Philosophy For Our Times

An individual "is responsible for everything he does," claimed Sartre. And from criminal justice to creative expression, free will and responsibility are central to our culture and our personal lives. Yet neuroscientists and materialist thinkers commonly maintain that freedom is an illusion. And it remains unknown how the core principles of freedom and responsibility can be reconciled with this outlook. Many attempts have been made to argue that the two seemingly contradictory frameworks can be made compatible. But critics say these "compatibilist" arguments are unconvincing and are driven merely by the attempt to make scientific materialism acceptable. Furthermore, whilst surveys suggest most materialist philosophers believe we can reconcile the two, the majority of us reject the idea that an action can be both determined and free.

Paul Bloom is a Canadian-American psychologist, bestselling author, and celebrated speaker. He is Professor Emeritus at Yale and a professor at the University of Toronto. Bloom’s work explores human nature, morality, and pleasure.
Joining us from California is Robert Sapolsky. Sapolsky is a distinguished neuroscientist, primatologist, and author, best known for his research on stress and its impact on behaviour and health. He is also a professor at Stanford University.
Lucy Allais is a philosopher at Johns Hopkins University and the University of the Witwatersrand, renowned for her work on Immanuel Kant. Her writing spans ethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy.

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Are we living in the moment? Are we really free? How can we transcend the constant anxieties of our mind?
Throughout history, certain people in the West and the East have claimed that the human mind could reach states of so-called higher consciousness. In the twentieth century, several thinkers like Heidegger and Nietzsche returned to this possibility, trying to find the higher regions of the mind. Join Oxford philosopher Jessica Frazier as she explores tales of higher states of mind, and debates whether these experiences are scientific, spiritual, or pure esoteric imagination.

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The good, the bad, and the transgressive
Is the transgression of norms and rules what brings history forward and allows for creativity and change? OR is the fetishization of transgression an ever-present danger that breaks down all structures of meaning and becomes totalizing in of itself?
The limits and potentials of transgressiveness have been long debated, especially in rule-breaking Modernity. Listen to this lively conversation between three unlikely and profound thinkers - provocative cultural theorist Catherine Liu, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and psychoanalyst Josh Cohen - to hear what role transgression should, and should not, play in our societies.
Hosted by philosopher Barry C. Smith
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What is rationality? Why is it or is it not important? And where does perversity fit in?
Join psychologist Paul Bloom in this interview where he discusses his research on these themes and defends his viewpoints.
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Why is the world moving away from liberalism and towards conservatism?
One of Britain’s most provocative thinkers, John Gray is a political philosopher known for dismantling liberalism and exposing the illusions of human progress. Former Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics, Gray has challenged orthodoxy across the political spectrum with a body of work that ranges from critiques of Enlightenment rationalism to meditations on the limits of secular humanism.
He is the bestselling author of Straw Dogs, The Silence of Animals, and Seven Types of Atheism as well as a frequent contributor to The Guardian, New Statesman, and The Times Literary Supplement. Gray’s sharp insights and contrarian stance continue to shape contemporary debates on ethics, politics, and the future of humanity.
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To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/
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