This is the programme for last year's HowTheLightGetsIn festival. Stay tuned for the 2012 programme.
Last year we welcomed over 18,000 guests to the festival site for a magical ten days of talks, debates and live performances. With over 130 philosophical talks and debates to excite the imagination alongside a heady programme of 150 live performances from acoustic songstresses to breathtaking beatboxers, HowTheLightGetsIn 2011 offered something for everyone.
Friday 27th May
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Event [10]
Friday 27 May 2011
7:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
A Changed World?
Leela Gandhi, David Aaronovitch, Ziauddin Sardar, Martin Jacques. Jonathan Derbyshire chairs.
With the economic and political rise of China and India effortless Western dominance looks over, but will it also lead to an alternative intellectual framework? Is the West the new Greece to a rising Eastern Rome? Or have the West's ideas conquered at the very point when its global dominance has ended?
Indian-born political philosopher and critical theorist Leela Gandhi, eminent Times columnist and author of Voodoo Histories David Aaronovitch, ‘Britain’s own Muslim polymath’ Ziauddin Sardar, and China expert and journalist Martin Jacques consider the impact of eastern ideas on the world’s future.
SOLD OUT
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Event [11]
Friday 27 May 2011
8:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
My Avatar, Myself
When we extend ourselves into the virtual where do we, ourselves, end? With endless new capacities to animate our intentions beyond the body, leading anthropologist Henrietta Moore proposes this is far more than projection.
‘A rare intelligence’ - Marilyn Strathern
SOLD OUT
Saturday 28th May
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Event [27]
Saturday 28 May 2011
10:30am
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Before the Beginning, After the End
Don Cupitt, Carlos Frenk, Jo Dunkley. Rachel Armstrong chairs.
From balloons to doughnuts, and string theory to multiverses, we seem to have as many models of the universe as we do cosmologists. Are we getting closer to answering what came before the universe's beginning and what lies beyond its end, or is a complete theory of the universe an illusion?
Philosopher Don Cupitt, leading cosmologist Carlos Frenk and NASA astrophysicist Jo Dunkley search for the ultimate answer.
SOLD OUT
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Event [29]
Saturday 28 May 2011
10:30am
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Who Looks Back in the Mirror?
Barry C. Smith, Simon May, Julian Baggini, Henrietta Moore. Martin Jacques chairs.
In its focus on language and structure 20th century philosophy all but eradicated the need for the human subject. Now there are signs that the self is on its way back. But are we any closer to understanding the self, and what makes each one of us who we are?
Martin Jacques uncovers who philosopher / writer / broadcasters, Simon May, Barry C Smith, and Julian Baggini and cultural theorist Henrietta Moore think they really are.
SOLD OUT
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Event [32]
Saturday 28 May 2011
11:00am
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Why Humanism?
Do the atheist doctrines of Dawkins, Hitchens and other humanist atheists mimic or subvert the religious rituals they seek to destroy? Cambridge professor Tim Crane asks whether a more tolerant, pluralistic intellectual order is possible in a post-Darwinian world.
“Elegant” - Peter Menzies
SOLD OUT
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Event [30]
Saturday 28 May 2011
12:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Beyond Good and Evil
Carol Diethe, Simon May, Anthony O’Hear. Julian Baggini chairs.
Gone are the associations with the superman and the Nazis, in its place the new Nietzsche is the precursor of relativism and postmodernity. Do we live in a Nietzschean world, and if so is this a fine or terrible thing?
Feminist and author of Nietzsche's sister and the Will to Power Carol Diethe, philosopher of modernity Simon May and director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, Anthony O'Hear, ask whether Nietzsche was a prophet of modernity.
SOLD OUT
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Event [33]
Saturday 28 May 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Towards a New Humanity
Author and theorist Leela Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's great-granddaughter, presents her postcolonial perspective on the future of political and intellectual change.
‘Outstanding’ - Dipesh Chakrabarti
SOLD OUT
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Event [28]
Saturday 28 May 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Blinded by the Light?
Angie Hobbs, Don Cupitt, Barry C. Smith, Simon Armitage. Robert Rowland-Smith chairs.
Ever since Plato described shadows on the walls of the cave, light has been a metaphor for truth. Heaven is full of light. Hell is in darkness. But could it be that darkness offers a richer and more exciting place? Is the potential of the unknown more important than the idea that we can see things how they really are?
‘Radical theologian’ Don Cupitt, leading poet Simon Armitage, and philosophers Angie Hobbs and Barry C. Smith examine the impact of metaphor on reality, knowledge and truth.
SOLD OUT
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Event [34]
Saturday 28 May 2011
1:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
When China Rules the World
What will it be like to live in a China-shaped world? Author of the global best-seller ‘When China Rules The World’, Martin Jacques argues that it will be profoundly different.
‘A tour de force’ - IndependentSOLD OUT
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Event [31]
Saturday 28 May 2011
1:15pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Alchemy, Anarchy and Science
Rachel Armstrong, Steve Fuller, Susan Greenfield. Bryan Appleyard chairs.
Science is perhaps the defining triumph of the modern world. Yet it is increasingly under attack both from those who fear its consequences and those who question its claims to unique authority. Is there any real alternative or are we just seeing the return of myth and superstition?
TED fellow and polymath Rachel Armstrong, sociologist Steve Fuller, and neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield question the limits of science.
SOLD OUT
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Event [35]
Saturday 28 May 2011
2:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Power & the Qur'an
Almost everything in modern Muslim society stems from the Qur'an. 'Britain's own muslim polymath' (Prospect) Zia Sardar explores Islamic mythology to understand the origins of our conflict-ridden times.
SOLD OUT
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Event [43]
Saturday 28 May 2011
2:30pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The End of Ideas?
Peter Hacker, Christopher Hamilton, Jonathan Derbyshire. Polly Toynbee chairs.
A century ago Freud, Russell, and Einstein, were at the height of their intellectual activity, but today where are the equivalents? Has celebrity obliterated the intellectual or is something more serious afoot? Can we create a new Enlightenment that matches the excitement of the past?
Polly Toynbee asks a suitably intellectual panel, eminent analytic philosopher Peter Hacker, postmodernist Christopher Hamilton and New Statesman culture editor Jonathan Derbyshire, whether we’ve seen the end of the intellectual.
In association with the British Humanist Association.
SOLD OUT
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Event [46]
Saturday 28 May 2011
2:30pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
The Global Aristocracy
Laurie Penny, Phillip Blond, William Cash, Petronella Wyatt. Felicity Evans chairs.
Across the globe the super-rich form a new global aristocracy. Should there be limits to their political and cultural power? Does wealth serve the greater good, or are we on a slippery slope to an age of oligarchy?
New Statesman columnist Laurie Penny, Cameron confidante Phillip Blond, Mail On Sunday columnist Petronella Wyatt and Spear's editor William Cash challenge the new world order.
In Association with Spear’s.
SOLD OUT
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Event [49]
Saturday 28 May 2011
3:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Mind Change
A vast range of new technologies are transforming our lives. Could it be that the human mind is also undergoing unprecedented changes? Susan Greenfield presents her provocative work on what she considers to be the crisis of our changing world.
'Susan Greenfield has done more to explain the power of the brain to British people than any other scientist’ - Telegraph.
SOLD OUT
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Event [50]
Saturday 28 May 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The World After Ideals
Polly Toynbee and Richard Sennett
Have politics and big ideas and ideals become irreconcilably separated? Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee talks to Richard Sennett about whether grand ideas still have a place to play in our political life.
‘Sennett is a prime observer of society' - Fiona McCarthy, Guardian
SOLD OUT
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Event [47]
Saturday 28 May 2011
4:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
NeuroEverything?
