Philosophy For Our Times

Is our focus on happiness making us unhappy? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes "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 oth...

Is materialism a fundamental mistake? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes The relationship between the individual human subject and the world was once the central focus of Western philosophy. Modern neuroscience has instead tended to assume that the world is purely material and physical, and the problem of consciousness a question of how to gen...

Does science have anything to say about our freedom of choice? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes A famed experiment, by Libet in the 1980s, led many scientists and philosophers to argue that free will was an illusion. Despite the experiment being challenged at the time and in recent studies, its legacy persists. Many materialists still conten...

Can synthetic drugs induce true feelings of love? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes From the Christian tenet 'God is love' to the plots of countless novels and films, love is seen as central to our lives. Yet from scientific studies along with anecdotal accounts we know that psychoactive substances and MDMA in particular can enhance and even induce...

Can we make ultimate moral judgements? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes For a couple of millenia in the West we have judged people and their actions by the standards of good and evil. But, from Mother Theresa to Winston Churchill the notion that an individual is simply good is hard to sustain. Almost all claim to be good. Even the Nazis beli...

Do we believe things because they are true or because they are convenient? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes Massimo Pigliucci argues that adopting the principles of scientific and ethical scepticism can lead us to think and live better. We all like to think of ourselves as discerning people. But research shows that many of our firmly-held beliefs...

Is fully conscious AI just around the corner? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes Earlier this year, Google fired Blake Lemoine, for claiming that the company's chatbot was a self aware person. While the claim was derided, the belief that one day AI will become conscious is widespread and, according to a recent survey, held by 79% of experts. But man...

Why should we rebuild our relationship with holy places? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes We live in a secular age, but we seem to be looking for the transcendent more than ever, whether it's through yoga, meditation or psychedelics. Join radical scientist Rupert Sheldrake as he explores our holy places in a secular age. Rupert Sheldrake is...

Philosopher and acclaimed author, Julian Baggini, leading molecular biologist, Güneş Taylor, and critical race theorist, Tommy Curry, debate the relationship between reason and emotion. Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes For centuries we have assumed reason to be ruthlessly independent of passion or emotion. Yet Nietzsche argued that reason is...

Is technology holding us back? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes From work to entertainment, communication to travel, technology has shaped every aspect of our lives. We think technological progress is relentless and inevitable. But Aldous Huxley argued "technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwar...

Is philosophy an unbiased quest for the true account of the world? From Plato to Aristotle, Russell to Wittgenstein, we traditionally see philosophers as engaged in the disinterested pursuit of truth: a view philosophers themselves are inclined to encourage. But in a postmodern world, shaped by Richard Rorty's claim that philosophy is merely a form of 'cultural politics', few now imagine that trut...

Can we free ourselves from stale ideas about consciousness? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes Some argue that the reality we perceive is a controlled hallucination. Others claim that science is about to crack the ancient problem of the self once and for all. Distinguished philosopher and panpsychist Philip Goff argues that neither of these ar...

Should we think of morality in terms of objective truth or social consensus? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes Once the fashion of a postmodern age, moral relativism has always had its detractors, many of them religious. But now a new breed of atheist celebrity thinkers, from Sam Harris to Peter Singer, are making claims for the existence of...

Is it time to abandon the search for reality? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes Nietzsche famously declared 'God is dead' in the late nineteenth century. Outspoken critic of philosophical realism Hilary Lawson observes that today we have replaced God with ‘reality’. He urges us to abandon this elusive and unattainable concept, offering a...

Is human-like AI a pipe dream? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes A future with human-like AI is no longer limited to the pages of sci-fi, it’s now the dream of Big Tech too. But is this just a pipe dream? Join philosopher of perception Mazviita Chirimuuta as she argues that human-like AI is and will remain a fantasy.  There are thousands of bi...

Is it time for the English-speaking world to move on from analytic philosophy? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes Focusing on logic and the meaning of words, analytic philosophy sought to put philosophy on a scientific footing. Yet a century on and critics argue the core questions about the relationship between language and the world have been...

Should we see art as a means of getting closer to the essence of what it is to be alive? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes Art is most often seen as an adornment to everyday life. An entertainment, a delightful distraction perhaps, but not an uncovering of the essential character of the world. To uncover reality, we instead focus on accurate...

Is knowing oneself even possible? Listen to find out. Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes From the self-help industry to the contemporary focus on mental health, the ancient Greek maxim ' Know Thyself ', is very much in fashion. But many would argue it is an  impossible dream.  We can't catch sight of ourselves, and the attempt to do...

Should we all engage in a radical cull? Listen to find out. Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes We are attached to things. Our dwellings are packed with items we rarely throw out. Things have traditionally given us comfort but they also give us status. The wealthy often collect things for no other purpose than to own them. But in an age when th...

Must we give up on our current ideas of the self and identity? Listen to find out! Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes We laugh at the medieval view that disease is due to an imbalance in the four humours. Instead we see infectious illness as an attack by something external. But this can't be the whole story. After all, not everyone got Covid o...

What are the moral limits today? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes We think we should be concerned for the well being of farm animals and those used in experiments. But where should we draw the line? Mosquitoes? Plants? Rivers? Join philosopher and bestselling author Peter Godfrey-Smith as he argues we should draw new limits for our moral con...

Can we change the world? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes Camus and Kafka have both been central to 20th century writing and thought. Both wrote about the relationship of the individual to society. But they had very different visions. Camus saw the individual as having the power to change and influence society. While Kafka honed in on the li...

Opening a path towards more enlightened societies with Rebecca Roache. Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes Philosophy is not just about armchair thinking. It can help us live better lives and find meaning. In this talk philosopher of mind Rebecca Roache shows us that philosophy can be the key to creating better lives, and more enlightened socie...

An interview with CosmisSkeptic Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes What is scepticism? How do we deal with our own coginitive dissonance? Can veganism ever be justified purely by reason? These are just some of the questions that Alex O'Connor, AKA CosmicSkeptic, has been grappling with on his youtube channel, viewed by over 40 million people,...

Should we go back to a world before civilisation? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes With high rates of infanticide, senicide and disease, not many of us pine for the era before human civilization, farms and nations. Yet anthropologists Yuval Harari and Jared Diamond have called the agricultural revolution a"trap"and humanity’s "worst mistake”...