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All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Since Kant, scholars have tended to assume that the critical method is a fundamental part of doing philosophy. But can it help us address the challenges of the twenty-first century, such as globalization and climate change? Some scholars now suggest that the critical method is domineering and Eurocentric, hopelessly outdated and overly negative. So should we embrace different ways of thinking and knowing, and what might they be? Join us as we discuss whether critique can help us address our current political crises and what role it should play in philosophy.

Speakers
Frida Beckman
Professor of Comparative Literature, Stockholm University

Tom Boland
Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University College Cork

Chair
Danielle Sands
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Thought, RHUL

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

This Valentine’s Day, what better pursuit than to overthink relationships? Marking the death of Stanley Cavell, we explore the philosophy of film in general, and the rom-com in particular. Can we take philosophical lessons from film? From Bringing up Baby and Roman Holiday to My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Love Actually, what makes a film a rom-com, and can this genre teach us anything about the ethics of relationships?

Speakers
Sarah Churchwell
Chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities & Professorial Fellow in American Literature, School of Advanced Study, University of London

Robert Hanks
Journalist

Catherine Wheatley
Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, KCL

Chair
Shahidha Bari
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Professor of Fashion Cultures, UAL

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Sheik Zayed Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

A free press is a fundamental pillar of a healthy democracy. It is a vehicle for free expression, informs public debate, and holds government to account. Is there a right to a free press and is this distinct from the freedom of speech of citizens in a democracy? Given the press is often accused of overstepping the mark, invading people’s privacy or publishing material that is harmful to the national interest, where might the limits of press freedom lie? We explore the nature, importance, limitations, and challenges of maintaining a free press in our digital age.

Speakers
Chandrika Kaul
Reader in Modern History, University of St Andrews

Sue Mendus
Morrell Professor Emerita in Political Philosophy, University of York

Peter Oborne
Journalist, author, and commentator

Chair
Sarah Fine
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

Co-sponsored by the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Due to the current COVID-19 situation and the importance of taking measures to prevent its spread, this event has been cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience and disappointment caused.

Record numbers of measles cases are emerging and vaccination rates are on the decline. Despite the research that fuelled the anti-vaccination scare being discredited, the anti-vax movement appears as strong as ever. Why does this medical scepticism persist, and how might it be tackled? Or might there be times when scepticism is justified? And if so, how are we to determine when we should and when we should not trust the experts? We discuss the causes of and cures for distrust in medical expertise.

Speakers

Rohin Francis
Cardiologist, UCL & comedian

Katherine Furman
Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Liverpool

Heidi Larson
Professor of Anthropology, Risk and Decision Science, LSHTM

Chair
Jonathan Birch
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Associate Professor of Philosophy, LSE

Co-sponsored by the British Society for the Philosophy of Science

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Due to the current COVID-19 situation and the importance of taking measures to prevent its spread, this event has been cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience and disappointment caused.

A fierce opponent of the over-reach of science and a lifelong advocate of the humanities, Mary Midgley’s writing ranges across animal ethics, religion, science, and the natural world. In all of these areas, she appealed to a philosophy that is humble and attentive, and connected philosophical thought to lived experience. Join us to celebrate Midgley’s life, work, and legacy, and ask what can she teach us about how to live.

Speakers
Gregory McElwain
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, The College of Idaho

Ellie Robson
Doctoral Researcher in Philosophy, Birkbeck

Panayiota Vassilopoulou
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Liverpool

Chair
Danielle Sands
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Thought, RHUL

Co-sponsored by the British Society for the History of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Due to the current COVID-19 situation and the importance of taking measures to prevent its spread, this event has been cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience and disappointment caused.

‘We may go even further than this, and … believe that musical sounds afforded one of the bases for the development of language.’
—Charles Darwin

Music is thought to have played an important role in human evolution and in this event we explore the phenomenon and evolution of music. How deep does music go in human history and does music today have anything in common with music in prehistory? What role does music play in the evolution of the mind? And is the ability to hear music uniquely human or something we share with other animals?

Speakers
Ian Cross
Professor of Music and Science, University of Cambridge

Diana Omigie
Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience, Goldsmiths

Barry Smith
Professor of Philosophy & Director, Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Chair
Jonathan Birch
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Associate Professor of Philosophy, LSE

Co-sponsored by the British Society for the Philosophy of Science

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Part of the LSE Festival 2020: Shape the World

All welcome | Free to attend | Ticketed

Tickets will be available from 12 noon on Monday 10 February 2020 here

Scientists agree that nature and nurture are essential ingredients in human development. But if both the blank slate and genetic determinism have been rejected, why do researchers still disagree and what is it that they disagree about? Join us as we’ll explore the issues at stake, taking a wide variety of perspectives, from the philosophy of science to epigenetics, and behavioural science to developmental psychology.

Speakers
Tom Dickins
Professor of Behavioural Science, Middlesex University & Research Associate, CPNSS, LSE

Eva Jablonka
Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Tel Aviv University & Visiting Fellow, CPNSS, LSE

Sophie von Stumm
Professor of Psychology in Education, University of York

Chair
Jonathan Birch
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Associate Professor of Philosophy, LSE

Co-sponsored by the Centre for Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences, LSE

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Sheik Zayed Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | Ticketed

Tickets will be available a month before the event here

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

‘What you think is the point is not the point at all but only the beginning of the sharpness.’

The Philosopher’s Book Club is back! We discuss Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman, a novel about the consequences of a murder occasioned by the narrator’s desire to publish a book about his favourite philosopher, de Selby. From bicycles and wooden legs to dualism and the nature of reality, O’Brien’s absurdist tale contains more philosophical themes (and footnotes) than you can shake a stick at. Join us as we bring philosophical and literary minds together to answer the question, ‘Is it about a bicycle?’.

At the Philosophers’ Book Club, we select a work of fiction or biography for philosophical dissection by our panel. Although you are encouraged read the book in advance, it is by no means necessary.