Are we on the verge of unlocking the secrets of the human brain? Colin Blakemore reveals neuroscience's profound new insights into human behaviour, with seismic consequences for everything from economics and warfare to our justice system.
"One of the most powerful scientists in the UK" (Observer), Colin Blakemore was the youngest person ever to give the BBC Reith lectures and has played a leading role in the development of neuroscience. He is currently Professor of Neuroscience at the Universities of Oxford and Warwick.
SOLD OUT
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Event [44]
Saturday 28 May 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The New Romantics
Peter Hacker, Iain McGilchrist, Joanna Kavenna. Henrietta Moore chairs.
Should we be celebrating the end of rationality in favor of a more romantic sensibility? Or are we, in the words of J.G. Ballard, ‘re-primitivizing’ ourselves and entering an age of magic, unreason and romantic superstition?
Consultant psychiatrist, and author of The Master and His Emissary Iain McGilchrist, award-winning novelist Joanna Kavenna, and Oxford philosopher Peter Hacker look beyond reason.
SOLD OUT
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Event [51]
Saturday 28 May 2011
5:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
An Age of Tragedy?
Do we live in a tragic age? Christopher Hamilton's provocative, sceptical account of the modern world will resonate with anyone who seeks to see through the illusion of progress and moral order to which many cling.
'A quite original intelligence' - Raymond Gaita
SOLD OUT
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Event [48]
Saturday 28 May 2011
5:30pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Mind in the 21st Century
How is new technology set to change the nature of the mind? Humanist and public intellectual AC Grayling offers a radical new vision for being human.
Anthony Grayling is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London. A proponent of philosophy's power to play an active, useful role in society, Grayling frequently contributes for The Times, Observer, Economist and Prospect and appears on In Our Time, Today, and Start the Week.
SOLD OUT
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Event [45]
Saturday 28 May 2011
5:30pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
After Postmodernity
Mary Warnock, Hilary Lawson, Ziauddin Sardar. Angie Hobbs chairs.
Postmodernism was the intellectual fashion of the turn of the millennium. But what comes next? Is there life after relativism or are we all lost in a world without certainties? What are the new big ideas to sustain humanity and nurture the imagination? Three thinkers from across the intellectual spectrum reveal their visions of where we are and where we are heading.
Renowned ethicist Baroness Mary Warnock, philosopher and closure theorist Hilary Lawson, and polymath Ziauddin Sardar look for answers in an uncertain world.
SOLD OUT
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Event [52]
Saturday 28 May 2011
6:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Exceptional Species?
From our earliest myths to modern liberal humanism, humankind has clung to the view that we are special: an exceptional species. But are we? And if we are not exceptional what will become of us?
Award winning writer and Sunday Times columnist, Bryan Appleyard presents a radical perspective on what it is to be human.
'The UK's most cerebral writer' - Independent
SOLD OUT
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Event [60]
Saturday 28 May 2011
7:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
A Spider in the Eye
Iain McGilchrist, consultant psychiatrist and author of The Master and His Emissary, presents a radical new consideration of the relationship between madness, art, and modernity. In association with Lankelly Chase.
'A story you need to hear' - Sunday Times
SOLD OUT
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Event [59]
Saturday 28 May 2011
7:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Animal Reason
Colin Blakemore, Tim Crane, Mary Midgley, John Harris. Rachel Armstrong chairs.
Once we supposed that consciousness was unique to humans. Increasingly there are those who claim animals are conscious too. Are they? And if so, how does this change how we see ourselves and the nature of consciousness itself?
Mary Midgley, philosopher and ‘scourge of scientific pretension (Guardian), neuroscientist Colin Blakemore, Cambridge metaphysician Tim Crane, and one of the UK's ‘most controversial academics’, John Harris, challenge our assumptions about the status of humans and animals.
SOLD OUT
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Event [61]
Saturday 28 May 2011
8:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Sensuality and Deception
Mary Warnock, Robert Rowland-Smith, Hilary Lawson. Jonathan Derbyshire chairs.
From the origins of western thought, we have been encouraged to value the sophistication and purity of the mind over the sensual experiences of the body. But could it be that the body is making a comeback? Might the richness of sensual experience provide the only truth in a world where the mind is a source of deception?
Writer, critic and philosopher Robert Rowland Smith, bioethicist Mary Warnock and post-postmodern philosopher Hilary Lawson get physical.
SOLD OUT
Sunday 29th May
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Event [86]
Sunday 29 May 2011
9:00am
Venue: Acoustic Tent
Philosophy Session
Philosophy Breakfast with School of Life
Get a shot of inspiration with your espresso. Hosted by Robert Rowland-Smith, the School of Life’s Breakfast Club is a high impact early morning session designed to offer stimulation for those keen to get the most out of the day ahead. You’ll reflect on how to make the most of thoughts and dreams that often remain undigested from the night before. Price includes breakfast.
SOLD OUT
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Event [79]
Sunday 29 May 2011
10:30am
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
The Post-Nuclear Family Future
Oliver James, Henrietta Moore, Laurie Penny. Christopher Hamilton chairs.
The family is in transition. A generation is growing up with multiple parents and a host of half siblings. Are family structures falling apart or growing into exciting new possibilities? And is family essential to human well-being, and if so why?
Clinical psychologist and author of They F**k You Up Oliver James, New Statesman columnist Laurie Penny, and anthropologist Henrietta Moore ask whether there's a future for the nuclear family.
SOLD OUT
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Event [77]
Sunday 29 May 2011
10:30am
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Mazes of the Mind
Colin Blakemore, Bryan Appleyard, Iain McGilchrist. Hilary Lawson chairs.
Neuroscience promises answers to profound philosophical questions and offers a radical new description of human behaviour. But can it hope to account for issues as complex as the origins of consciousness and the nature of art? Or is this all just neurotrash?
Writer and critic Bryan Appleyard, split brain theorist Iain McGilchrist, and eminent scientist Colin Blakemore take issue over the claims for brain science.
SOLD OUT
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Event [82]
Sunday 29 May 2011
11:00am
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Plato and the Myth of Atlantis
In light of the latest claim about the island of Atlantis - this time ‘discovered’ off southern Spain - Angie Hobbs returns to the first known source of the Atlantis story in Plato’s Timaeus and Critias. Did Plato invent the legend or rework folk tales of genuine historical events, and why?
‘Superb’ - Nigel Warburton
SOLD OUT
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Event [78]
Sunday 29 May 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The Famine and the Feast
Harriet Lamb, Barry C. Smith, Joanna Kavenna, John Naish. Robert Rowland-Smith chairs.
Food scarcity, at least in the West, is largely eradicated. Yet we are obsessed. Is the absence of hunger the problem, or our inability to contain desire? And what is the relationship between desire and constraint?
Award-winning novelist Joanna Kavenna, FairTrade director Harriet Lamb, philosopher of mind and wine Barry C. Smith, and journalist John Naish get to grips with the nature of desire.
SOLD OUT
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Event [80]
Sunday 29 May 2011
12:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Living Dangerously
Douglas Murray, Dylan Evans, David Lammy. Isabel Hilton chairs.
From GM foods to stranger danger, fear it would seem lurks round every corner in modern life. Yet statistically we are safer than we have ever been. Is our fear justified and beneficial, or misguided and debilitating? Is it always right to seek safety, or is risk itself desirable?
Neo-conservative theorist Douglas Murray, Labour Party rising star David Lammy, and philosopher of risk Dylan Evans get to grips with living dangerously.
SOLD OUT
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Event [83]
Sunday 29 May 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
How to Change the World
Mark Williamson and Richard Layard
Can you change a culture from the inside out? Action for Happiness director Mark Williamson and prize-winning LSE economist Richard Layard discuss how one goes about rewiring a society.
‘Happiness czar’ - Times
SOLD OUT
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Event [84]
Sunday 29 May 2011
1:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Socrates vs. Jesus: who would have the x-factor today?
