Philosophy For Our Times

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes Can we ever observe universes beyond our own? Astrophysicist Catherine Heymans reveals the latest innovations that might help map out the multiverse. There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more:  https://iai.tv/podcast-o...

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

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

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

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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 Ghanaian philosopher at Columbia University and author of Cosmopolitanism and The...

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

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:  https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes 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. There are thousands of big ideas to discov...

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

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

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

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