Being Human in the 21st Century

Ted Honderich, Robert Skidelsky, Oliver Kamm.
Paul Moss chairs.

Is the modern world making us less rational, less autonomous, and ultimately less human?

Times columnist and author of Anti-Totalitarianism Oliver Kamm, prize-winning economic historian Lord Skidelsky and outspoken philosopher Ted Honderich examine the impact  of global capitalism on our nature and our future.

Saying the Unsayable

Barry C. Smith, Nicholas Ostler, Hilary Lawson.
Simon Blackburn chairs.

Heidegger argued that language was the house of being.  Wittgenstein that the limits of language are the limits of our world.  Were they right?  Is language at the heart of what it is to be human or a 20th century philosophical obsession that we need to overcome?

Simon Blackburn challenges author of Empires of the Word and master of twenty-six languages Nicholas Ostler, post-postmodern philosopher and author of Closure Hilary Lawson, and philosopher of mind and language Barry C Smith to say what some have claimed cannot be said.

Lunchtime Special

ED VAIZEY  - A Change of Culture

A new coalition government is in place and with it a new policy for culture and the arts.  Rising star and minister with responsibility for arts and broadcasting in Cameron's government, Ed Vaizey, gives his vision of the future of culture in Britain.  And you have your chance to call the new coalition to account. 

The Chosen Species?

Raymond Tallis, Christopher Hamilton, Mary Midgley.
David Malone chairs.

From our earliest myths and theologies to modern liberal humanism, humankind has clung to the view that we are somehow special: a chosen species. But are we? If we have no unique place or purpose in the universe what will become of us, and our notions of progress and truth?

Leading polymath Raymond Tallis, postmodern thinker Christopher Hamilton and eminent philosopher Mary Midgley talk to filmmaker David Malone on what it might mean to be human after the end of humanism.

Engines of Emotion

Simon Blackburn,  Christopher Hamilton, Mary Warnock.

Peter Goldie chairs.

For centuries, western philosophy has dismissed emotion as peripheral. But could it be that rationality is the illusion and our emotions the truth? 

Philosopher of emotion Peter Goldie, asks renowned ethicist Mary Warnock, Cambridge philosopher Simon Blackburn and philosopher of religion Christopher Hamilton whether we govern our emotions or they govern us.

The Truth About Everything

Mary Midgley, Hilary Lawson, Marcus du Sautoy, Christopher Norris.

Angie Hobbs chairs.

Whether in the form of religion or science, humans have sought an overall account of the world  to explain life and the universe. But is an account of everything a plausible goal? Can we  ever know the answers to the biggest questions? And if not, what is left to us?

Renowned moral  philosopher Mary Midgley and post-postmodernist Hilary Lawson collide with mathematician  Marcus Du Sautoy and philosopher and critic Christopher Norris.

Reclaiming the Body

Michèle Dœuff, Raymond Tallis, Andy Clark.

Harry Eyres chairs.

Tabloid culture aside, the body gets a bad press. The mind often seems to hold all the higher ground.  Through thought we understand the world and behave responsibly while the body connects us with our animal past. But have we got this wrong? Is being human really about being physically human? Is the intellect a mere distraction from the important stuff of bodily sensation?

Radical French philosopher and playwright Michèle Le Dœuff, leading polymath Raymond Tallis, and philosopher of mind Andy Clark rethink the physical.

In association with The Wellcome Trust's Identity Project

Mortality and Immortality

Aubrey de Grey, Mary Warnock, Phillip Blond.

Julian Baggini chairs.

Modern science promises to eradicate death as though it were just another disease. Is this plausible or is knowledge of our mortality essential to being human? Would immortality, or a lifespan of many hundreds of years, usher in a new golden age, or strip us of our humanity?

Scientist and author of Ending Ageing Aubrey de Grey, influential ethicist and policymaker Baroness Mary Warnock, and ‘Red Tory’ and theologian Phillip Blond question whether we should want to live forever.

In association with The Wellcome Trust's Identity Project

After Sanity

Richard Bentall, Angie Hobbs, Lewis Wolpert.
David Malone chairs.

We built our ‘civilized’ culture inspired by those who heard the voices of God. Now those who hear voices are more likely to be stigmatised than sanctified. Do our shifting definitions of madness say more about us than they do about those who’ve flown the cuckoo’s nest?

Leading researcher in clinical psychology and critic of the biomedical model of mental illness, Richard Bentall, is joined by classical philosopher, writer and In Our Time stalwart Angie Hobbs and developmental biologist and author of Malignant Sadness Lewis Wolpert, in asking if mental illness might just be a very strange kind of fiction.

Sex Machines

Mark Vernon, Simon Blackburn, Michèle le Doeuff, Catherine Hakim.