Speakers

Caitlín Doherty
Poet and historian

Paul Fagan
Editor, The Parish Review: Journal of Flann O’Brien Studies
Founder, The International Flann O’Brien Society

David Papineau
Professor of Philosophy, KCL/CUNY

Chair
Clare Moriarty
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
IRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Trinity College Dublin

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Thousands of foreign nationals are held in immigration detention across the country. Some are detained on arrival, and others after having lived here for years. Some detainees will be deported, others will be released into the community. Currently in the UK there is no time limit on how long a person can be held in immigration detention. Our panel will reflect on politics and philosophy of immigration detention. Should the state be allowed indefinitely detain people who have committed no crime? What are the alternatives to detention? What does detention tell us about the ethics of immigration control more generally?

Speakers
Mishka
Campaigner and Advocate, Freed Voices

Mary Bosworth
Professor of Criminology, University of Oxford

Matthew Gibney
Professor of Politics and Forced Migration, University of Oxford

Chair
Sarah Fine
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

Co-sponsored by the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Sheikh Zayed Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Peace is highly valued, but how is it achieved? Why are some periods in world history relatively peaceful compared to others? What, if anything, can be done to ensure peace now? Are there limits to what we are justified in doing to ensure peace? Is pacifism a justified response to war? Join us as we discuss the history, ethics, and politics of peace.

Speakers
Louise Arimatsu
Distinguished Policy Fellow, LSE

Robin Dunford
Principal Lecturer, Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics, University of Brighton

Rachel Julian
Reader in Peace Studies, Leeds Beckett University

Michael Neu
Senior Lecturer, Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics, University of Brighton

Chair
Jonathan Birch
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Associate Professor of Philosophy, LSE

Co-sponsored by the Centre for Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences, LSE

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Where do our ideas of right and wrong come from? Can the evolutionary processes that produced human beings explain the moral frameworks adopted by human societies? And what can developmental biology tell us about the emergence of ethical behaviour in children? From anthropology to cognitive science, philosophy to evolutionary biology, we shed some light on the complex story of Homo moralis.

Speakers
Zanna Clay
Assistant Professor of Comparative and Developmental Psychology, Durham University

Philip Pettit 
L. S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values, Princeton University
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Australian National University

Simone Schnall
Reader in Experimental Social Psychology, University of Cambridge

Chair
Clare Moriarty 
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
IRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Trinity College Dublin

Organized in conjunction with the Royal Institute of Philosophy

This event forms part of the ‘Shape the World’ series, held in the run up to the LSE Festival, a week-long series of events taking place from Monday 2 to Saturday 7 March 2020, free to attend and open to all, exploring how social sciences can make the world a better place. The full  programme will be available online from January 2020.

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

‘Home’ means more than a roof over our heads. It can be crucial to our sense of ourselves and our well-being. So what might it mean to have a right to a home? And what is lost when we lose our home? We discuss the politics, philosophy, and poetry of home, exploring the fundamental connection between home and human well-being.

Speakers
Cara Nine
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University College Cork

Yousif M. Qasmiyeh 
Doctoral Researcher, University of Oxford
Writer-in-Residence, Refugee Hosts
‘Creative Encounters’ Editor, Migration and Society

Beth Watts 
Senior Research Fellow, Heriot-Watt University

Chair
Sarah Fine  
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

This event forms part of the ‘Shape the World’ series, held in the run up to the LSE Festival, a week-long series of events taking place from Monday 2 to Saturday 7 March 2020, free to attend and open to all, exploring how social sciences can make the world a better place. The full  programme will be available online from January 2020.

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

The importance of grammar is apparent when learning a new language, but there’s much more to grammar than meets the eye. As the system and structure of languages, it plays a vital role in facilitating basic communication. ‘The greater part of the world’s troubles are due to questions of grammar’, wrote de Montaigne. Join us as we probe the philosophical underpinnings of grammar and how it functions in communication, understanding, and even humour.

Speakers
Richard Hudson
Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, UCL

Guy Longworth
Reader in Philosophy, University of Warwick

Hazel Pearson
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, QMUL

Chair
Clare Moriarty
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
IRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Trinity College Dublin

Organized in conjunction with the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Aristotle is one of the most famous and influential philosophers. His work on logic, metaphysics, politics, and ethics were all pioneering, sowing the seeds of much later philosophical thought. But almost two and a half millennia later, could this rebellious student of Plato possibly have anything to say about the complexities and concerns of modern life? We explore whether Aristotle can still usefully inform our thinking today, on everything from sex and friendship to animals and politics.

Speakers
Joachim Aufderheide
Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

Sophie Grace Chappell 
Professor of Philosophy, Open University

Sophia Connell 
Lecturer in Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London

Chair
Clare Moriarty 
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
IRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Trinity College Dublin

This event is dedicated to the memory of Stephen Lewis, friend of the Forum and Honorary Treasurer for many years, who knew more about Aristotle, spycraft, and the pools than most.

Organised in conjunction with the British Society for the History of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Does fashion allow us to express our individuality or is it a case of the Emperor’s new clothing? Can we judge a book by its cover or is beauty just another manifestation of sexist and racist ideals? Does is even make sense to think of our judgements about beauty as being ethically right or wrong? Whether you wear your heart on your sleeve for fashion or think beauty should be given the boot, join us to discuss the cultural, political, and philosophical dimensions of fashion and beauty.

Speakers
Shahidha Bari
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Professor of Fashion Cultures, UAL
Author, Dressed: The Secret Life of Clothes

Yashka Jessica Moore 
Designer and writer

Heather Widdows 
John Ferguson Professor of Global Ethics, University of Birmingham
Author, Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal

Chair
Sarah Fine 
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Join us as we delve into the mystic just in time for Halloween. Philosophy often presents itself as founded on logic and rationality, but even the most rigorous of us must concede that the world can be a strange place. So how does philosophy contend with the mysterious and the inexplicable? Can it really be logic all the way down, or might rationality stand on something a little spookier?

