerous conceit of the privileged and free? Psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple, Blair's former Senior Policy Advisor Julian Le Grand and author of I find that offensive Claire Fox interrogate choice.
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From bats to beetles, animals sense the world differently in order to survive. Yet we think seeing and feeling tell us how things really are. Might our senses be radically limited? Are science and logic routes to escape our sensory limitations, or is feeling the rain on our skin the closest we get to truth? Cognitive neuroscientist Ophelia Deroy, philosopher and author of Philosophy for Life Rupert Read, and closure theorist Hilary Lawson confront the limits of perception.
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We see community and society as good. Yet communities are also fortresses of privilege and conformity, as migrants know only too well. Is the tribe, from the football team to the nation, to be feared and contained? Or is finding our place in a larger group the core of what it is to be human? Author of Exotic England Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, editor of Spiked Brendan O'Neill, journalist Julie Bindel and director of the Forum for European Philosophy Simon Glendinning seek the truth about the tribe.
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Madness is understood as the opposite of reason. Yet as Van Gogh and Nietzsche attest, madness can also be an inexplicable source of insight. Might madness be a strange form of wisdom rather than its diseased opposite? Or is this to make light of a condition that requires treatment? Author of Madness Explained Richard Bentall, psychiatrist Patricia Casey and philosopher and author of Death Drive Robert-Rowland Smith dispute meaning and madness.
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We want "I love you" to mean forever. But neuroscientists claim three years into a relationship and romantic activity in the brain has ceased. Can love only be known in short doses? Should we accept romance as fleeting and abandon long term commitments, or can we outwit evolution and make love last? Screw the Fairytale author Helen Croydon joins Oxford transhumanist Anders Sandberg and Philosopher Naomi Goulder If you want to hear more on this topic we are hosting a weekend in Hay on Wye on love with debates, talks and workshops. We will be joined by Helen Croydon, Anders Sandberg and many more leading thinkers. The event will be held in partnership with New Philosopher and Relate. Check out our event page at iai.tv
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From Aristotle to Einstein humans have tried to make sense of the world. Yet despite huge advances a final explanation looks ever distant. What makes our lives and the world so puzzling and inexplicable? Is it the limitation of the human brain or is language not able to describe reality? Or is it too soon to give up on finding light in the darkness? Eminent CERN physicist John Ellis joins philosopher Robert Rowland-Smith and existential novelist of Why? Janne Tellar to confront the strangeness of reality.
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We all want a better world, and we seemingly make progress, with more technology and less prejudice. Yet ideals and utopias are strangely difficult to imagine, let alone achieve. Is it that we just lack imagination or are leaders inherently corrupt? Or is there something impossible in the very idea? Philosopher and author Roger Scruton, former Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett and MP and ResPublica Director Phillip Blond confront the future
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Philosophy as therapy is an ancient idea. Endorsed by Wittgenstein and popularized by self-help books. But isn't philosophy about understanding even if the insights are uncomfortable? Can philosophy be a dynamic force changing how we think and what we can do? Or does it serve only as a guide to everyday life? Oxford philosopher Adrian Moore, former priest and author of Wellbeing Mark Vernon and Plato Scholar Angie Hobbs consider the purpose of philosophy.
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More women MPs, more women CEOs, women it would seem are on the move. Yet the gap between successful women and the rest is growing. Might feminism's success paradoxically harbour the end of the sisterhood as we swap one inequality for another? Or are female care workers and CEOs still on the same side? American civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw joins Wilful Blindness author Margaret Heffernan and outspoken journalist Myriam Francoise-Cerrah to seek the truth about solidarity. In association with Unilever
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Designer babies and human enhancement were once confined to fiction. Now biotechnology allows designer genetics, and many already choose the sex of their children. Where will this technology lead the human race? Should we be nervous of the ability to enhance ourselves or embrace an exciting new future for humankind? Science fiction author Richard Morgan, founder of Humanity+ David Pearce, and bebionic hand user Nicky Ashwell debate the future of humanity. In collaboration with Motherboard
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If we have rights and ownership of anything it is surely of our own body. Yet we cannot dispose of it as we please, intoxicants are outlawed, and selling our body for sexual pleasure or organ donation is restricted. Is our body strangely not our own after all? Should we insist on our rights and freedom or do we need to be protected from ourselves? The Panel Belle de Jour blogger Brooke Magnanti, bioethicist John Harris, and author of Our Bodies, Whose Property? Anne Phillips interrogate ownership.