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 a guides to contemporary life.
‘So much iconoclastic intellectual energy courses through Steve Fuller’ - AC Grayling
SOLD OUT
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Event [81]
Sunday 29 May 2011
1:15pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Human and Superhuman
Mary Warnock, John Harris, Athene Donald, Aubrey de Grey. Bryan Appleyard chairs.
Scientists now claim a brave new world of designer humans is on our doorstep. Is this an illusion, a disaster, or a great opportunity to reinvent what it means to be human?
Life extension proponent Aubrey de Grey and philosopher John Harris take on bioethicist Mary Warnock and Cambridge physicist Athene Donald.
SOLD OUT
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Event [85]
Sunday 29 May 2011
2:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Ego Trick
Is the self an illusion? The Philosopher's Magazine founder and author of Complaint Julian Baggini goes in search of the elusive ideas that make you 'you'.
'Hugely entertaining' - Publishers' Weekly
SOLD OUT
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Event [93]
Sunday 29 May 2011
2:30pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
A Paradigm of Health
Athene Donald, Dylan Evans, Lionel Milgrom, Steve Fuller. Rachel Armstrong chairs.
Even though the successes of western medicine are loudly applauded, alternatives from aromatherapy to raki, acupuncture to crystal healing, balloon in popularity. Is this evidence that the western model of health is flawed? Could any of these alternatives offer a genuinely new paradigm or are we seeing human gullibility at work?
HomeopathLionel Milgrom and iconoclastic sociologist Steve Fuller face up to Cambridge biophysicist Athene Donald and author of Placebo: The Belief Effect Dylan Evans.
SOLD OUT
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Event [96]
Sunday 29 May 2011
2:30pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Rise of the Machines
Lilian Edwards, Peter Hacker, Hilary Lawson. Henrietta Moore chairs.
From 2001 to The Matrix, intelligent machines and robots have played a central role in our fictions. Some now claim they are about to become fact. Is artificial intelligence possible or just a science fiction fantasy? And would it be a fundamental advance for humankind or an outcome to be feared?
Eminent Oxford philosopher Peter Hacker, government adviser and technology guru Lilian Edwards and post-postmodernist Hilary Lawson debate our future with intelligent machines.
SOLD OUT
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Event [99]
Sunday 29 May 2011
3:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Solitary Self: Darwin and the Selfish Gene
Are neo-Darwinists right to reduce all human behaviour to self-interest? Renowned moral philosopher Mary Midgley returns to Darwin's original writings and finds contrary evidence. For humans, bonds are not just restraints but lifelines.
‘The UK's foremost scourge of scientific pretension’ - Guardian
SOLD OUT
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Event [97]
Sunday 29 May 2011
4:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Converging Cultures
Broadcaster, novelist and playwright Bonnie Greer explains why David Cameron , Angela Merkel, and Nicholas’ Sarkozy’s rejection of multiculturalism is the wrong analysis of the only ace that Britain and Europe have to play in the coming multi-polar world.
Bonnie Greer is the author of the novels Entropy and Obama Music and countless plays for radio and stage. She received an OBE in the Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours and was recently named one of the UK's top public intellectuals by the Observer.
“Humorous, sexy and always very sharp” - TLS
SOLD OUT
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Event [100]
Sunday 29 May 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Designing Life
Will our buildings of the future be alive? TED fellow Rachel Armstrong's radical 'metabolic materials' are changing how we see the future of the city.
‘Fascinating’ - Scientific American
SOLD OUT
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Event [94]
Sunday 29 May 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Generation Wars
Anthony O'Hear, Laurie Penny, Aubrey de Grey. Julian Baggini chairs.
Our age idolises youth. But as lifespans extend what will come of our cult of youth? And as the population pyramid turns on its head will our values follow suit? Is an escalation of inter-generational rivalry inevitable?
Life extension proponent Aubrey de Grey, philosopher Anthony O'Hear, and New Statesman columnist and reluctant 'voice of a generation' (Guardian) Laurie Penny join Julian Baggini to question the received wisdom of age.
SOLD OUT
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Event [101]
Sunday 29 May 2011
5:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
On Having a Mind, Having a Body, and Being a Person
What precisely is a person? And how is the person related to the mind and body? Eminent Oxford philosopher Peter Hacker pieces together the jigsaw puzzle that is the human being.
‘So long as people read Wittgenstein, people will read Peter Hacker’ - The Philosopher’s Magazine
SOLD OUT
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Event [98]
Sunday 29 May 2011
5:30pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Rescuing Morality
Belief in the literal existence of God is on the decline. But what will replace this moral framework if it disappears altogether? Mary Warnock makes a case for how we will survive morally in the changed world.
One of Britain's leading ethicists and an outspoken advocate of euthanasia, Baroness Warnock is the author of Imagination and Dishonest to God.
‘Delightfully bossy, rigorous of mind and still shaping the ethics of Britain’ - Guardian
SOLD OUT
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Event [95]
Sunday 29 May 2011
5:30pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Happiness
Richard Layard, Jesse Norman, Simon May. Isabel Hilton chairs.
Nietzsche quipped: “Humanity does not strive for happiness, only the English do.” Now with Cameron’s ‘Happiness Index’ there is even talk that happiness of the individual could replace GDP as a national political goal. But is it possible to measure happiness? And as a goal, is happiness an illusion? Or even desirable?
Leading proponent of happiness economics, Richard Layard, intellectual voice of the new Tories Jesse Norman MP and philosopher and writer Simon May debate the pursuit of happiness with journalist Isabel Hilton.
SOLD OUT
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Event [102]
Sunday 29 May 2011
6:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Metaphors of the Mind
Does metaphor hold the key to explaining consciousness? Radical philosopher Ted Honderich reveals his new theory of what it means to be a thinking, feeling human being.
‘A courageous swim against the current’ - Times
SOLD OUT
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Event [111]
Sunday 29 May 2011
7:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Fountain
Life passes in a torrent of electronic communication and cultural change. Through the metaphor of the fountain, atheist theologian Don Cupitt proposes a deeply original means for reconciling ourselves to time and the transience of life.
‘Leading a spiritual revolution’ - ABC
SOLD OUT
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Event [109]
Sunday 29 May 2011
7:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Taking over the Asylum
Richard Bentall, Mark Salter, Molly Meacher. Rana Mitter chairs.
From ADHD to binge eating, celebrity worship syndrome to sex addiction, new types of mental illness are increasingly in the public eye. But what is mental illness? Are we in danger of medicalising normal human behaviour or offering recognition and treatment to those whose suffering would once have been ignored?
Night Waves presenter Rana Mitter keeps order as clinical psychologist and psychiatry critic Richard Bentall, Baroness Molly Meacher and controversial consultant psychiatrist Mark Salter debate the extent of madness.
SOLD OUT
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Event [112]
Sunday 29 May 2011 8:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Creating Change
Chair of East London City & Mental Health Trust and formal Mental Health Act Commissioner Baroness Meacher discusses the future of arts provision in mental healthcare. In Association with Lankelly Chase.
SOLD OUT
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Event [110]
Sunday 29 May 8:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
The Skin We’re In
Finn MacKay, Minette Marrin, Simon May. Christopher Hamilton chairs.
Whether it's the movies, advertising, or pornography, the body sells. We take it for granted that intellect or ability is prized and rewarded. Yet use of, and reward for, the body is often critized. Is this a prejudice of the intelligent over the beautiful? An appropriate moral stance? Or a necessary political goal?
Radical feminist Finn MacKay, philosopher Simon May, and Sunday Times columnist Minette Marrin question the body beautiful.
SOLD OUT
Monday 30th May
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Event [128]
Monday 30 May 2011
10:30am
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
When Women Rule the World
Robin Dunbar, Minette Marrin, Finn McKay. Paul Moss chairs.