Speakers
Lauren Kassell 
Professor of History of Science and Medicine, University of Cambridge

Richard Pettigrew 
Professor of Philosophy, University of Bristol

Nisha Ramayya
Lecturer in Creative Writing, QMUL

Chair
Shahidha Bari 
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Professor of Fashion Cultures, UAL

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

There is a rich tradition of claiming therapeutic powers for philosophy, but if philosophy is the love of wisdom, is ignorance bliss? Is philosophy only about sharp arguments and subtle distinctions, or can it help us find better ways to live? Join us as we discuss whether thinking philosophically can be a form of self-help.

Speakers
Beverley Clack
Professor in Philosophy, Oxford Brookes

Molly Macdonald
Lecturer in Literary Theory, QMUL

John Skorupski
Professor of Moral Philosophy, St. Andrews

Chair
Shahidha Bari
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Professor of Fashion Cultures, UAL

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

The welfare and flourishing of animals is now enshrined in national and international law. But what should we do when cultural or religious traditions appear to conflict with current ideas about animal welfare? How does globalization affect the scale and type of animal exploitation? In a world where animal rights are often used as a cover for racism, how can we advocate for animals without reinstating cultural imperialism?

Speakers
David Grumett
Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ethics, University of Edinburgh

Angie Pepper
Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Birmingham

Varun Uberoi
Reader in Political Theory, Brunel University

Chair
Danielle Sands
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

Image credit: “cows #2” by Anna-Maria Pangilinan is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Workers of the world, unite! We discuss the history, politics, and ethics of strikes, and their place in the labour movement. Why do they happen and what makes for a successful strike? What justifies workers in withdrawing their labour to push bosses for improved pay and conditions? And will this event be cancelled due to strike action?!

Speakers
Jo Grady
Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations, Sheffield

Martin O’Neill
Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy, York

Waseem Yaqoob
Lecturer in the History of Modern Political Thought, Cambridge

Chair
Sarah Fine
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

The hallmark of good science is often supposed to be experiments that produce the same results when repeated. But over the last number of years, scientists have replicated a number of established, high-profile experiments and produced different results. Does it point to serious flaws and biases in the sciences? Or it is evidence of the power of science to self-correct? And what can be done to make science more replicable? We explore whether the replication crisis undermines our trust in science.

Speakers
Alexander Bird
Peter Sowerby Professor of Philosophy and Medicine, KCL

Laura Fortunato
Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford

Marcus Munafò
Professor of Biological Psychology, University of Bristol

Chair
Jonathan Birch
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Associate Professor of Philosophy, LSE

In association with the British Society for the Philosophy of Science

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

William Molyneux posed the following question: Consider a person who has been born blind and who has learnt to distinguish a globe and a cube by touch. If this person could suddenly see, would they be able to distinguish these objects by sight alone? This seventeenth-century thought experiment, known as ‘Molyneux’s problem’, received attention from some of philosophy’s greatest minds. We discuss how thinkers like Locke and Leibniz, as well as artists with visual impairments, responded to Molyneux’s challenge.

Speakers

Marjolein Degenaar
Author, Molyneux’s Problem: Three Centuries of Discussion on the Perception of Form

Barry Ginley
Equality and Access Adviser, Victoria & Albert Museum

Brian Glenney
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Norwich University

Chair
Clare Moriarty
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Teaching Fellow in Philosophy, UCD

In association with the British Society for the History of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Schopenhauer’s work prefigured important developments in philosophy, psychology, and political thought. On the two-hundredth anniversary of the publication of his The World as Will and Representation, we examine the life and work of Arthur Schopenhauer. How can we better understand his relationship with Eastern philosophy? How can his work help us address current questions in art and ethics? And what can he teach us about human suffering?

Speakers
Christine Battersby
Reader Emerita in Philosophy, University of Warwick

Christopher Janaway
Professor of Philosophy, University of Southampton

Christopher Ryan
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Education, London Metropolitan University

Chair
Danielle Sands
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Philosophers have long assumed that plants are inferior to humans and animals: static, inert, and unreflective. But recent scientific advances suggest that we may have underestimated plants. They can process information, solve problems, and communicate. We explore what plants can teach us about intelligence and agency, and ask whether plants think.

Speakers
Karine Bonneval
Visual Artist

Paco Calvo
Director, Minimal Intelligence Lab, University of Murcia

Tom Greaves
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, UEA

Chair
Danielle Sands
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

At the Philosophers’ Book Club, we select a work of fiction or non-fiction and our panel discusses its philosophical themes. For this inaugural gathering, we’ll be reading Deborah Levy’s new memoir, The Cost of Living. ‘Levy explicitly recuperates De Beauvoir’s position, not only by engaging closely with The Second Sex, but by going deeply into the philosopher’s personal struggles to reconcile sexual love with intellectual liberty’, says Kathryn Hughes.

We encourage you to read the book in advance, but it is by no means necessary. Either way, join us for lively discussion and thoughtful company.

Speakers
Edward Harcourt
Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Oxford

Kathryn Hughes
Professor of Life Writing, University of East Anglia

Deborah Levy
Poet, playwright, and author
Fellow, Columbia Institute of Ideas and Imagination

Chair
Shahidha Bari
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Senior Lecturer in Romanticism, Queen Mary University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Many people see themselves as allies, not themselves marginalized but nonetheless standing alongside members of marginalized groups in their struggle for social justice. The role of more powerful groups can be important, but some attempts at solidarity can also badly fail the very people they intend to help. We reflect on the significant questions and challenges involved in being an ally amidst the changing social justice movements of the twenty-first century. What does being an ally mean? When and why are allies important? And why do some attempts end in failure?

Speakers
Carys Afoko
Activist
Co-Founder, Level Up
Dawn Foster
Journalist, The Guardian
Sridhar Venkatapuram
Senior Lecturer of Global Health and Philosophy, KCL

Chair
Sarah Fine
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for Clement House is available here. Hong Theatre has step-free access, wheelchair space, and hearing loop system. Image of theatre here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Mental disorders are widely held to have a chemical basis best treated with medication, and contemporary psychiatry is more closely allied with the neuro- and behavioural sciences than with philosophy. So what, if anything, does philosophy have to offer psychiatry today? Exploring both historical examples and contemporary psychiatric practice, we ask what the theoretical and therapeutic benefits of a philosophically informed psychiatry might be.