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We structure our lives on the flow of time. Yet physicists since Einstein have argued that all time, past, present and future, is like space provided in a single block. Is the flow of time an illusion? Are we deceived when we feel time passing, or is it time to strike the strangeness from our science? The Panel Author of Time Reborn Lee Smolin, live from Ontario, joins Imperial theoretical physicist Michael Duff and KCL metaphysician Eleanor Knox to reunite science and experience.
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We all want to do the right thing. But from suicide bombers to Catholic priests, we have never been able to agree on what the right thing is. Should we give up on morality and see it as a fiction designed to justify beliefs? Or, despite our disagreements, is it still the most important tool we have to measure human behaviour? The Panel Spiked Online Editor Brendan O'Neill joins NCH philosopher Naomi Goulder, journalist Sameer Rahim, and Coco de Mer founder Sam Roddick to seek answers. In association with Prospect.
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We think we've grown out of the belief in evil. It's not in our genes and people don't get possessed. But across media and culture, from Star Wars to Isis, evil still holds us strangely captive. Why does the devil seem to have the best tunes? Is the battle between good and evil an essential part of being human after all? The Panel Cambridge Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen joins philosopher Rebecca Roache and The Idea of Evil author Peter Dews to investigate the strangeness of evil. In association with the British Humanist Association
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We want news to accurately reflect the real world. But in an age when competing channels with different perspectives are instantly available should we recognise this goal as an illusion? Should we accept that journalists set the world's agenda with their own fictions and fantasies, or is there a framework of objectivity we should require and demand? The Panel Editor of the Sunday Times Insight team Jonathan Calvert, founder of the Reuters Journalism Institute John Lloyd and philosopher and former editor of The World This Week Hilary Lawson examine truth in news. In Association with Huffington Post UK.
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We think science is based on facts and evidence. But from gravity to dark matter, string theory to parallel universes, its theories are curiously bereft of hard evidence. Is evidence less important than we think and conjecture alone capable of leading to greater understanding? Or has science dangerously drifted into fantasy? The Panel New York philosopher Massimo Pigliucci, CERN physicist Tara Shears and author of The Science Delusion Rupert Sheldrake seek answers. Watch the full debate here: https://iai.tv/video/missing-evidence
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Many neuroscientists believe disorders of the mind will be solved when we understand the differences between the male and female brain. Yet is is frequently argued that men and women are not born but made. Are mental differences between the sexes real? Or is this just sexism dressed up as science? The Panel Cambridge psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen, Darwinian philosopher Helena Cronin and eminent neuroscientist Gina Rippon investigate.
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Evil artificial intelligences are luckily confined to fiction. Yet leading scientists claim that intelligent machines are 'the most serious threat facing mankind'. Are they right or could a mind free from human prejudices create a better world? Or is all talk of artificial intelligence a deluded fantasy? The Panel Physicist Roger Penrose, computer scientist Nigel Shadbolt and novelist and digital age icon Warren Ellis consider the threat of intelligent machines. Gabrielle Walker hosts. Sponsored by Wired. You can watch the full debate, as well as over 1000 others, here: https://iai.tv/video/march-of-the-machines
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As Romeo and Juliet showed, love is a wild and unpredictable force even when faced with reason and control. But we join online dating sites to increase our probability of finding it. Are emotions and intimacy rational choices that can be measured and explained, or is this the sort of reductionist thinking that love seeks to escape? The Panel Broadcaster and priest Richard Coles, Erotic Capital theorist Catherine Hakim and consultant psychiatrist Mark Salter investigate love. Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/love-incorporated
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Nearly twenty years have passed since scientists first proposed a mysterious force, Dark Energy, pushing our universe apart. Yet there is no direct evidence for it or any idea what it might be. Might our theories of the universe be profoundly mistaken or is an explanation of Dark Energy around the corner? The Panel M-Theorist Michael Duff, Philosopher Massimo Pigliucci and String Theorist Erik Verlinde chase shadows in the cosmos.