Some would say we live in a sex obsessed age, but just how important is sexuality to our being?   Should we along with Darwin and Freud see sex as central to our lives, or is it a passing hedonistic activity?  And if it is central to what extent does our sexuality determine how we think and how we influence others?

LSE sociologist and 'Erotic Capital' theorist Catherine Hakim, author of Lust and Cambridge philosopher Simon Blackburn, leading French postmodernist Michèle le Doeuff and journalist and former priest Mark Vernon get serious about sex. 

Genetics in the Dock

Lewis Wolpert, Robert Winston, Mary Midgley, John Dupré.

The biological sciences have irrevocably altered the way we think of human life in the last century. But is genetics the whole story of who we are?  Are we simply vehicles for our genes or is there more to being human than genetics would propose?  

Outspoken biologist Lewis Wolpert and prominent fertility expert Lord Robert Winston are held to account by John Dupré, author of Humans and Other Animals’ and  philosopher Mary Midgley, ‘the foremost scourge of scientific pretension in the country’ (The Guardian).

Work: The Meaning or Emptiness of Life?

Will Hutton, Tom Hodgkinson, Douglas Murray.
Julian Baggini chairs.

Technology promised a world of freedom and leisure. Yet many of us define ourselves through the nature and success of our working lives. Is this a symptom of modernity  and capitalism or is work fundamental to us? Does work provide meaning and purpose or is it a distraction from the real business of life?

Eminent economist Will Hutton,  founder and editor of The Idler Tom Hodgkinson, and bestselling author and award-winning journalist Douglas Murray get to work.

History's Children

Rana Mitter, Alex Callinicos, Robert Eaglestone.

Toby Young chairs.

History is part of us: it is one of the grand narratives by which cultures and individuals understand themselves.  But why is the past so important to us?  Does history have a direction or is progress an illusion?  And can there be any ultimate truth to our histories, or are we at the mercy of cultural myths, political spin, and leaders with a purpose in mind?  

Journalist and author Toby Young maintains order as three leading historians, Oxford's Rana Mitter, leading Marxist Alex Callinicos, and postmodernist Robert Eaglestone, take issue with history.

After the Storm: a new economics?

Will Hutton, Richard Bronk, William Cash, Jesse Norman.

Is greed still good? Adam Smith famously argued that the self-interest of individuals can be harnessed for the benefit of all.  In the wake of recent events the argument looks rather less convincing. How might a new and more just idea of human nature might feed into a more versatile economics?

With former Observer editor and best-selling economist Will Hutton, editor of Spear’s WMS, William Cash, Conservative Party rising star and author of Compassionate Economics Jesse Norman and author of The Romantic Economist, LSE’s Richard Bronk.

In association with Spear's WMS

The Dogs of War

Jon Cruddas, Douglas Murray, Alex Callinicos.

Paul Moss chairs.

Is violence a part of human nature? The last century saw more bloodshed and warfare than any before it. Could this horror have been avoided, or are we condemned to live out never-ending cycles of violence? If so, is our brutality a dangerous remnant of our predatory past, or a crucial tool for building civilisation? If not, just what it is that thwarts our dreams of peace?

Influential Labour politician Jon Cruddas MP, Britain’s foremost neo-conservative commentator, Douglas Murray, and leading Marxist theorist Alex Callinicos, take up arms.

The Individual - An endangered species?

Geoff Mulgan, Phillip Blond, Simon Glendinning, Oliver Kamm.

Rana Mitter chairs.

In the current economic climate there are widespread calls to limit individual excess, but where might a renewed focus on community lead and how might it change our culture? Are we individuals that need to be contained for the benefit of society, or herd animals that should be encouraged to venture forth?

Provocative Times columnist and leader writer Oliver Kamm, founder of the ‘Red Tory’  project Phillip Blond, former Director of Strategy to Tony Blair Geoff Mulgan, and LSE philosopher Simon Glendinning go in search of a new politics.

In association with the Forum for European Philosophy.

Erasing David

In an exclusive screening of this ‘brilliant new documentary’ (Observer), film-maker David Bond makes a ‘fascinating call to arms’ (Independent) against the database state, forcing us to contemplate the meaning of privacy and the loss of it.

The End of Privacy?

Frank Furedi, David Bond, Helena Kennedy, David Aaronovitch.

Cameras watch our every move, internet databases hold the most private of information about us. But do we care, and does it matter?

Times columnist and author of Voodoo Histories David Aaronovitch, author of Politics of Fear Frank Furedi, civil liberties champion Helena Kennedy QC, and filmmaker David Bond contemplate a world where nothing is entirely private.

An Immaterial World

Don Cupitt, Susan Neiman, Miguel Beistegui, Hilary Lawson.
Nigel Warburton chairs.