Speakers
Lisa Conlan
Consultant Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Jean Khalfa
Senior Lecturer in French Studies, Trinity College, Cambridge
Stella Sandford
Professor of Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University London
Alistair Stewart
Consultant Psychiatrist,Fairfield General Hospital, Bury

Chair
Danielle Sands
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

Part of the LSE Festival 2019 & in conjunction with the European Institute, LSE

All welcome | Free to attend | Ticketed

FULLY BOOKED – RETURNS QUEUE IN OPERATION
Further details available on LSE Festival 2019: New World Disorders – Ticket Information

Marx famously wrote in the nineteenth century of the spectre of communism haunting Europe, and the end of the Cold War might be considered to mark its exorcism. But has communism really been laid to rest? Despite the fall of the Berlin Wall, Derrida certainly thought not. He argued that in the ‘new world disorder’, ideologies like neo-liberalism were enmeshed with communism, haunted by the spectre of communisms yet to come. Is Derrida’s analysis still applicable to the post-9/11 world? And have new spectres appeared in our midst?

Speakers
Robert Eaglestone
Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought, Royal Holloway, University of London
Simon Glendinning
Professor of European Philosophy, LSE
Maja Zehfuss
Professor of International Politics, University of Manchester

Chair
Danielle Sands
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for Clement House is available here. Hong Theatre has step-free access, wheelchair space, and hearing loop system. Image of theatre here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Disgust is deceptively simple: physical repulsion to something revolting or potentially contagious. Behind this straightforward exterior, however, lies the ‘rich universe of the disgusting’ (William Ian Miller). Within this universe dwell questions about ugliness and beauty, the animal and the civilized, even life and death. We delve deep into disgust and the many ways it has shaped our thought, our art, and our sense of self.

Speakers
Jo Applin
Reader in the History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art
Tina Chanter
Professor of Philosophy and Gender Studies, Kingston University
Sophie Russell
Lecturer in Social Psychology, University of Surrey

Chair
Danielle Sands
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

W. E. B. Du Bois is usually remembered as a sociologist and civil rights campaigner, and his analysis of race and racism continues to shape the way social scientists think about these issues today. But a genuine polymath, he was also a skilled philosopher and in this event we will consider Du Bois’s philosophical thought, from art, propaganda, and science, to the very purpose of philosophy itself.

Speakers
Liam Kofi Bright
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, LSE
Brian Kelly
Reader in History, Queen’s University Belfast
Meera Sabaratnam
Senior Lecturer in International Relations, SOAS

Chair
Jonathan Birch
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Associate Professor of Philosophy, LSE

In association with the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, LSE

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Mood is an ephemeral thing, changing with the seasons and eluding our control. Why are our moods so susceptible to drugs, the weather, and music alike? Hegel wrote of Geist and Heidegger rhapsodized over Stimmung, so can an age have a mood too? And if so, how do we read a Zeitgeist or measure the spirit of a time? Join us as we get moody.

Speakers
Ben Highmore
Professor of Cultural Studies, University of Sussex
Carolyn Pedwell
Reader in Cultural Studies, University of Kent
Anil Sebastian
Singer, composer, producer
Co-founder and director of London Contemporary Voices choir

Chair
Shahidha Bari
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Senior Lecturer in Romanticism, Queen Mary University of London

Image credit: Heath Harris, ‘hardday‘ (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Though often overlooked in discussions of the Enlightenment, Ireland was a vibrant centre for intellectuals of many stripes. Jonathan Swift, Edmund Burke, George Berkeley, and many others made lasting contributions to literature, philosophy, politics, and science. How did the turbulent political times of eighteenth-century Ireland affect this intellectual landscape? Is there something distinctively Irish about this writing? We discuss the thought and times of this remarkable group of thinkers.

Speakers
Ian McBride
Foster Professor of Irish History, Hertford College, Oxford
Katherine O’Donnell
Associate Professor in History of Ideas, UCD
Tom Stoneham
Professor of Philosophy, University of York

Chair
Clare Moriarty
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Teaching Fellow in Philosophy, UCD

In association with the British Society for the History of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

Part of the LSE Festival 2019

All welcome | Free to attend | Ticketed

Tickets available on LSE Festival 2019: New World Disorders – Ticket Information

In this age of utopian technologies, we can design mechanical limbs for amputees and chemically engineer happiness for depressives. From the fluoride in our water to genetically modified babies, scientific advances pose complex new ethical questions. We explore the major bioethical issues of our time. Is philosophy braced for this brave new world? Are scientists and engineers morally obliged to design a utopia? Or are things best left to ‘nature’?

Speakers
Richard Ashcroft
Professor of Bioethics, Queen Mary University of London
David Healy
Professor of Psychiatry, Bangor University
Emily Jackson
Professor of Law, LSE

Chair
Shahidha Bari
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Senior Lecturer in Romanticism, Queen Mary University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for Clement House is available here. Hong Theatre has step-free access, wheelchair space, and hearing loop system. Image of theatre here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

World-class athletes push themselves beyond normal limits and transform their bodies through training and diet. But in the wake of various scandals across the world of sport, we know pharmaceuticals can also play a role. Doping is considered a form of cheating, but should it be? And with the arrival of ‘smart drugs’, this is no longer only a worry for sports. Can we ensure a level playing field, in sports and beyond, or will the advances in drug development always outpace regulation? We explore the philosophy behind all things doping, competing, and cheating.

