IAI Academy is a new educational platform offering courses from world-leading scholars on the ideas that matter. With a unique philosophical take on today’s biggest questions, our courses are recorded at our annual festival HowTheLightGetsIn and made available online, to everyone, for free.
What is creativity and will we ever be able to recreate it in machines? Cambridge philosopher and psychologist Marta Halina uses recent advances in psychology, neuroscience and artificial intelligence to paint a new picture of the creative mind.
How has strategy changed through the ages and what global strategies are being employed today? Eminent Professor of War Studies at KCL and author of The Future of War Lawrence Freedman explores how best we can navigate the new cyber and guerrilla warfare.
Should we upgrade our bodies and minds? Fellow at Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute Anders Sandberg investigates the road we must take to reach the mind-boggling possibilities and of a transhuman future.
Is reality how it appears? Or nothing like it seems? Professor of Cognitive Science and author of the forthcoming The Case Against Reality, Donald Hoffman puts forward the radical suggestion that our perceptions fail to map onto reality.
How can we lead meaningful lives amidst relentless and powerful forms of digital distraction? Ex-Google strategist turned Oxford ethicist James Williams invites us to rethink technology and take back control.
What goals should modern feminists adopt? “World-changing woman” (Guardian) and founder of the London Feminist Network Dr Finn Mackay outlines a bold new manifesto.
The microscopic quantum world of fermions and bosons is a far cry from the grand expansion of the universe, yet they are connected. CERN’s John Ellis offers an account of what physicists do and don’t know.
How do attitudes to race and gender overlap to entrench injustice? Pioneer of intersectionality Kimberlé Crenshaw shows us a way of bringing hidden and neglected forms of discrimination to light to build a fairer society.
What is sexuality and how does it reflect power relations within society? Award-winning Cambridge sociologist Véronique Mottier provides a provocative cultural history.
Clinical Psychologist Richard Bentall challenges nine myths of schizophrenia accepted by mental health professionals and proposes a more humane, scientific approach to care.
Does the mind arise from the brain? Is the self a fantasy? American anthroplogist and linguist Daniel Everett interrogates our assumptions and questions if the self is made from more than just matter.
What impact do psychedelic drugs have on the brain? What does research show about their potential for use? Psychiatrist David Nutt examines the evidence behind some common misconceptions.
What is the essence of happiness? How can we affirm the world and ourselves? Behavioural scientist Paul Dolan presents his account of the nature of the good life and how we achieve it.
Is the selfish gene metaphor radically misguided? Should we give up the idea that the gene is the foundation of life? Oxford biologist Denis Noble maps out the future for biology beyond the genome.
Are the voices in our heads more than just mental disorders? Clinical psychologist Richard Bentall uncovers the origin of hallucinations and argues they have been radically misguided.
Money is the fantasy that makes the world go round. Where did it come from and what is its future? From the Bank of England to Bitcoin and the Bristol Pound, LSE sociologist Nigel Dodd explores.
Can philosophy give us answers? Author of Fiction and Metaphysics and Ontology Made Easy Amie Thomasson tackles philosophy's grandest aspiration and argues that, rather than discovering truths, its real value is its power to radically transform how we thi
How do we think, dream and feel? Philosophy Andy Clark examines the ‘predictive brain’ approach – touted as a unifying theory for neuroscience – and explores its dramatic implications for science, psychiatry and society.
What can neuroscience tell us about out of body experiences? Psychologist Susan Blackmore investigates the new science of OBEs and finds unexpected insights into the self and consciousness.
Must atheism be trimphalist and aggressive? Philosopher and author of Science, Evolution and Religion Michael Ruse takes the New Atheists to task and argues for a richer, more respectful and more morally reflective tradition of non-belief.
From forests to city squares, parks to libraries, our common spaces are under attack. Economist Guy Standing traces the history of creeping privatization of the natural and social resources in the UK, and makes a passionate case for reform.
Does the language we speak shape the way we think? John McWhorter explores the 'language hoax', claiming that despite magnificent variation, the world looks the same in any language.
Arguments are woven throughout our public and private lives. What determines which win the day? Renowned literary and legal theorist Stanley Fish leads us through literature, politics and the domestic to reveal the power - and inevitability - of rhetoric.
Have we become enslaved to technology? Is our fear of losing control our greatest danger? Director of the Forum for European Philosophy Simon Glendinning explores Heidegger, art and freedom.
Is our knowledge of the world essentially rational? What does it mean to be burdened with the gift of rationality? Philosopher Corine Besson considers the nature of humanity's defining trait.