Women are outpacing men at school and university alike, more are entering some professions than men as a consequence. Will this be sustained? What would a world where women were dominant be like, and what will happen to masculinity in a modern, matriarchal society?
Oxford evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, Sunday Times columnist Minette Marrin and feminist jactivist Finn McKay imagine an Amazonian culture.
SOLD OUT
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Event [126]
Monday 30 May 2011
10:30am
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The End of Abundance?
Gideon Rachman, Harriet Lamb, Bonnie Greer, Christopher Hamilton. Simon Glendinning chairs.
For most of human history humans have had to contend with the scarcity of essentials. In the West we have had a relatively brief period of abundance. But scarcity was the word on everyone's lips at Davos this year. Is abundance now over and if so, what will this mean for our values and goals?
FT columnist Gideon Rachman, philosopher Christopher Hamilton, FairTrade director Harriet Lamb, and novelist and commentator Bonnie Greer ask whether the years of plenty were just a blip in history.
SOLD OUT
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Event [130]
Monday 30 May 2011
11:00am
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Why Society Drives You Mad
Clinical psychologist and vocal critic of psychiatry Richard Bentall reveals why social inequality, racism and the built environment have a far more significant role to play in mental illness than the biomedical establishment acknowledges.
‘Full of insight and humanity’ - Times
SOLD OUT
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Event [127]
Monday 30 May 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The Eagle and the Dragon
Rana Mitter, Gideon Rachman, Isabel Hilton, Robert Bickers. Hilary Lawson chairs.
China is the new god of global economics. Certainly, the days of effortless American dominance are over. With a population five times that of Europe and the US combined will we live in a China-shaped shadow? And what of the economic system the West has fostered and the democracy it holds dear?
Oxford historian and broadcaster Rana Mitter, FT columnist Gideon Rachman, China commentator Isabel Hilton, and historian Robert Bickers weigh the consequences of the rise of a 21st century superpower.
SOLD OUT
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Event [129]
Monday 30 May 2011
12:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Beyond the Barricades
Dany Cohn-Bendit in conversation with David Aaronovitch.
The face of the student rebellions of May '68, Dany Cohn-Bendit now leads the German Greens in the European parliament. He reveals his bold new vision for the future of our continent to Times columnist David Aaronovitch.
‘Humorous, warm, acerbic, quirky… Cohn-Bendit is popular because he is the antidote to the vain, self-obsessed, personality-driven politics of France’ - Independent
SOLD OUT
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Event [131]
Monday 30 May 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Defeating Ageing
Do you want to live forever? Aging expert and Chief Science Officer of the SENS Foundation Aubrey de Grey believes that the power to make us immortal is just around the corner. Here he reveals why.
‘The most recognizable, outspoken and controversial cheerleader for regenerative medicine.’ - Wired
SOLD OUT
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Event [132]
Monday 30 May 2011
1:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Saving Science
The laureate for the Women in Science awards, Athene Donald, talks about the dangers of prejudice, overcoming gender stereotypes and why women are vital to the sciences.
‘Revolutionary’ - Guardian
SOLD OUT
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Event [133]
Monday 30 May 2011
2:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Technology and Anarchy
Cory Doctorow in conversation with Nigel Warburton.
With a 3D printer and laptop, does everyone have the tools they need to build a bio-weapon? Science fiction novelist, blogger and activist Cory Doctorow talks to Nigel Warburton about whether we can - or should - attempt to regulate subversive technology.
'The William Gibson of his generation' - Entertainment Weekly
SOLD OUT
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Event [144]
Monday 30 May 2011
2:30pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
After Democracy
Robin Dunbar, Bonnie Greer, David Aaronovitch, Simon Glendinning. Isabel Hilton chairs.
From the Russian mafia to global corporations, from Chinese leaders to Saudi princes, the world it would seem is run by oligarchies as much as democracy. Should we be outraged or is democracy over-rated? Is there an ideal political framework or can Sparta be as valuable as Athens?
Oxford psychologist Robin Dunbar, playwright and critic Bonnie Greer, Times columnist David Aaronovitch, and LSE philosopher Simon Glendinning question the perfection and success of democracy.
SOLD OUT
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Event [141]
Monday 30 May 2011
2:30pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
In Love & War
Mark Littlwood, David Lammy, Alex Callinicos. Julian Baggini chairs.
There's a new word on every politician’s lips, setting the agenda for everything from the budget to the electoral system. But what does fairness mean for politics, and is it a plausible goal? Does fairness require us to accept that we can’t all be winners, or is the only fair society an equal one?
Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs Mark Littlewood, Labour MP David Lammy and Marxist philosopher and historian Alex Callinicos ask whether all is fair in love and war.
SOLD OUT
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Event [147]
Monday 30 May 2011
3:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Whispering Monuments
In this beautifully illustrated talk, China historian Robert Bickers explores the lost monuments of Shanghai. Leading us through the complex history of the city, he shows how these symbols tell us as much about China’s vision of its past as of its future.
‘Fascinating’ - Financial TimesSOLD OUT
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Event [148]
Monday 30 May 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom
Could our obsession with digital protest backfire? Marshalling compelling evidence, Evegeny Morozov shows why “Internet freedom” might have disastrous implications for the future of democracy as a whole.
‘Provocative… Enlightening’ - Economist
SOLD OUT
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Event [145]
Monday 30 May 2011
4:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
An Age of Transparency?
Annie Machon, Douglas Murray, Nigel Warburton. Julian Baggini chairs.
Julian Assange’s pursuit of transparency has left the world shaken. Does WikiLeaks represent democracy at its most pure or an assault on a legitimate need for governmental secrecy? Can there be limits to how far truth should be disseminated, or must we come to accept our new, radical freedoms?
Former MI6 agent and whistleblower Annie Machon, neo-conservative commentator Douglas Murray, and Prospect journalist and philosopher Nigel Warburton question the limits of free speech.
SOLD OUT
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Event [142]
Monday 30 May 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
States of Emergency
Mark Littlewood, Ted Honderich, Yvonne Ridley. Rana Mitter chairs.
in the last decade terrorist acts have dominated the headlines like no other issue. Can the murder of civilians for a political goal ever be justified? If one mans terrorist is another’s freedom fighter should we consider terror a new tool of war?
Revolutionary philosopher Ted Honderich, Institute of Economic Affairs director Mark Littlewood and former Taliban prisoner and Express reporter Yvonne Ridley turn up the heat.
SOLD OUT
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Event [143]
Monday 30 May 2011
5:30pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The Return Of Revolution
Cory Doctorow, Evgeny Morozov, Alex Callinicos. Paul Moss chairs
Revolution is back on the agenda and many have claimed the internet has played a crucial role. Are we seeing a means to convert grass-roots protest into powerful political movements or is the internet itself at the mercy of authoritarian intervention?
Cory Doctorow, editor of the world’s most popular blog, Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion, May '68 leader and Marxist philosopher and revolutionary Alex Callinicos ask whether technology has the power to set the world on fire.SOLD OUT
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Event [149]
Monday 30 May 2011
6:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Is Love a new God or a false idol? Birkbeck philosopher Simon May challenges our infatuation with romance.
'An amazing tour de force' - A.C. Grayling
SOLD OUT
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Event [155]
Monday 30 May 2011
7:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Canon Under Fire
Douglas Murray, Toby Young, Elleke Boehmer. Nigel Warburton chairs.
From Gove's attempt to put a more patriotic version of British history in the curriculum to the rise of so-called 'soft subjects', the British education system has become a battleground between those who believe in a canon of knowledge and those who want to subvert it. Who has the right to determine what our children learn?
Neo-conservative commentator Douglas Murray, Spectator columnist and free schools advocate Toby Young and Oxford scholar and novelist Elleke Boehmer take issue with the canon.