Speakers
John William Devine
Lecturer in Sports Ethics and Integrity, Swansea University
Vanessa Heggie
Lecturer in the History of Medicine, University of Birmingham
David Papineau
Professor of Philosophy, KCL

Chair
Clare Moriarty
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Teaching Fellow in Philosophy, UCD

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for Clement House is available here. Hong Theatre has step-free access, wheelchair space, and hearing loop system. Image of theatre here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Memorials have been fiercely debated in recent times. What roles do memorials play in a society and how do these acts of remembering contribute to a community’s sense of identity? What gets remembered and what forgotten, and who decides? When, if ever, should memorials be removed? We discuss past and present controversies around public memorializing, from Ground Zero and Confederate monuments to Rhodes Must Fall and Trafalgar Square.

Speakers
Michelle Codrington-Rogers
Activist; Junior Vice-President, NASUWT
Margaret O’Callaghan
Reader in History, Queen’s University Belfast
Rahul Rao
Senior Lecturer in Politics, SOAS

Chair
Sarah Fine
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Sheik Zayed Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

War scars human history and continues to mar lives across the globe. Is war part of human nature? Is it ever morally justified? And with the development of advanced weapon technologies, will future wars be more destructive than ever before? Bringing together philosophy, history, and cultural evolution, we explore the past, present, and future of war and ask what, if anything, can be done to make war less likely.

Speakers
Susanne Burri
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, LSE
Michael Muthukrishna
Assistant Professor of Economic Psychology, LSE
Michael Robillard
Research Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Joseph Maiolo
Professor of International History, Department of War Studies, KCL

Chair
Jonathan Birch
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy
Associate Professor of Philosophy, LSE

In association with the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, LSE and the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Sheik Zayed Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Lab-grown meat promises a future of burgers, meatballs, and even foie gras, without the side order of animal suffering and environmental damage. But is fake meat a real solution to these problems? And will its success lead to the extinction of farm animals? If lab-grown meat is the ethical option, how can we persuade consumers to overcome their aversion to it? In this Forum event, we’ll discuss the science, ethics, and meaning of artificial meat.

Speakers
Anat Pick, Reader in Film Studies, Queen Mary, University of London
Mark Post, Professor of Vascular Physiology, Maastricht University
Adam Shriver, Research Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Applied Ethics and Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities

Chair
Danielle Sands, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy; Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Organized in conjunction with the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for Clement House is available here. Hong Theatre has step-free access, wheelchair space, and hearing loop system. Image of theatre here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Science is often mistakenly thought to involved nothing but cold reason. In reality, very human acts of creativity appear everywhere. We explore the role of imaginative thinking in science. Are thought experiments sources of knowledge or just hypotheses? Can a story or narrative also be a scientific explanation? And how should a scientist balance creative thinking with respect for the facts?

Speakers
Steven French, Professor of Philosophy of Science, University of Leeds
Melanie Keene, Fellow, Homerton College, University of Cambridge
Alice Murphy, Postgraduate Researcher, University of Leeds

Chair
Jonathan Birch, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy; Associate Professor of Philosophy, LSE

Supported by the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, LSE.

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Sheik Zayed Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

When the French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau set out to write his Confessions in 1782, he proposed ‘to set before my fellow-mortals a man in all the truth of nature; this man shall be myself’. Philosophers have long engaged with the confessional form, from Plato and Augustine to Derrida and Cixous. Is biography an inherently philosophical medium? How does life inflect the philosophy of any given thinker? Or should we make a distinction between the facts of a philosopher’s life and their philosophical thought? Join us at the Forum for this discussion of philosophy and the art of biography.

Speakers
Hannah Dawson, Senior Lecturer in the History of Political Thought, KCL; Author, Life Lessons from Hobbes
Robert Rowland Smith, Quondam Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford; Author, Autobiophilosophy and Driving with Socrates
Helen Tyson, Lecturer in 20th and 21st Century British Literature, University of Sussex

Chair
Shahidha Bari, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy; Senior Lecturer in Romanticism, Queen Mary University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for Clement House is available here. Hong Theatre has step-free access, wheelchair space, and hearing loop system. Image of theatre
here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

What is protest art? What are its limits and what are its possibilities? Might there be a unique role for art in protest or does the political statement diminish the art? And once a piece of art becomes popular in the art world, can it still be protest art? We bring together those at the forefront of making and thinking about protest art to discuss what it has been, what it is, and what it might be.

Speakers
Sacha Golob, Director, Centre for Philosophy and the Visual Arts, King’s College London
Robert Montgomery, Poet and artist; Author of Echos of Voices in the High Towers
Stephanie Schwartz, Lecturer in American Modernism, UCL

Chair
Sarah Fine, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy; Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

Supported by Centre for Philosophy and the Visual Arts, King’s College London.

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

What are black holes, why are physicists so sure they exist, and how did we come to know about them? Can we know, or at least imagine, what happens inside a black hole? The science of black holes has long inspired science fiction writers, but might science fiction help us understand science fact? We discuss black holes, philosophy, and the long-standing and productive relationship between science and sci-fi.

Speakers
Stephen Baxter, Author of Xeelee: Vengeance, Obelisk, the Long Earth series with Terry Prachett, and the Time Odyssey series with Arthur C. Clarke
Amelie Saintonge, Associate Professor of Astrophysics, UCL
Karim Thébault, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Science, University of Bristol

Chair
Jonathan Birch, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy; Assistant Professor of Philosophy, LSE

Supported by the British Society for the Philosophy of Science

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for Clement House is available here. Hong Theatre has step-free access, wheelchair space, and hearing loop system. Image of theatre here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Language allows us to communicate. It also allows us to charm, shock, delight, and offend. It is political and we can use it to harm and manipulate. And some words are just not okay in polite company. Should there ever be restraints on what can be said? If so, what kind? We navigate the deeper issues around swearing, slurring, and slander. Swear-jars at the ready!

