Philosophy For Our Times

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 philosoph...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 mi...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 s...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes How can we protect ourselves from the dangers we wilfully don't see? Businesswoman and author of  Wilful 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 a...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 e...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 p...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 Ste...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 t...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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. There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explor...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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? S...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 h...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 Uni...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes For millennia, 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 Turin...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 f...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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. There are...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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, unve...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes From Cleopatra to Beyoncé, 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...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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-B...

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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...