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While the world turns we think ideas, right or wrong, are eternal. Yet meaning changes over time and context. Should we conclude that, like the material world, ideas are transient and knowledge and morality passing stories? Or is the eternal in our grasp after all? The Panel New York Times columnist and author of 'The Trouble with Principle' Stanley Fish, philosopher of language Barry C. Smith and award-winning novelist Joanna Kavenna seek out the eternal.
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At a time of uncertainty and doubt, we often suppose that science alone can uncover the truth. Yet a recent paper found that 90% of scientific studies are not reproducible. Should we see science as a flawed method and look elsewhere for our truths, or is it the only direct line to reality we’ve got? The Panel Outspoken philosopher of science Steve Fuller, Economist Data Editor Kenneth Cukier and bestselling theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss tell Gabrielle Walker why so much of what we think we know is wrong.
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Western values have been extraordinarily successful. Yet now we seem on the back foot, unsure of ourselves and sometimes embarraseed at our own past. Beset with postmodern doubts, do we need to revive belief in the values and importance of our ideals? Or is the age of the West at an end? The Panel Eminent Indian activist Gita Sahgal, Tony Blair's former Chief Speechwriter Philip Collins, and Conservative politician and author of Ghosts of Empire Kwasi Kwarteng dispute the world's future.
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We think empathising with others is the route to a better world. But studies show that empathy encourages us to help one named child over ten anonymous others. Is morality perhaps not about empathy at all? Does the moral way to act have more to do with thinking than feeling, or is empathy a vital force for good? The Panel 'Zero Degrees of Empathy' author Simon Baron-Cohen, philosopher Peter Dews and Oxford Transhumanist Anders Sadnberg dispute how to be good. Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/doing-right-and-feeling-good
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'God does not play dice with the universe' Einstein famously argued. Yet contemporary physics embeds just such dice playing at the core of its account. Is the universe really unknowable even to itself? Or as Einstein implied is this misguided and its secrets remain to be uncovered? The Panel Oxford Constructor theorist Chiara Marletto, mathematician Peter Cameron and string theorist Michael Duff untangle cause and effect.