Speakers
Emma Byrne, AI Researcher; Author, Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language
John Gallagher, Lecturer in Early Modern History, University of Leeds
Rebecca Roache, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Royal Holloway, University of London

Chair
Clare Moriarty, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy

Supported by the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Philosophers have diligently examined consciousness, but what do they have to say about our nightly loss of consciousness? In an age of mindfulness, is there something to be said for sleepfulness too? And for those of us still rubbing our eyes at 4am, what is it that keeps us awake in the wee small hours? With apparently two-thirds of Britons suffering from sleep problems, this Forum event promises to be your wake-up call, exploring the science, philosophy and literature of sleep.

Speakers
Marina Benjamin, Author, The Middlepause and Insomnia; Senior Editor, Aeon
Russell Foster, Professor of Circadian Neuroscience, University of Oxford
Simon Morgan Wortham, Professor in Humanities, Kingston University

Chair
Shahidha Bari, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy; Senior Lecturer in Romanticism, Queen Mary University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Sheik Zayed Theatre in particular, available here.

Photo credit: Janne Moren, ‘Commute’ (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Humans are not mere brains in vats. We are living, moving creatures, and this fact matters for not only for how we think about ourselves, but also how we think about thinking itself. We consider dance’s contribution to philosophical debates about knowledge. What can we learn from dance? And can we learn through dance? Might dance itself be unique way of knowing?

Speakers
Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, Reader in Theatre and Performance, University of Surrey
Hamish MacPherson, Choreographer and researcher
Anna Pakes, Reader in Dance, University of Roehampton

Chair
Sarah Fine, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy; Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

What if instead of worrying about truth as a fundamental, objective notion, we just focused on what works? What if we just believed in what is practical or beneficial to us to believe? Pragmatism is the great American contribution to philosophy, and it has serious implications for politics, philosophy, and science. Join us to discuss the history of this idea, and what might be entailed by ‘doing what works’.

Speakers
Matthew Festenstein, Professor of Politics, University of York
Clara Fischer, Marie Curie-Sklodowska Fellow, Centre for Gender, Feminisms and Sexuality, University College Dublin
Paniel Reyes Cardenas, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, UPAEP, Puebla México

Chair
Clare Moriarty, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy

Supported by the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

Photo credit: Nicolaitan (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Humans have always co-existed with animals, using them as tools, resources, and, more recently, companions. More abstractly, animals help us to understand ourselves; they are ‘good to think with’ (Claude Lévi-Strauss). What roles do animals play in our understanding of issues as wide as ethics, art, friendship, and technology? And what does it mean for understanding ourselves if we seriously acknowledge our relationships with other animals? Coinciding with the publication of The Edinburgh Companion to Animal Studies, we will consider the relevance of animals to a wide range of contemporary concerns.

Speakers
John Ó Maoilearca, Professor of Film, Kingston University
Undine Sellbach, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Dundee
Lynn Turner, Senior Lecturer in Visual Culture, Goldsmiths, University of London

Chair
Danielle Sands, Fellow, the Forum and Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Women and minority groups are significantly underrepresented in politics and various other walks of life. ‘Affirmative action’ is one response in tackling this enduring issue. But what is it? Who is it for? And why does it generate so much controversy? We discuss these questions and explore the relationship between affirmative action and social justice.

Speakers
Elizabeth Anderson, John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, University of Michigan
Omar Khan, Director, Runnymede; Governor, University of East London

Chair
Sarah Fine, Fellow, the Forum; Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

‘All that I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football’, observed Albert Camus. And it is football, above all other sports, that so many philosophers revere. So there’s everything to play for in this panel discussion exploring the relationship between football and philosophy. We give it 110% in our exploration of what makes for a ‘good game’ and whether philosophical principles can be put into play on the pitch.

Speakers
Simon Critchley, Han Jonas Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Research, NY
Gerald Moore, Associate Professor of French, University of Durham
Emily Ryall, Reader in Applied Philosophy, University of Gloucestershire

Chair
Shahidha Bari, Fellow, the Forum; Senior Lecturer in Romanticism, Queen Mary University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

‘Reason’ and ‘knowledge’, and the relationship between them, were major themes in Enlightenment philosophy, and drew the attention of some of the most respected philosophers of the time, including Decartes, Leibniz, and Spinoza, often referred to as the rationalists, and Locke, Berkeley, and Hume, the so-called empiricists. Since then, the empiricists have tended to have the upper hand in intellectual life, if not always in philosophy. In this event, we discuss what was at stake in these debates, what we might say about these ideas today, and whether we’ve been too quick to dismiss rationalism.

Speakers
Alexander Douglas, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of St. Andrews
Peter Millican, Gilbert Ryle Fellow and Professor of Philosophy, Hertford College, Oxford University
Kirsten Walsh, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Nottingham

Chair
Clare Moriarty, Fellow, the Forum

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

For Victor Hugo, ‘all forms of the multiple reality, actions and ideas, man and humanity’ can be found in Shakespeare. Perhaps this is the reason why, over 400 years after his death, we continue to study, perform, and re-read his plays in search of truths about ourselves and the world. Should we think of Shakespeare as a philosopher? Can reading him philosophically add to our understanding of his work, or is it simply another way of trying to contain this ‘myriad-minded’ (Coleridge) thinker?

Speakers
Jessica Chiba, Teaching Fellow in English, Royal Holloway, University of London
John Crace, Journalist, critics, and author of the Penguin Incomplete Shakespeare series
Tim Crouch, Playwright and theatre maker

Chair
Danielle Sands, Fellow, the Forum; Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

Is everything we do the product of unconscious brain processes that are beyond our control? If so, what happens to moral and criminal responsibility if a defendant can always argue, ‘my brain made me do it’? And if free will does exist, could other animals possess it too? We bring together a philosopher, a psychiatrist, and a neuroscientist to discuss what recent research into the brain might mean for our understanding of free will.