Is the world of physical things, of atoms and molecules, all we’ve got or is there more to being human than the purely material? Do we have one foot, or one mind, in an immaterial world?

American philosopher and Director of the Einstein Forum, Susan Neiman, post-postmodern philosopher Hilary Lawson, radical theologian and author of The Sea of Faith Don Cupitt, and  Heidegger specialist Miguel Beistegui apply rationality to the immaterial.

Being Conscious

Roger Penrose, Iain McGilchrist, Steve Fuller, Bonnie Greer.

No mystery has puzzled scientists and philosophers more deeply than the problem of how the brain transcends its physical origins. What is consciousness and how is it possible? Can we ever understand the workings of our own minds?

Mathematician and author of The Emperor’s New Mind Sir Roger Penrose, psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist, controversial postmodern sociologist Steve Fuller and playwright, novelist and  critic Bonnie Greer ask what it means to be conscious. 

The Good Delusion

Steve Fuller, Susan Neiman, Don Cupitt, Amber Carpenter.

Mary Ann Sieghart chairs.

The values and beliefs that have sustained us for millennia have been swept up in the whirlwinds of relativism and postmodernism. In response there is a clamour for fundamental values and  beliefs. But can we give any meaning to ‘the good’ or ‘the moral’ that is not culturally relative? Is the good a fiction we like to believe in?

Author of Evil in Modern Thought Susan Neiman, moral philosopher Amber Carpenter, outspoken sociologist Steve Fuller and radical theologian Don Cupitt ask whether a foundation for human values is possible.

To the Ends of the Earth?

Johann Hari, Anna Stanford, Frank Furedi, Marek Kohn.
Mary Ann Sieghart chairs.

What motivates our attempts to protect the environment? We are part of the natural world but does this also provide us with a transcendental basis for ethics? Or are we seeking a meaningless catharsis to fulfil the human desire to value something beyond ourselves?

Broadcaster and journalist Mary Ann Sieghart is joined by columnist and award-winning reporter, Johann Hari, renewable energy expert Anna Stanford, renowned sociologist Frank Furedi and science writer Marek Kohn.

In association with RES

The Right to be Human?

Helena Kennedy, Robert Rowland Smith, Jesse Norman.
Mary Ann Craig chairs.

We’ve come to see human rights as sacred and unquestionable, to be defended at every step. Are these rights the accidental outcome of a particular culture or are they an essential part of what it is to be human? And how do we determine what they are?

Leading human rights lawyer, author, commentator and broadcaster Baroness Helena Kennedy joins philosopher and author of Breakfast with Socrates Robert Rowland Smith and author of Churchill’s Legacy Jesse Norman.

States of Play

Bonnie Greer, Tom Chatfield, Iain McGilchrist, Jonathan Ree.
Nigel Warburton chairs.

We associate play with children and sport but is play something far more central to being human? Could playfulness be at the heart of human creativity and interaction? Is play an empty hedonistic activity or are we at our most human when we are playful?

Playwright and novelist Bonnie Greer, author of Fun Inc. Tom Chatfield, psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist, and philosopher Jonathan Ree, find themselves at play with play.

In association with Prospect.

Awake in the Universe

Roger Penrose and Bonnie Greer on Imagination

What allows mankind to confront the universe? Is imagination more important than knowledge? Join renowned physicist Sir Roger Penrose and author, playwright and commentator Bonnie Greer, as they explore how that most elusive of faculties – creativity – has helped us unlock the undiscovered country of the mind and the mysteries of the cosmos. Chaired by Andrew Copson.

For reasons of ill-health, Philip Pullman is unfortunately unable join us for this event. ‘Awake in the Universe’ will instead be going ahead with author, playwright and commentator Bonnie Greer in conversation with Sir Roger Penrose.  

In association with the British Humanist Association.

Struggling to be Human

Zygmunt Bauman on utopias and dystopias

Eminent sociologist Zygmunt Bauman talks to Richard Sennett about the transformation of our dreams of progress into a lust for escape and survival.

Described by The Guardian as ‘the most influential sociologist working in Europe’, Zygmunt Bauman has a talent for speaking differently. A major inspiration to the anti-globalisation movement, he is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds. 

The City and the Sublime

Richard Sennett, Peter Dews, Joanna Kavenna. Mary Ann Sieghart chairs.

The city has become the backdrop to the modern human drama. But does this separation from nature in a habitat of our own design bring us closer together, allowing us to play more creatively and socialise more satisfyingly? Or does the urban experience isolate us beyond measure? Is the city a rational paradise, or the backdrop to our collective madness?

Sociologist Richard Sennett, philosopher Peter Dews and prize-winning novelist Joanna Kavenna embrace the intricacies of the urban with Mary Ann Sieghart.