SOLD OUT
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Event [156]
Monday 30 May 2011
7:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Spies, Lies and Life on the Run
Annie Machon
Former M15 agent and whistleblower Annie Machon claims that spy agencies across the western world have been politicised to build a case for Middle Eastern wars. But what is the future for the intelligence infrastructure?
‘Poised and controlled’ - Guardian
SOLD OUT
Tuesday 31st May
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Tuesday 31 May 2011
9:00am
Venue: International Tent
Workshop Session
Children's Drama Workshop, ages 7-11
Philosophy Festival Fun! Drama Workshops for 7-11 year olds, no experience necessary. Join in this 90-minute hoot, including drama, games, and improvisations led by ex-BBC Playaway presenter Janine Sharp. See you there!
SOLD OUT
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Event [167]
Tuesday 31 May 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The New Beautiful
Godfrey Barker, Jonathan Ree, Ben Watson.
After the age of pickled sharks and dung, when Beauty was dismissed as shallow, kitsch and inauthentic, are we seeing the rise of a new aesthetics? Must art be grim and discordant to ring true, or have we painted ourselves into a dark corner?
Outspoken journalist Godfrey Barker, philosopher Jonathan Ree and cultural critic Ben Watson ask whether Beauty represents a longing for a better world, or has returned merely to distract us from the gathering storm.
SOLD OUT
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Tuesday 31 May 2011
12:30pm
Venue: The Stage
Philosophy Session
Hay Treasure Hunt
Rich and Strange - Purveyors of Bespoke Adventure. We challenge you to embark on one of our hunts through the town of Hay, where you may encounter itinerant philosophers, step into the shoes of literary heros, surf the New Wave and untangle all manner of enigmas.
SOLD OUT
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Event [170]
Tuesday 31 May 2011
1:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The View from Outside
There has been a surge of art world interest in marginalised artists, platforming work by prisoners and the mentally ill. The author of Outsider Art from the Margins to the Marketplace David Maclagan asks art therapist Livy Powell whether the label of 'outsider art' downplays the achievements of these artists, and whether art-as-therapy can provoke truly powerful and original work. An art therapy workshop will follow the session.
In association with Lankelly Chase.
SOLD OUT
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Event [168]
Tuesday 31 May 2011
2:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Art Couture
Ulrich Lehmann, Justine Picardie. George Barber chairs.
From McQueen to McCartney, the fashion designer's cultural profile has never been higher. But is haute couture the same as high art? Can clothing have meaning? Does this dominant visual and mythic language of our time really have anything to say, or is it just empty glamour?
Philosopher of fashion Ulrich Lehmann and Chanel biographer Justine Picardie talk about high heels and high ideals.
SOLD OUT
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Event [171]
Tuesday 31 May 2011
3:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Music of Revolt
Self-styled 'Militant Aesthete' and journeyman intellectual Ben Watson explores how music can respond, react to and take part in political upheaval, with examples from Adorno to Zappa to Tahrir Square.
SOLD OUT
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Event [173]
Tuesday 31 May 2011
5:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Beats, Loops and Samples
Postmodern philosopher Ulrich Lehmann explores the unexpected language and hidden significance of cut-and-paste sound sampling, from Musique Concrete to Public Enemy.
SOLD OUT
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Event [174]
Tuesday 31 May 2011
6:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
All The Stuff
Poet and thinker Phil Bowen performs his fiery epic on materialism and the body All The Stuff.
'The Waste Land of the twenty-first century' - Dave Woolley
SOLD OUT
Wednesday 1st June
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Event [199]
Wednesday 1 June 2011
11:00am
Venue: The Stage
Philosophy Session
The Oxford Talks
Be challenged by new thinking from the new thinkers. HowTheLightGetsIn joins forces with the University of Oxford to bring you some of the world's brightest new postgraduate sparks.
SOLD OUT
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Event [196]
Wednesday 1 June 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Once Upon a Time the End
Jesse Norman, Lars Iyer, Kabir Chibber.
From rolling news to Twitter, attention spans are shrinking, and substantive messages are sharpening into slogans. Will postmodernity see a distillation of literary meaning into fewer (better?) words, or will our ability to tell big, expansive stories be destroyed by glib brevity, leaving us at the mercy of blurbs, stings, tweets and zingers?
Politician and philosopher Jesse Norman talks fast and loose with philosopher-blogger Lars Iyer and PORT editor and New York Times writer Kabir Chibber.
SOLD OUT
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Event [200]
Wednesday 1 June 2011
1:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Dylan as Philosopher
Poet and editor Phil Bowen leads a celebration-cum-cross-examination of the work of Bob Dylan on the protean singer-songwriter’s 70th Birthday.
SOLD OUT
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Event [197]
Wednesday 1 June 2011
2:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Verses for Eternity
Is the true nature of poetry philosophical, and should philosophy aspire to be poetic? Verse is thought to be the primal form of writing, so how did philosophy fall into the habits of logic and rigour, and who now will speak to us of mystery?
Prize-winning poet Ruth Padel speaks to thinker Jonathan Ree about the truth of poetry, and the mystery of philosophy.
SOLD OUT
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Event [201]
Wednesday 1 June 2011
3:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Writing the End Times
Lars Iyer talks about his philosophical black comedy Spurious. 'It is near to the end of days, shortly before the appearance of a "stupid Messiah". Two British men, employed somehow in academia, muse on their lack of success and incapacity for real thought while drinking too much gin...'
'A marvel' - Guardian
SOLD OUT
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Event [198]
Wednesday 1 June 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Why We All Need Big Ideas
Julian Baggini, Peter Sedgwick, Peter Worley, Justina Robson.
From Alain de Botton to Philosophy Bites, it seems that popular philosophy has never been more popular. What makes us hunger for the big ideas in life? Can any general introduction give us access to the benefits of philosophical wisdom, or is enlightenment difficult by definition?
Julian Baggini talks to academic Rev. Peter Sedgwick, author Justina Robson and educational campaigner Peter Worley about whether big ideas can ever be bite-size.
SOLD OUT
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Event [202]
Wednesday 1 June 2011
5:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The If Machine
Find out why philosophy should be as fundamental to our education system as reading, writing and arithmetic. Peter Worley argues that exam culture has dulled our native and philosophical curiosity.
SOLD OUT
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Event [203]
Wednesday 1 June 2011
6:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Jonny Fluffypunk
Anarchic punk-performance poet Jonny Fluffypunk brings his biting wit to bear on the modern world.
'The only time I've seen people stage-diving at a poetry gig' - Guardian
SOLD OUT
Thursday 2nd June
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Event [229]
Thursday 2 June 2011
11:00am
Venue: The Stage
Philosophy Session
The Oxford Talks
Be challenged by new thinking from the new thinkers. HowTheLightGetsIn joins forces with the University of Oxford to bring you some of the world's brightest new postgraduate sparks.
SOLD OUT
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Event [226]
Thursday 2 June 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The Screen Age
George Barber, Hilary Lawson, Justina Robson. Gabriel Gbadamosi chairs.
Projection and moving image are changing our architecture and the way we live and work. How will art respond to the rapidly evolving character of the screen age?
Award-winning video practitioner George Barber, post-postmodern philosopher Hilary Lawson and speculative novelist Justina Robson look into their liquid-crystal ball at the future screen.
SOLD OUT
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Event [230]
Thursday 2 June 2011
1:00pm
Venue: The Stage
Philosophy Session
Order Out of Chaos
What links mental health and creativity? Does the act of writing help make sense of our lives, or draw us further into the mazes of the mind?
Psychiatrist Tim McInerny and playwright Nell Leyshon run creative writing workshops at the Royal Bethlem Hospital and are developing the use of creative writing in mental health settings. They are accompanied by two outsider-poets who will perform work.