Speakers
Matthew Broome, Chair in Psychiatry and Youth Mental Health, University of Birmingham
Nura Sidarus, Postdoctoral Researcher in Cognitive Science, Institut Jean Nicod, Ecole Normale Supérieure
Helen Steward, Professor Professor of Philosophy of Mind and Action, University of Leeds

Chair
Jonathan Birch, Fellow, the Forum; Assistant Professor of Philosophy, LSE

In conjunction with the British Society for the Philosophy of Science

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

‘To philosophize is to learn to die’, writes Michel de Montaigne, in a lineage of death-preoccupied thinkers reaching back to Plato’s Socrates. Can philosophers fulfil such a lofty injunction? How might learning to die teach us how to live, or how to live-on while mourning another’s death? We bring together practitioners and thinkers to discuss how medicine, technology, art, and philosophy might make a good death possible.

Speakers
Conor Cunningham, Associate Professor in Theology and Philosophy, University of Nottingham
Laura Salisbury, Professor in Medicine and English Literature, University of Exeter
Louise Winter, Funeral Director, ‘Poetic Endings’; Founder and organizer, Life. Death. Whatever Festival

Chair
Danielle Sands, Fellow, the Forum; Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

How seriously should philosophical worries about mathematics be taken? And should mathematical results ever force our philosophical hands? Philosophers and mathematicians have often found plenty to disagree about throughout history, but there have been many fruitful interactions too. We indulge in a bit of group therapy, examining some key cases of philosophical and mathematical interaction. Does infinitesimal mathematics commit us to an infinitely divisible world? Do the prime mating cycles of cicadas tell us something about the existence of mathematical objects? Let’s run the numbers…

Speakers

Nicholas Bingham
Professor of Mathematics, Imperial College London

Tim Button
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Cambridge

Mary Leng
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of York

Adam Ostaszewski
Professor of Mathematics, LSE

Chair
Clare Moriarty
Fellow, The Forum

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome  |  Free to attend  |  First come, first served at the door

Looking for love? Ask your computer, since 1 in 5 couples now first meet online. Have we outsourced love to abstract algorithms? And what about elections or our summer getaways? From the targeted marketing of political campaigns to the predictive typing that preempts your Google search, machines may know us better than we know ourselves. We explore how far modern life is mediated by the computation of data, and ask whether we should trust in the algorithm or find ways to outwit it.

Speakers
Abeba Birhane
Postgraduate Researcher in Cognitive Science, University College Dublin

Neil Lawrence
Professor of Machine Learning, University of Sheffield
Director of Machine Learning, Amazon

Martin Robbins
Writer for The Guardian, Vice, and Little Atoms on AI

Chair
Shahidha Bari
Fellow, The Forum
Senior Lecturer in Romanticism, Queen Mary, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome  |  Free to attend  |  First come, first served at the door

Race continues to shape the political, cultural, and economic character of our societies, with communities and resources determined along racial lines. But what is race and why is it so significant? Is it simply another form of social classification grounded in inequality, conflict, and violence? If so, how are we to understand race as a resource for cultural cohesion rooted in shared histories? Our speakers will consider what we understand by race, and the relationships between race, inequality, and prejudice.

In association with the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Speakers
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Professor of Philosophy and Law, New York University

Priyamvada Gopal
Reader in Anglophone and Related Literature, University of Cambridge

Nasar Meer
Professor of Sociology, University of Edinburgh

Chair
Danielle Sands
Fellow, The Forum
Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Sheik Zayed Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome  |  Free to attend  |  First come, first served at the door

All welcome | Free to attend | First come, first served at the door

What is disability and how has it been understood through history and across different cultures? How is disability presented in the arts and in our changing idea of what it means to be human? Is the term ‘disability’ useful for the development of disability rights or does it fail to capture the diversity of disabled experience? We will address these questions and consider the nature of disabled experience and the ways in which society is disabling.

Speakers
Claire Jones, Lecturer in the History of Medicine, University of Kent
Fiona Kumari Campbell, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of Dundee
Hannah Thompson, Professor of French and Critical Disability Studies, Royal Holloway University of London

Chair
Danielle Sands, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy; Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for Clement House is available here. Hong Theatre has step-free access, wheelchair space, and hearing loop system. Image of theatre
here.

This event is free and open to all, but requires a ticket. Tickets will be available from 12 noon on Tuesday 6 February 2018. 

Part of the LSE Festival | For full details see Ticket Information

If evolution is a ‘struggle for existence’, why do we witness so much altruism in nature? From bacteria to baboons, the natural world is full of spectacular examples of organisms cooperating with one another. In the early 1960s, W. D. Hamilton changed the way we think about how such behaviour evolves, and his pioneering work kick-started a research programme now known as ‘social evolution theory’. Our panel of biologists and philosophers of biology will discuss the legacy of Hamilton’s ideas, and the evolution of altruism in microbes, insects, humans, and the cells of our own bodies.

Speakers
Jonathan Birch
Fellow, The Forum
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, LSE

Heikki Helanterä
Group Leader, Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, University of Helsinki

Hannah Rubin
Postdoctoral Researcher in Theoretical Philosophy, University of Groningen

Chair
Bryan Roberts
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, LSE

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building here. Specific information about the theatre will be made available when room in confirmed.

All welcome  |  Free to attend  |  First come, first served at the door

**Please note unusual venue**

One of the twentieth century’s greatest philosophers, Wittgenstein published only one book. To celebrate its centenary, we revisit Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. An unusual work of philosophy by any standard, it was written on the front lines during World War I and purported to distinguish sense from nonsense. Wittgenstein felt that in the Tractatus he had solved all the problems of philosophy. Appropriately, once finished writing the book, he abandoned philosophy, only returning years later to focus on ordinary language and its philosophical potential. In this panel, we take a look back at the man, his early life and work, and consider why his thinking has been of such enduring interest.

In association with the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Speakers
Ian Ground
Visiting Research Fellow in Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire
Vice-President, The British Wittgenstein Society

Stephen Mulhall
Professor of Philosophy, University of Oxford

Chon Tejedor
Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Valencia
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire

Chair
Clare Moriarty
Fellow, The Forum

All welcome  |  Free to attend  |  First come, first served at the door

Are bats conscious, and how can we tell? What is it like to use sound to navigate? In a classic paper called ‘What Is It Like to Be a Bat?’, Thomas Nagel used the bat’s capacity for echolocation to introduce philosophical problems concerning conscious experience. But the example is usually discussed in ignorance of what the lives of bats are actually like. This dialogue brings together a philosopher and a bat scientist to discuss the latest research into the minds of bats.

