Cutting edge debate and talks from the world's leading thinkers, free for everyone

The Fragility of the Human Personality 1
The Fragility of the Human Personality
The Fragility of the Human Personality 1
Categories: Philosophy, Psychology & Mind
Speakers: Christopher Hamilton
Without possessions, what can be said to remain of 'us'? Christopher Hamilton reflects on Primo Levi and the idea of the self. "A quite rare intelligence" Raymond Gaita
Event: HowTheLightGetsIn 2012
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Truth, Error & Adventure
AbstractarchitectureOpticalIllusion
Categories: Philosophy
Speakers: Hilary Lawson
Philosophers have pursued truth, and many have placed truth at the centre of their account of meaning. But might this be a mistake? Could error be at the heart of language, and adventure, rather than truth, be the matter in hand? In the first of thre...
Event: HowTheLightGetsIn 2012
Death and the Human Animal 5
Death and the Human Animal
Death and the Human Animal 5
Categories: Philosophy, Ethics & Religion
Speakers: Mary Midgley
Scientists claim that humans will soon be able to attain Biblical lifespans. Is this plausible, or even desirable? Eminent moral philosopher Mary Midgley investigates the quixotic quest for immortality. 'The UK's foremost scourge of scientific preten...
Event: HowTheLightGetsIn 2012
The Power of Lies 3
Error, Lies and Adventure Part 2
The Power of Lies 3
Categories: Philosophy, Metaphysics & Language
Speakers: Hilary Lawson, Jamie Whyte, Joanna Kavenna, Parashkev Nachev
We have seen a gradual erosion of belief in objective truth, but in a world without truth how are we to understand lies? This second event in the series debates the nature of lies and their importance. Are lies necessarily morally wrong, and what is ...
Event: HowTheLightGetsIn 2012
Times Arrow
Time's Arrow
Times Arrow
Categories: Philosophy, Science & Technology, Metaphysics & Language
Speakers: Angie Hobbs, Craig Bourne, Jim Al-Khalili, Raymond Tallis
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 someth...
Event: HowTheLightGetsIn 2012
Pythagoras Dream
Pythagoras' Dream
Pythagoras Dream
Categories: Philosophy, Metaphysics & Language
Speakers: Hilary Lawson, Lee Smolin, Peter Hacker
Pythagoras thought he had discovered the key to the universe: mathematics. Was Pythagoras right? Should we see mathematics as the ultimate character of the world or is this a limited vision?
Event: HowTheLightGetsIn 2012
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The End of Ideals?
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Categories: Philosophy, Politics & Economics
Speakers: David Aaronovitch, David Blunkett, Jill Kirby, Nigel Lawson
Thinkers like Tom Paine and Karl Marx saw their visions for a new world transform reality - for better or for worse. Currently, grand new visions have fallen from grace. Are we right to have become sceptical or would it be better to find new ideals t...
Event: HowTheLightGetsIn 2012
Hawking vs Philosophy
Hawking vs. Philosophy
Hawking vs Philosophy
Categories: Philosophy
Speakers: Jonathan Derbyshire, Lewis Wolpert, Steve Fuller
Stephen Hawking recently declared the death of philosophy. Is he right? Has science rendered philosophy obsolete? Should we be looking to science to answer the biggest questions, or are there areas of understanding that science cannot reach that phil...
Event: HowTheLightGetsIn 2012
Socrates vs Jesus
Socrates vs. Jesus
Socrates vs Jesus
Categories: Philosophy, Culture & Society, Ethics & Religion
Speakers: Steve Fuller
How do the lives of Socrates and Jesus look to 21st century eyes? Would either attract a following today? Steve Fuller compares Socrates and Jesus as guides to contemporary life.
Event: HowTheLightGetsIn 2011
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The Myth of Being Happy
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Categories: Philosophy, Psychology & Mind, Politics & Economics
Speakers: Richard Schoch
Are we too obsessed with the idea of being happy? Is Hollywood just the latest model of the happiness-myth machine? Richard Schoch draws on thinkers from Socrates to now to question the meaning of happiness and when it became a human right rather tha...
Event: HowTheLightGetsIn 2011

 

 

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