What are the forces which drive empires? Historian and politician Kwasi Kwarteng examines imperial projects through history arguing that narratives of dominance have played a crucial role.
From drug laws to terror threats, we want political decisions to reflect the facts. But is objective evidence impossible and the facts ours to interpret? Philosopher Nancy Cartwright investigates.
Has our scientific age outgrown religion? Is faith still an essential component of human existence? Philosopher and theologian John Cottingham argues for the importance of religion in the modern world.
Can science and knowledge be true when they arise from a human vantage point? Philosopher of Science Michela Massimi brings together realism and perspectivism to forge a new kind of realism on science.
Are there mysteries that science cannot explain? Do we still need philosophy in order to understand the universe? Philosopher of physics Bryan Roberts explores the limits of our greatest source of knowledge.
Where did the universe come from? What don’t we understand about its future? From dark energy to cosmic inflation, theoretical physicist John Ellis gives a contemporary account of how it all began.
From Dark Energy to Quantum Gravity, the cosmos remains mysterious. How should we approach the puzzles that remain? Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek argues that, in science, beauty will lead us to truth.
Didn’t science kill philosophy? Can metaphysics uncover the way the world is? Philosopher John Heil revives metaphysics and confronts the big questions of substance, causation and consciousness.
From mind uploading to moral enhancement, future technologies will offer radical new possibilities for punishment. How should these new tools be used? Philosopher Rebecca Roache explores the future of justice.
Is sex-work a job like any other? What lies behind the image of the ‘happy hooker’? Radical feminist activist and journalist Julie Bindel challenges an emerging neoliberal story.
Have globalisation and online anonymity broken down moral order? What should guide our actions in the 21st Century? Author of Nothing and former UN conflict resolution expert Janne Teller explores.
General relativity and quantum mechanics are the most successful theories in science. But at least one is wrong. Imperial's Michael Duff outlines why M-theory is our only candidate for an ultimate theory.
Can reality be described by a single theory? Does our failure to find a theory of everything expose the limits of knowledge, or might the world not exist at all? Philosopher Markus Gabriel explores.
How should a free society accommodate cultural diversity? Should we tolerate the intolerable? Radical LSE political theorist Chandran Kukathas explores the tension at the heart of modern liberal society.
Can love be rational? Are we ever in control? American philosopher of mind Berit Brogaard outlines her new theory of love and uncovers the simple truths about the most complex emotion.
Is AI humanity's savior, or do the threats outweigh its benefits? Best-selling author and Data Editor of The Economist Kenneth Cukier uncovers how to be prepared for the next phase of human evolution.
We live in the moment. Or so it might seem. King’s College philosopher of physics Dr Eleanor Knox reveals how Einstein’s work has radical implications for past, present and future.
What’s left to discover at the deepest levels of reality? Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge David Tong gives his personal take on what we still don’t know.
From Zeno to Gödel, philosophers and mathematicians have grappled with the infinite. Prize-winning mathematician Professor Peter Cameron proposes that infinity itself may be an illusion.
Many thought the financial crash was a final blow to capitalism. Why does it still reign supreme? Chair of the Institute for New Economic Thinking Anatole Kaletsky outlines the shape of things to come
Does it make sense to ask for a meaning to life, and if so what might it be? Philosopher and Auguste Comte Professor at Warwick, Steve Fuller approaches the ultimate Why?
Is information fundamental to reality? Did the universe emerge from a bundle of bits? Oxford constructor theorist Chiara Marletto outlines the new theory which seeks to explain life, the universe and everything in it.
What’s at the heart of the conflict between science and religion? Can it be solved? Philosopher and author Mark Vernon answers one of modernity’s most complex problems.
Do we radically misclassify animals? University of Miami Professor of Philosophy Mark Rowlands challenges the boundaries between humankind and animals as minds and moral agents alike.
If 'God is dead', what place does meaning and morality have in our lives? KCL philosopher and author of Living Philosophy Christopher Hamilton examines the perplexities of experience.
From Paris to Palestine, the perils of undying faith still hold the world hostage. When should we abandon our beliefs? KCL philosopher Clare Carlisle reinterprets Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling.
We are less familiar with pain and suffering than our ancestors, yet new forms of fear play an ever-expanding role in 21st century life. Sociologist Frank Furedi asks why.
We take it for granted that the quantum fields and particles exist. Metaphysician James Ladyman provides reasons to be skeptical about scientific knowledge. Is the evidence too strong to be denied?
Has neoliberalism destroyed gender equality? Advocate, author and broadcaster Beatrix Campbell examines the emergence of a new model of patriarchy and proposes solutions.