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Our life is made up of experiences. But what experience is remains a mystery. Heidegger thought it inexplicable and neuroscientists cannot find its location. Do we just need a better theory to uncover its secrets? Or is experience somehow both all that we have and yet not part of this world? The Panel Formulator of the hard problem of consciousness David Chalmers, Oxford philosopher Peter Hacker and New York neuroscientist Susana Martinez-Conde debate the mystery of experience. In association with New Philosopher Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/the-dance-of-life
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Few take anarchism and the abandonment of organised government as a viable political goal. Yet in economics, capitalism is just such a leaderless anarchic system. Might a radically decentralised political system be more credible than we think? Or is centralised government necessary in politics if anything is to be achieved? The Panel Senior economic advisor at HSBC Stephen King, author of Bourgeois Dignity Deirdre McClosky and cofounder of Novara Media Aaron Bastani take anarchy seriously. Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/capitalism-and-anarchy
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We believe democracy leads to a fairer world. Yet almost all governments claim to be democratic including China, Russia and Syria. And 50 years after the abolition of hanging, UK polls still show a majority in favour. Is democracy illusory and troublingly incoherent? Or is an ideal democracy yet to be fully realised? The Panel Author of The Establishment Owen Jones, ResPublica director and author of Radical Republic Phillip Blond, and former leader of the Conservative party Michael Howard examine the strange perils of democracy. Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/the-peoples-champion
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From Newton's laws to E=mc2, we think we have uncovered the secrets of the universe. But some claim these laws evolve and others point to their human and cultural origins. Might eternal natural laws be human hubris? Or is the mind of God in our grasp? The Panel CERN physicist and coiner of the term "Theory of Everything" John Ellis, author of The Science Delusion Rupert Sheldrake and American philosopher of physics Nancy Cartwright debate the sacred assumptions of science. Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/unnatural-laws
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As China and Russia adopt their own variants, the reign of capitalism seems absolute. Yet there are many who wish for an alternative and some who claim a final crisis is in the making. Is there a radical alternative that we have not yet discovered? Or is the reality that capitalism is the only viable economic system? The Panel Former Secretary of State for Health Stephen Dorrell, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and Marxist political theorist Alex Callinicos reimagine capitalism and the current economic system. Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/rethinking-capital
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We think space and time are the structure of the universe. Yet Einstein argued 'space and time are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live'. And philosophers, Kant and Heidegger, saw space and time as the framework of thought not the world. Are space and time just a human fantasy? The Panel Physicist and author of The End of Time Julian Barbour, Cambridge metaphysician Huw Price and philosopher of science Michela Massimi think outside space and time. Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/time-space-and-being
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The power of words is a wonder, and language perhaps our greatest skill. Yet the gap between the sound of a bell and its description is huge. Are the limits to language so profound that the big questions of science and philosophy are beyond us? Or can everything be said if we try hard enough? The Panel Director of the New York Institute of Philosophy Paul Boghossian, Wittgenstein biographer and philosopher Ray Monk, and award winning novelist Joanna Kavenna debate the limits of language. Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/the-word-and-the-world
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There is no self, no 'I', only a flickering illusion. So claim many neuroscientists and philosophers. Yet for the rest of us, the denial of the self feels like a bitter pill to swallow. Is the self a fantasy? Or is it essential to our being and consciousness? The Panel Cambridge and NCH philosopher Simon Blackburn, neuroscientist Colin Blakemore, philosopher and author of Are You an Illusion? Mary Midgley seek out the all seeing I. In association with New College Humanities. Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/in-search-of-the-self
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From schizophrenia to depression we assume our psychiatric diagnoses are real. But as the mental health epidemic turns global, the categories now seem like the cause. Is it time to abandon our biological account of mental illness? Or is it the best strategy we've got? The Panel Polly Toynbee interrogates Cambridge psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen, author of Madness Explained Richard Bentall and Professor of Mental Health at King's College Dinesh Bhugra. In association with Guardian Live Watch the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/mind-myth-and-madness
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Neuroscience has enabled us to explain how the brain affects the body. Yet there is no theory to explain how the matter of the brain creates thought and experience. Is consciousness inexplicable because it is not part of the material world? Or is it somehow physical after all and within our grasp? The Panel German philosopher Markus Gabriel, philosopher and author of Nihil Unbound Ray Brassier, and evolutionary biologist Eva Jablonka seek answers. Prize winning novelist Joanna Kavenna hosts. Video of the debate here: https://iai.tv/video/matter-and-mind
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A generation raised on Foucault and Derrida has learned to distrust claims to objective truth. Yet the mantra that 'there is no truth' is a paradox. Do we need a new conception of fantasy and reality to free us from the tyranny of truthmakers and the paradoxes of postmodernists alike? The Panel American philosopher John Searle, post-postmodernist Hilary Lawson and Historian of Ideas at KCL Hannah Dawson untangle the truth. Video of the debate: https://iai.tv/video/after-the-end-of-truth
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