In association with Lankelly Chase.
SOLD OUT
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Event [227]
Thursday 2 June 2011
2:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Shooting Truth
Roger Graef, Jerry Rothwell, Hilary Lawson.
From Fox to Al Jazeera, Bowling for Columbine to Loose Change, supposedly 'factual' film and TV has become ever more ideologically engaged with its subjects. Does narrative threaten to overwhelm objectivity, or is all reportage necessarily skewed?
Committed political documentarist Roger Graef, director of Deep Water and Heavy Load Jerry Rothwell and philosopher and filmmaker Hilary Lawson take aim at reality.
SOLD OUT
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Event [228]
Thursday 2 June 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The Cinema of Ideas
Gabriel Gbadamosi, Mike Figgis, Jonathan Webber.
Can narrative film engage with the biggest questions in life? From Jean-Luc Godard to the Coen Brothers, can a real exploration of life, death, the universe and the human condition break through the demands of visual storytelling and the commercial imperatives of the industry?
Oscar-winning director Mike FIggis, playwright Gabriel Gbadamosi and Cardiff philosopher Jonathan Webber debate the effectiveness of though on film.
SOLD OUT
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Event [232]
Thursday 2 June 2011
5:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Myth 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 what happiness really is, and when it became a human right rather than the reward for a good life.
SOLD OUT
Friday 3rd June
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Friday 3 June 2011
10:00am
Venue: International Tent
Workshop Session
Children's Drama Workshop, ages 7-11
Philosophy Festival Fun! Drama Workshops for 7-11 year olds, no experience necessary. Join in this 90 minute hoot, including drama, games, and improvisations led by ex-BBC Playaway presenter Janine Sharp. See you there!
SOLD OUT
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Event [255]
Friday 3 June 2011
10:00am
Venue: The Stage
Philosophy Session
Breakthrough: Q&A
Hayley Youell, Breakthrough artist and performer, discusses the Breakthrough exhibition and takes questions on the artists and their work.
In association with Lankelly Chase
SOLD OUT
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Event [256]
Friday 3 June 2011
11:00am
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Oxford Talks
Be challenged by new thinking from the new thinkers. HowTheLightGetsIn joins forces with the University of Oxford to bring you some of the world's brightest new postgraduate sparks.
SOLD OUT
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Event [252]
Friday 3 June 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Six Billion Characters in Search of an Author
Richard Schoch, Tim McInerny, Jez Butterworth. Gabriel Gbadamosi chairs.
From the world stage to the parts we play in our own lives, is it human nature to see our own existence as a performance? While the theatrical metaphor may help us to build societies, do we risk losing touch with reality?
Scholar Richard Schoch, psychiatrist Tim McInerny and award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth strut and fret their hour upon the stage.
SOLD OUT
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Event [257]
Friday 3 June 2011
1:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Real Capitalism
When people attack Capitalism, what are they really attacking? Is it really just about greed and bonuses? Philosopher and Conservative MP Jesse Norman explores what Capitalism really means today, and why a true understanding of it may be our best hope for the future.
SOLD OUT
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Event [253]
Friday 3 June 2011
2:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Cultures of the Body
Musa Okwonga, Ben Hammersley, Gabriel Gbadamosi. Mary-Ann Sieghart chairs.
Why are live music, theatre and festivals experiencing a resurgence in an age dominated by the virtual and disembodied? Does technology allow us to extend our consciousness worldwide, or does true culture need to be experienced through the body?
Broadcaster and journalist Mary-Ann Sieghart reaches out to performance poet and sportswriter Musa Okwonga, technophile war reporter Ben Hammersley and playwright Gabriel Gbadamosi.
SOLD OUT
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Event [258]
Friday 3 June 2011
3:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Rhyme and Punishment
Chief Executive of the Koestler Trust for art by offenders Tim Robertson runs a discussion of themes and current issues for arts in prisons and other secure settings, illustrated with poems and visual arts to explore the relationship between confinement and creativity
In association with Lankelly Chase.
SOLD OUT
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Event [254]
Friday 3 June 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The Old Gods: England’s Mythic Past
Jez Butterworth, Nell Leyshon, Paul Kingsnorth.
Award-winning Hollywood screenwriter and Jerusalem playwright Jez Butterworth talks to environmentalist and poet Paul Kingsnorth and author of Bedlam Nell Leyshon about an older, darker and more authentic vision of this green and pleasant land.
SOLD OUT
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Event [259]
Friday 3 June 2011
5:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
What are we Worth?
William Cash and William Nicholson
Spear's editor William Cash asks Oscar-winning screenwriter William Nicholson (Gladiator, Shadowlands) about the meaning of self-worth in today's money-driven society. Nicholson discusses wealth, happiness and virtue, as well as the 2008 Financial Crisis and his response to it in new play Crash.
SOLD OUT
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Event [260]
Friday 3 June 2011
6:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Visions of Disaster and Perfection
John Carey, Paul Kingsnorth, Kevin Warwick. Andrew Copson chairs.
From Atlantis to 1984, visions of utopia once shaped the political landscape. What new visions, from technological golden age to environmental apocalypse, do today's thinkers foresee for the 21st century?
Oxford scholar and broadcaster John Carey, environmental journalist Paul Kingsnorth, and cyborg and scientist Kevin Warwick consider new visions of disaster and perfection.
In association with the British Humanist Association.
SOLD OUT
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Event [231]
All evening pass
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Awakening the Voice
We are only now beginning to recognise the enormous therapeutic benefits of song. Professor Stephen Clift tells the story of his project setting up choirs for dementia sufferers, and leads the audience in a workshop on therapeutic vocal techniques.
In association with Lankelly Chase
SOLD OUT
Saturday 4th June
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Event [286]
Saturday 4 June 2011
10:30am
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Mother Earth, Economics, and the Fall
Paul Kingsnorth, Piers Corbyn, Tamsin Omond, Martin Palmer. Felicity Evans chairs.
From energy-saving light-bulbs to recycling bins, we are increasingly ecologically aware. But what motivates our newfound environmental consciousness? Are we driven by more than an economic desire to avoid disaster? A fundamental desire to reconnect with nature perhaps or atonement for relentless consumption?
Journalist and top 'troublemaker' Paul Kingsnorth, astrophysicist Piers Corbyn, activist Tamsin Omond and theological thinker Martin Palmer unpick environmental desire.
SOLD OUT
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Event [288]
Saturday 4 June 2011
10:30am
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
The Scimitar's Edge
Lauren Booth, Iain Edgar, Maryam Namazie. Mary Ann Sieghart chairs.
Islam is the most widely discussed religion in the West. Is its 'success' due to its beliefs, its certainty or its function as a political force? AreIslamic values compatible with western liberalism and should we be weary of or embrace its influence?
Journalist, reality TV star and Muslim convert Lauren Booth, Islam scholar Iain Edgar and Director of the Ex-Muslim Council Maryam Namazie examine the reasons behind Islam's success.
SOLD OUT
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Event [291]
Saturday 4 June 2011
11:00am
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Love of Things
What does it mean to possess, or indeed to be possessed? Drawing on conservations with figures as varied as Paddy Ashdown and Eartha Kitt, Anita Sethi dissects the profound entanglement between us and our 'things' with anthropologist Danny Miller.
SOLD OUT
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Event [287]
Saturday 4 June 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The Ultimate Particle
Rolf Heuer, Hilary Lawson, Gwyneth Jones. David Malone chairs.
Billions have been invested in search of the Higgs boson, or God particle. Some say we are on the cusp of uncovering the ultimate building blocks of the universe. But might this be a mirage? Can there be a final theory of matter?
CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer, post-postmodern thinker Hilary Lawson and writer Gwyneth Jones go in search of the ultimate particle.