In conjunction with the CPNSS, LSE

Speakers
Alison Fairbrass
Postgraduate researcher in biodiversity and the built environment, UCL

Craig French
Assistant Professor in Philosophy, University of Nottingham

Chair
Jonathan Birch
Fellow, The Forum
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, LSE

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfson Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome  |  Free to attend  |  First come, first served at the door

Marriage is an odd mix of sex, religion, and politics. Our speakers ask what marriage is and whether there is there any distinctive moral value in it. Should the state promote it? Is it possible to have an ‘equal’ marriage, or is marriage fundamentally an oppressive institution? Should marriage be rejected in favour of civil partnerships, or something else, or perhaps nothing else?

Speakers
Clare Chambers
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Cambridge

Sir Paul Coleridge
Former high court judge and Chairman, The Marriage Foundation

Peter Tatchell
Activist and Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation

Chair
Sarah Fine
Fellow, The Forum
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, King’s College London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for Clement House is available here. Hong Theatre has step-free access, wheelchair space, and hearing loop system. Image of theatre here.

All welcome  |  Free to attend  |  First come, first served at the door

‘Hell is other people’, noted Jean Paul Sartre—rather rudely, it might seem to an outside observer. But is the pursuit of philosophical understanding an inherently solitary pursuit by its nature? From Augustine to Kant, philosophy has cherished the image of the deep thinker immersed in solitudinous reflection. But how does solitude differ from loneliness? And in an age of increasing social atomization, can we think about our lonely condition in ways that might allow us to overcome it? We explore the idea of loneliness as an aesthetic and socio-political phenomena, as well as an existential question.

Speakers
John Burnside
Professor in Creative Writing, St Andrews University
Poet and novelist, winner of both the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award

Barbara Taylor
Professor of Humanities, Queen Mary, University of London

James Warren
Professor of Ancient Philosophy, University of Cambridge

Chair
Shahidha Bari
Fellow, The Forum
Senior Lecturer in Romanticism, Queen Mary, University of London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Sheik Zayed Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome  |  Free to attend  |  First come, first served at the door

From the recent destruction of Palmyra and the looting of the National Museum of Iraq, cultural artefacts are one of the many casualties of armed conflict. What exactly is cultural property and whose property is it? How should we weigh its value against other priorities during times of conflict? What risks should be taken to protect it, and who is responsible for rebuilding and restoring when the conflict is over? Our speakers discuss the political and ethical issues around culture in war zones.

Speakers
Helen Frowe
Professor of Practical Philosophy and Director of the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace, Stockholm University

Issam Kourbaj
Lector in Art, University of Cambridge
Syrian artist

Vernon Rapley
Director of Cultural Heritage Protection and Security, Victoria & Albert Museum
Special Advisor for Cultural Protection Fund, The British Council

Eleanor Robson
Professor of Ancient Middle Eastern History and Director of the Nahrein Network, UCL

Chair
Sarah Fine
Fellow, The Forum
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, King’s College London

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome  |  Free to attend  |  First come, first served at the door

Is it possible to express the richness, variety, and depth of our inner experience, our thoughts and feelings? If so, what is the best way to do it? Should we turn to literature or to philosophy? And what can they teach each other about understanding, expressing, and performing the self? In this event, award-winning novelist Eimear McBride will discuss these questions with writer and academic Kaye Mitchell.

Speakers
Eimear McBride
Inaugural Creative Fellow at the Beckett Research Centre and author of A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing and The Lesser Bohemians

Kaye Mitchell
Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, University of Manchester

Chair
Danielle Sands
Fellow, The Forum
Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London

Image credit: Matias Sierra, ‘Self-taught‘

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Sheik Zayed Theatre in particular, available here.

All welcome  |  Free to attend  |  First come, first served at the door

Speakers
Adam Roberts, Professor of Nineteenth Century Literature, Royal Holloway, University of London
Bryan W. Roberts, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, LSE
Emily Thomas, Lecturer in Philosophy, Durham University

Chair
Clare Moriarty, Fellow, The Forum; Doctoral Researcher, King’s College London

Born of science fiction, thinking about time travel has allowed us to visit possible and lost worlds, and rediscover the past through modern eyes. It also raises big puzzles: If you travelled back in time and killed your grandfather when he was a young man, would you still exist? Would changing the past mean you returned to a different present? What about travelling to the future? Two philosophers and a science fiction writer discuss time travel, and how thinking and writing about it has changed science and philosophy.

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the New Academic Building in general, and the Wolfon Theatre in particular, available here.

Speakers
Serena Ferente, Senior Lecturer in Medieval European History, King’s College London
Carmen Pavel, Lecturer in International Politics, King’s College London
David Runciman, Professor of Politics, University of Cambridge

Chair
Sarah Fine, Fellow, The Forum; Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, King’s College London

The Brexit debate saw a revival in talk of ‘sovereignty’. But what exactly is it, and why is it so highly prized? What are its essential features and what are its limits? In a globalized world, is sovereignty something modern states can achieve? We will explore this elusive concept, and ask whether it is still a useful concept in the twenty-first century.

Quick accessibility map here. Full access information for the Old Building in general, and the Old Theatre in particular, available here.

Speakers
Nicky Clayton, Professor of Comparative Cognition, University of Cambridge
Mark Cocker, Author and naturalist

Chair
Jonathan Birch, Fellow, The Forum; Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, LSE

What is it like to be a bird? What do they think and how do they feel? What can comparative psychology tell us about the intelligence of birds? And what can we learn about birds, and about ourselves, from our encounters with them? In this dialogue, world-leading comparative psychologist Nicola Clayton and author and naturalist Mark Cocker give us a bird’s eye view on the world, and consider how human thought and culture have been shaped by interaction with birds.