Philosophy For Our Times

Is complexity a cop-out?

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From consciousness to free will, and even life itself, it has become commonplace for philosophers and neuroscientists to explain some of the most puzzling phenomena in the universe as 'emergent'. Some even make the claim that nothing in science makes sense without emergence, the idea that the characteristics a...

Is it time to abandon the Golden Rule?

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Join us as world-leading cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman discusses his cutting-edge research about consciousness and perception, as well as its astonishing implications for the ultimate nature of reality.

Donald Hoffman is an American cognitive psychologist working at the University of Californ...

Why do so many of us in the present day belief in conspiracy theories?

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Join professor and psychologist Dan Ariely as he discusses the main tenets of his 2023 book 'Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things.' With great sympathy for those, including some of us, who tend to believe various unsubstantiated claims, Ariel...

Can we look for consciousness outside the realm of space-time?

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Join us as world-leading cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman discusses his cutting-edge research about consciousness and perception, as well as its astonishing implications for the ultimate nature of reality.

Donald Hoffman is an American cognitive psychologist working at th...

What role can religion play in our contemporary secularised lives? Why do many (of us) still feel the need for it today?

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Join former Archbishop of Canterbury, theologian, and poet Rowan Williams in a deep-dive interview into his professional and theological trajectory. He reflects on what he's learned, including the challenges of being in...

Should we treat animals and humans equal?

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Almost forty years after these two philosophers helped create the idea of animal rights, what do they believe would constitute further progress in our attitudes to other forms of life?

Live from Melbourne, Australian philosopher, Princeton professor and author of Animal Liberation, Peter S...

Is 'energy' as a concept suited to the 21st century? Or is it a simplification of processes we do not understand, whose nature may be more mystical rather than purely rational?

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Join leading minds in the world of physics - Priyamvada Natarajan, Avshalom Elitzur, and Bernard Carr - as they face head on the necessity, or lack thereof, of one...

Is standard philosophy too conservative, overly relying on common sense? Can rationality and reason actually lead us to mysticism?

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Join philosopher Michael Della Rocca as he defends his radical interpretation of what philosophy tells us of the world. He encourages us to interpret reality without any distinctions of any kind (and thus, wi...

Can we attribute societal progress to enlightenment ideals?

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The Enlightenment advocated reason, science, democracy, and universal human rights as a grounding for human morality and social organization. In the quarter millennium since, to what extent have these ideals been realized? Has the Enlightenment in fact been successful in brin...

How do the seemingly modern discussions around transgender and transsexuality relate to age-old philosophical queries?

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Join philosopher Sophie Grace Chappell in this honest interview in which she reflects both on her personal experience as transgender and also on its connections with well-known philosophers such as Plato and John Stuart ...

Doestoevsky vs Nietzsche - where do we find meaning in life?

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Dostoevsky and Nietzsche both regarded the creeping nihilism and meaninglessness of their time as a fundamental threat to humanity. While both were critical of modernity and rationalism, their solutions were radically opposed. Dostoevsky looked towards transcendence for an a...

Does our very need for God point to the fact that he (or perhaps she, they) does not exist?

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Join well-known comedian and author David Baddiel in this honest (and funny!) conversation about humanity's deepest fears and desires with Chine McDonald, Director of Theos. Baddiel reads and cites from his 2023 book - 'The God desire: On being a r...

Rethinking economics - what is the meaning of productivity in the 21st century?

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"Productivity isn't everything, but in the long run, it is almost everything" claimed Paul Krugman. Throughout the twentieth century productivity, the average level of output for each hour worked, improved dramatically across the developed world. A greater...

How do we save freedom? And, please, would you like coffee without cream or coffee without milk?

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Join renowned philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Zizek as he divulges his ideas regarding the apocalypse, ideology, freedom in the present moment, and more through a classic Zizekian mix of personal anecdotes, pop culture, and philosophic...

An interview with Isabel Millar.

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Questions over artificial intelligence seem to dominate our contemporary. But underpinning the technology are an array of presuppositions - about thinking, knowledge and consciousness - that are in dire need of philosophical scrutiny. In this fascinating interview, Dr Isabel Millar discusses her work i...

Who are we? Why are we here? Does life have a meaning beyond itself?

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Join former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and ground-breaking psychiatrist, literary scholar and author of 'The Matter with Things', Iain McGilchrist, to explore the nature of meaning, and why we should move beyond the assumptions of a materialist worldview ...

What is the difference between narcissism and self-love, vanity and pride, in today's self-obsessed world?

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From books to podcasts, we are now told to embrace the idea of ‘self-love’. But are we creating a generation of narcissists? Join renowned philosopher Simon Blackburn to unpack the uses and abuses of loving ourselves.

Author of T...

Can humans ever be inherently good or evil?

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Whether we see humans as essentially good or essentially selfish and violent has been central to our politics, our account of society, and our vision for social progress. But is this very distinction itself a mistake? Recently, Harvard scientists have shown humans to be both the kindest and ...