SOLD OUT
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Event [292]
Saturday 4 June 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
How to Be an Agnostic
Is there more to agnosticism than sitting on the fence? Philosopher, journalist, former priest and physicist Mark Vernon reveals how the agnostic spirit is a vital strand that runs through the fabric of belief - and indeed the best philosophy and science.
‘Thoughtful, accessible, lucid’ - Julian Baggini
SOLD OUT
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Event [289]
Saturday 4 June 2011
12:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Limits to Liberty
Frank Furedi, Peter Tatchell, Robert Skidelsky. Mary Ann Sieghart chairs.
From tabloid complaints about 'political correctness gone mad' to the banning of expressions of religious hatred, many believe our right to free speech is under threat. Can we reconcile liberal freedom with the right of others to feel offence?
Outspoken sociologist and author of The Culture of Fear, Frank Furedi, human rights advocate and campaigner Peter Tatchell, and historian Lord Robert Skidelsky freely debate the limits of freedom.
SOLD OUT
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Event [293]
Saturday 4 June 2011
1:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Tales of an Extravagant Stranger
Journalist and political commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores her life-long love of Shakespeare. Her experience of playing Juliet as a teenager in ‘60’s Uganda sent shockwaves through her family and helped shape the emotional and political landscape of her life.
Commissioned and directed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
‘Enlightening, funny and moving…beautifully performed’ - Colin Firth
SOLD OUT
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Event [290]
Saturday 4 June 2011
1:15pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
On Facebook, Intimacy and Extimacy
Have social networks broken down the barriers between public and private life? Zygmunt Bauman, author of Liquid Modernity and Collateral Damage, dissects the impact of the world’s most influential website.
Zygmunt Bauman is the ‘most influential sociologist working in Europe’ (Guardian) and an inspiration to the anti-globalisation movement. Highlights of his remarkably varied career include working for Polish military intelligence and the London School of Economics. The University of Leeds launched The Bauman Institute in his honour in 2010.SOLD OUT
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Event [307]
Saturday 4 June 2011
2:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Islamist Inquisition
Iranian refugee, broadcaster and Director of the ex-Muslim Council, Maryam Namazie, examines how we are best able to deal with threat from radical Islamism in our globalised world.
'One of the most important feminists from the developing world' - Guardian
SOLD OUT
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Event [301]
Saturday 4 June 2011
2:30pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The Origin of Knowledge
Piers Corbyn, Chris Surridge, Kevin Warwick. David Malone chairs.
Science is the truth of the modern age. But the very system that determines what counts as science, peer review, is itself under attack. Is it a powerful way of keeping corruption out of science, or itself a corrupt system? What counts as knowledge and who should decide?
Nature editor Chris Surridge, outspoken astrophysicist Piers Corbyn and cyborg and scholar Kevin Warwick question the scientific method.
SOLD OUT
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Event [304]
Saturday 4 June 2011
2:30pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
The Search for Openness
In a radical new account of ourselves and the world, philosopher Hilary Lawson offers a way to make sense of where we are without reverting to the certainties of the past. Placing metaphor at the centre of his story, he argues that the world is open but we frequently inhabit a closed space of our own making. His account has dramatic consequences for our understanding of the world and our ability to explore openness.
'A latter day metaphysician on the grand scale... a quite astonishing achievement' - Alan Montefiore
SOLD OUT
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Event [308]
Saturday 4 June 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Dark Mountain Project
Journalist Paul Kingsnorth believes that it is already too late to save the planet. How can we prepare for 'uncivilisation'?
‘One of Britain's top ten troublemakers’ - New Statesman
SOLD OUT
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Event [302]
Saturday 4 June 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Gods and Monsters
Gerald Moore, Lewis Wolpert, Mark Vernon. Felicity Evans chairs.
In a scientific age faith seems to show no signs of dying off. Is it a fundamental part of the human state? Is the desire to trust that which can't be proven a source of wisdom or a curse of ignorance? And how does faith square with our increasingly relativistic age?
Critic Gerald Moore, scientist and author of Six Impossible Things, Lewis Wolpert, and philosopher and former priest Mark Vernon debate the need for faith.
SOLD OUT
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Event [305]
Saturday 4 June 2011
4:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
The Neverending Journey
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Daniel Miller, Ben Hammersley. Anita Sethi chairs.
The world is on the move. But is travel a necessity or a luxury? Do we long for a home in which to settle, or is humanity nomadic at heart?
Independent columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Wired UK editor and world Service reporter Ben Hammersley and anthropologist Daniel Miller talk to travel journalist and cultural commentator Anita Sethi.
SOLD OUT
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Event [309]
Saturday 4 June 2011
5:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Cyborg Nation
Kevin Warwick's team have developed a robot with a biological brain. This is not sci-fi. This is science. The original iCyborg himself, Professor Kevin Warwick introduces us to the future of humanity.
'Cutting edge' - Science Daily
SOLD OUT
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Event [306]
Saturday 4 June 2011
5:30pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Buddhists in Suburbia
Gay Watson, Jampa Thaye, Mark Vernon. Gabriel Gbadamosi chairs.
From yoga and meditation to celebrity followers, eastern spirituality is in vogue. Why? Is it a desire to reintroduce mystery in a practical world? A dissatisfaction with the single God of western religions? Or a temporary consumer fad?
Psychoanalyst and Buddhist Gay Watson, Lama Jampa Thaye and philosopher Mark Vernon debate the rise of eastern spirituality.
SOLD OUT
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Event [303]
Saturday 4 June 2011
5:30pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Bad to the Bone?
Michael Hastings, Adjoa Andoh, Alex Voorhoeve, Toby Ord. Mary Ann Sieghart chairs.
From Bill Gates to George Soros, it seem you can't be in the rich list these days without setting up your own charity. Are these status symbols with personal benefit to the founders, or good deeds stemming from genuine selflessness? Can charity be a purely altruistic act or is it always compromised by personal and political goals?
Journalist and peer Michael Hastings, actress and humanitarian Adjoa Andoh, LSE philosopher Alex Voorhoeve and philosopher Toby Ord question our selfish genes.
SOLD OUT
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Event [310]
Saturday 4 June 2011
6:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Freedom in Chains
In the absence of clarity about the values that define society, leading sociologist Frank Furedi argues that political and cultural elites have built a network of procedures and codes in an attempt to eradicate risk. An outcome that has damaging consequences for our moral independence.
‘Thought-provoking’ - Times
SOLD OUT
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Event [316]
Saturday 4 June 2011
7:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
The Sweetest Taboo
Rowan Pelling, Brett Kahr, Gerald Moore. Gabriel Gbadamosi chairs.
We like to think we're a sexually liberated society. But are there still limits to sexual behaviour, or are there no taboos left to break? 200 years ago De Sade explored the limits of sexuality, have we learnt anything in the meantime?
Former Erotic Review 'editrice' Rowan Pelling, philosopher and critic Gerald Moore, and psychoanalyst Gerald Moore explore what sex is like at the edge.
SOLD OUT
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Event [317]
Saturday 4 June 2011
7:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
My Journey
Journalist and broadcaster Lauren Booth reveals the choices that led her from a hedonistic libertarian lifestyle to her new life as a Muslim.
'Enlightening and provocative' - Mail on Sunday
SOLD OUT
Sunday 5th June
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Event [341]
Sunday 5 June 2011
9:00am
Venue: Acoustic Tent
Philosophy Session
Philosophy Breakfast with School of Life
Get a shot of inspiration with your espresso. Hosted by Mark Vernon, the School of Life’s Breakfast Club is a high impact early morning session designed to offer stimulation for those keen to get the most out of the day ahead. You’ll reflect on how to make the most of thoughts and dreams that often remain undigested from the night before. Price includes breakfast.
SOLD OUT
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Event [334]
Sunday 5 June 2011
10:30am
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
The Next Renaissance
David Malone, Raymond Tallis, Lewis Wolpert. Anita Sethi chairs.
Is the dream of a 'third' culture, combining the best of art and science, a plausible one? Are art and science two sides of a single coin or ultimately profoundly different and incompatible ways of holding the world?
Writer and documentary-maker David Malone, physician and poet Raymond Tallis, and broadcaster and biologist Lewis Wolpert debate the limits of art and science.
SOLD OUT
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Event [331]
Sunday 5 June 2011
10:30am
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Caught in the Net?
Ben Hammersley, Brett Kahr, Daniel Miller. Gabriel Gbadamosi chairs.
From Facebook to Twitterati, Second Life to the blogosphere, the internet has transformed the way we socialise, learn, and experience the world. But has it also diminished meaningful interaction and traded real life for fantasy and trivia?
Wired editor and creator of podcasting Ben Hammersley, psychoanalyst Brett Kahr and anthropologist Daniel Miller explore the pleasures and perils of the internet.
SOLD OUT
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Event [338]
Sunday 5 June 2011
11:00am
Venue: Along the Wye...
Philosophy Session
Socrates Walk
Socrates once said that walking in shady groves, accompanied by the lapping of the river, was an ideal setting for talking about philosophy, the good life and love. Take a short walk along the Wye with philosopher Mark Vernon to learn what Socrates had to say to Phaedrus that day, and with the sage of Athens follow the Delphic oracle, to know thyself.
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Event [337]
Sunday 5 June 2011
11:00am
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
The Paedophiliac Society
Is our society obsessed with paedophilia? Gerald Moore unpacks the complex irony found in our contemporary witchhunts, and our inability to accept the end of innocence.
'Exceptional... very sharp' - Simon Glendinning
SOLD OUT
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Event [335]
Sunday 5 June 2011
12:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Childhood's End
Frank Furedi, Dorothy Rowe, Michael Hastings. Ben Hammersley chairs.
Once children were to be seen and not heard, now they are placed at the centre of our lives. But have we gone too far? Have we made a fetish of childhood and is this good for them or us?
Sociologist and author of Paranoid Parenting Frank Furedi, psychologist and author of Why We Lie Dorothy Rowe, and journalist and peer Michael Hastings get serious about children and childhood.
SOLD OUT
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Event [339]
Sunday 5 June 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Genes, Memes and Temes
Are ideas, like the genes in our DNA, battling it out in a survival-of-the-fittest evolutionary race? Psychologist Susan Blackmore explores the science of ideas, and what it might mean if technology were able to replicate ideas, 'temes', outside of human control.
'I am delighted to recommend her' - Richard Dawkins
SOLD OUT
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Event [332]
Sunday 5 June 2011
12:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Plastic Fantasies and Disposable Gods
Gerald Moore, Elisa Roche, Sam Delaney. Caspar Melville chairs.
Celebrities are the gods of contemporary culture. Is this a consequence of a lack of genuine heroes and ideals, a harmless attachment to trivia, or a sign of the emptiness of our lives? Do the promises of fame and glamour make ordinary life more tolerable, or delude us into wanting something not worth having?
Cambridge philosopher and theorist Gerald Moore, showbiz editor at the Daily Express Elisa Roche and former editor of Heat magazine Sam Delaney question our new idols with journalist Caspar Melville.
SOLD OUT
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Event [340]
Sunday 5 June 2011
1:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
How Much is Enough? Money and the Good Life
Edward Skidelsky, Robert Skidelsky
In a preview of their forthcoming book together, philosopher Edward Skidelsky and illustrious historian Robert Skidelsky, ask whether governments should ditch relentless growth in favour of pleasure.
'One of the world's foremost Keynes scholars' - Institute for New Economic Thinking
SOLD OUT
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Event [336]
Sunday 5 June 2011
1:15pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Why is Tragedy Better than Philosophy?
What can Sophocles and Aeschylus tell us about 9/1, Iraq and the nature of modern war, and what are the limits of the tragic?
Simon Critchley is Professor at the New School and a columnist for the New York Times. His books include How to Stop Living and Start Worrying.
'A mocking graveyard humour that puts you in mind of Hamlet with a skull.' - Independent
SOLD OUT
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Event [333]
Sunday 5 June 2011
1:15pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Vince Cable
What can be done to get the economy back on track? One year after coming to power, Business Secretary Vince Cable presents the coalition’s vision for growth in a post-crunch era.
‘One of [our] classiest politicians . . . with the confidence of an informed economist’ (Guardian), Cable is the author of The Storm, the best-selling book on the credit crunch, and a noted ballroom dancer.
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Event [354]
Sunday 5 June 2011
2:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Digital Geopolitics
As the developing world embraces the communications revolution, Wired UK editor Ben Hammersley asks what this means for geopolitics, diplomacy, and the future of the nation-state.
‘The ultimate cross-platform boy about town’ - Guardian
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Event [350]
Sunday 5 June 2011
2:30pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
Drug Culture
Edward Skidelsky, Susan Blackmore, Peter Hitchens, Iain Edgar. Caspar Melville chairs.
Whilst many eastern cultures, and our own predecessors, naturalised mind-altering drugs, the modern world has rejected and criminalized these very substances. Why? Is the state right to protect us from physical and psychological danger, or is the freedom of the individual paramount? Do drugs encourage us to accept pluralistic realities and thus undermine our security in the world, or simply open the imagination? Are we heading for a mass exodus from reality or opening up our eyes?
Psychologist Susan Blackmore, Daily Mail columnist Peter Hitchens, anthropologist Iain Edgar and philosopher Edward Skidelsky open the doors of perception.
SOLD OUT
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Event [352]
Sunday 5 June 2011
2:30pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
Global Futures
Vince Cable, Robert Skidelsky, Will Hutton. Hilary Lawson chairs.
Two years on from one of the worst crises ever to hit the free market, what lies in store for the global economy? Are we steadfast on the road to recovery or does liberalism itself need to be rethought?
Award-winning historian Robert Skidelsky, 'Britain's most popular politician' (Guardian) Vince Cable and eminent economist Will Hutton examine the world's future.
SOLD OUT
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Event [355]
Sunday 5 June 2011
3:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent
Philosophy Session
Imagination and Culture
Is imagination the opposite of knowledge? Distinguished Oxford metaphysician Tim Williamson examines what science and philosophy can tell us about the human imagination.
'The Pre-eminent philosopher of his generation' - Julian Baggini
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Event [353]
Sunday 5 June 2011
4:00pm
Venue: International Tent
Philosophy Session
The Great Escape
Philip Pullman, Gwyneth Jones, Mike Figgis. Andrew Copson chairs.
From Narnia to Ankh-Morpork to Hogwarts, our exposure to the fantastical is soaring to new heights. Is fantasy simply an escape from a hostile world or a triumphant way of dealing with the realities of every day?
Award-winning novelists Gwyneth Jones and Philip Pullman, and film director Mike Figgis join Andrew Copson for a journey beyond reality.
In association with the British Humanist Association.
SOLD OUT
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Event [351]
Sunday 5 June 2011
4:00pm
Venue: Globe Hall
Philosophy Session
The Devil's Parties
Lauren Booth, Peter Hitchens, Rowan Pelling. Daniel Miller chairs.
The immediate pursuit of pleasure permeates our culture. If it provides the rush, we will sniff it, swallow it, spend it, and soak in euphoria. Could we be making a mistake? Is there more pleasure to be gained from constraint and restraint? Or should we be distancing ourselves from hedonism altogether?
Daily Mail columnist Peter Hitchens, journalist Lauren Booth, and writer and former "editrix" of the Erotic Review, Rowan Pelling, threaten to be good.
SOLD OUT
