Philosophy For Our Times

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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. Don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The future of European thought What is analytic philosophy and what is continental philosophy? And, perhaps most importantly, does this distinction make any sense? The division between these two branches has divided Western philosophy for decades now, with the Anglo-Saxon world largely associated with the analytical school, and the European continent with the, well, continental one. In this panel, our speakers discuss the future of thought for Western philosophy and Europe. Is the division between these schools obsolete? Are they both under threat? What can we expect? Join our three philosophy professors, Christoph Schuringa, Genia Schönbaumsfeld, and Babette Babich to discuss these themes. Hosted by Danielle Sands. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Language shapes how we think, remember, and reason. But does it help us to uncover the fundamental nature of reality? Join the author of Language vs. Reality and linguistic anthropologist, Nick Enfield, as he explores why language excels at persuasion but falters at faithfully representing reality. From media spin to courtroom rhetoric, he reveals how words reframe our world, often without us noticing. Drawing on two decades of research, Enfield shows why understanding the limits and power of language is essential in an age of misinformation and cognitive bias. Nick Enfield is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sydney and Director of the Sydney Centre for Language Research. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Philosophers cannot stop talking about consciousness - what are its limits? What is it made of? What does it allow us? This podcast is part of that conversation, but from a more experimental perspective. Join biologist and researcher Rupert Sheldrake as he discusses consciousness with philosopher Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes from the lens of psychedelics. Once on the fringes of academic and popular interest, psychedelics have recently moved towards the mainstream as their potential in expanding our awareness and connecting us to others is progressively revealed. Both Rupert and Peter have much intimacy with the topic at hand, and creatively draw lessons from it to muse on the inner workings of our mind. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Why we worship without knowing it What should be included within the remit of philosophy? Religion? Love? Hair? Join well-known public speakers and writers Alain de Botton and Alex O'Connor as they talk through what philosophy can offer us, why we should study love, and what the role of religion is in philosophy and in our lives. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Over the past decades, neuroscience has blossomed, positioning itself as a kind of master discipline over everything else. For who understands the brain surely understands all of human activity and creation? Or not? Neuroscience's reach has extended past its scientific remit and into the world of philosophy and its major questions. What is a human? What is consciousness? Are we free? And so on. Yet its utility in this field, and in general, is still being fiercely debated, with its proponents and detractors arguing on the one side that it is the key to the universe, and on the other that it is a bunch of garbage. Join this engaging conversation from 2011 where Iain McGilchrist, famous psychologist and researcher of the brain, the late neuroscientist and neurobiologist Colin Blakemore, and journalist Bryan Appleyard delve into the nitty-gritty of neuroscience and what it has to say on major philosophical questions. Post-realist philosopher Hilary Lawson hosts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What is nothing? Can it be defined, either philosophically or scientifically? Or will the exploration of nothing bring, ultimately, to nothing? The philosophical exploration of nothingness is an ancient one, from the mysterious number zero through theological understandings of the absence of God right to modern physics and ideas of the void. Join leading theoretical physicists David Deutsch and Lee Smolin, alongside science writer Amanda Gefter, as they discuss the edges of their understanding of nothing, including what something is, what physics tells us, and the extent to which we require esotericism to comprehend it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Why are we fascinated by apocalyptic stories? Join the team at the IAI for a reading of four Halloween-themed articles, written by historian and philosopher Natalie Lawrence, professor of political philosophy Matthew Festenstein, and professor of comparative literature Florian Mussgnug. From the allure of the end times to the symbolic value of monsters, this episode is a spooky journey through all things macabre. Natalie Lawrence is a researcher in history and the philosophy of science at the University of Cambridge, specialising in the natural histories of exotic monsters. Matthew Festenstein is a professor of political philosophy at the University of York where he is the former director of the Morrell Centre for Toleration and head of the politics department. Florian Mussgnug is professor of comparative literature and Vice Dean International for Arts and Humanities at University College London. To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Einstein was called “slow” at school, J. K. Rowling collected a dozen rejections, and Walt Disney was once fired for “lacking imagination.” We love stories of perseverance—but what’s the cost of never letting go? In this conversation, psychoanalyst Adam Phillips argues that our obsession with endurance can have hidden, corrosive effects. He invites us to consider giving up not as failure, but as a creative act: a way to revise who we are, resist the tyranny of completion, and make room for lives that fit. Adam Phillips is a leading British psychoanalyst and acclaimed essayist, celebrated for bringing psychoanalytic ideas into everyday life with clarity and wit. He is the author of more than twenty books, including On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored, Darwin’s Worms, Going Sane, On Balance, Attention Seeking, and On Wanting to Change. He has served as a child psychotherapist in the NHS and is the general editor of the new Penguin translations of Sigmund Freud. Health journalist Claudia Canavan hosts. Don't give up on sending us an email at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Slavoj Žižek is back in a new interview where he takes us through his thoughts on the role of philosophy, the future of sex, his fear and love of AI and, as always, so much more. Tune in to hear one of contemporary philosophy's most original and darkly comedic minds expose his thoughts on the present and where we are heading - though that is impossible to know. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What should time mean to us? Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes is a philosopher of mind who specialises in the thought of Alfred North Whitehead, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Benedict de Spinoza, and in fields pertaining to panpsychism and altered states of mind. In this talk, he combines insights from psychedelic experiences with an intriguing view put forward by Spinoza: that the mind can enter a rare state of eternity, not as a spirit enduring beyond the corpse, but as a mind collapsing into the eternal. Don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hugely influential in the latter decades of the 20th century, postmodernism transformed many academic disciplines and culture at large. Associated with an attack on objective truth and the uniqueness of meaning, it called into question the whole edifice of knowledge which Western culture had previously glorified. But it left many lost, and in the wake of a polarising post-truth world, there is a widespread recognition that we need to move on. Feminist and post-colonial critics though claim there is a danger that instead we risk retreating to the questionable certainties of the past. Alongside defenders of objective truth like Richard Dawkins and Noam Chomsky, figures like Jordan Peterson argue for a return to moral certainties and belief in the existence of God. Are there viable alternatives to postmodernism that are not simply a return to belief in universal truth? Are metamodernism or model-theoretic realism possible ways forward? Or is the chaos initiated by postmodernism so profound that the only credible approach is to return to the Enlightenment notion that we can arrive at the objective truth? Don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As ChatGPT and AI increase their presence in our lives, have we interrogated enough what this means for, and about, our collective psyche? In one of the most original critiques of ChatGPT, Slovenian Lacanian philosopher Alenka Zupančič interprets large language models as a form of our collective unconscious that has absorbed all our discourse at the expense of the subject, shutting down emancipatory possibilities. She analyses the Right's use of ChatGPT, the evolution of irony, and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Enlightenment has faced a lot of criticism in recent years - its defenders and detractors often come head to head, scrambling to articulate its ultimate value or lack thereof to contemporary society. This podcast contributes to this wider debate and question facing all those interested in philosophy and politics: Are Enlightenment ideas salvageable? Or are they too intrinsically tainted with the racism of their times? If so, what do we do next? Join Birmingham City University Professor Kehinde Andrews in this exclusive interview as he lays out his provocative claims on the limited utility of Enlightenment thought. What do you think? Do you agree with Kehinde? Who is your philosophical reference? Email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! To witness such topics discussed live in London, buy tickets and join the conversation: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We all want to live the good life. But how many of us can claim to be truly content? Join philosopher and evolutionary biologist Massimo Pigliucci as he argues that pleasure, character, and a healthy dose of doubt, form the basis of the good life, and that purpose in life is crucial to realising our potential. Massimo Pigliucci is a renowned philosopher and professor at the City College of New York. He is the author of several books, including, 'How to be a Stoic' and 'Beyond Stoicism'. A former co-host of the Rationally Speaking Podcast and a self-proclaimed sceptic, Pigliucci is a champion of Enlightenment notions of reason and rationality. Don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Truth, delusion and psychedelic reality Do psychedelics reveal hidden layers of reality, or are we simply tripping? Psychedelics are back in the cultural zeitgeist, this time as a treatment for mental health issues. However, critics argue that psychedelics only work by replacing mental illness with a distorted view of reality - but, is this an accurate assessment? A study from Imperial College London suggests that after taking psychedelics people get better at future life events. Visual acuity is also known to increase, suggesting people become less delusional, not more, when taking psychedelics. Should we see the psychedelic experience as showing us something true about the nature of reality? Or is it merely a distortion? James Rucker is a Consultant Psychiatrist and a Senior Clinical Lecturer in mood disorders and psychopharmacology at the Centre for Affective Disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London. Julian Baggini is a philosopher, journalist and author of over 20 books about philosophy for the general reader. He is the co-founder and editor of "The Philosophers’ Magazine", and also writes and broadcasts for The Guardian and the BBC. Eileen is an Ecuadorean-Scottish creative director, artist, and explorer based in London. She is the founder of Tayos, an organisation supporting the protection of endangered habitats in Ecuador as well as exploring their relationship to nature and its role in wellbeing through art, music, and science. Don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The unconscious has become a well-known feature of our human lived experience since Freud. We often refer to unwanted impulses, suppressed thoughts, unconscious desires, and the like. But what IS the unconscious? Is it just an easy excuse for our behaviour? Or is it a necessary piece of what it means to be human? Join our diverse and rich panel as they discuss, and disagree, over this question: Josh Cohen is a literature professor and psychoanalyst, Barbara Tversky is a professor of psychology, and Edward Harcourt is a philosopher. What do you think? Can the unconscious explain things? Email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! Our London festival is in LESS THAN two weeks! To witness such topics discussed live in London, buy tickets and join the converstaion: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesthe-chemistry-of-freedom See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Will we ever reach a conclusive, agreed-upon theory of consciousness? Over the millennia of recorded history, countless stories, theories, and arguments have emerged to explain the origins of consciousness. And yet, here we are in 2025 - post-Plato, post-Descartes, post-scientific revolution - and still we don't understand the phenomenon of conscious, subjective experience. Which begs the question: will we ever truly know what consciousness is, and how it functions? Robert Lawrence Kuhn is the co-creator, executive producer, writer, and host of 'Closer To Truth', the PBS/public television series on cosmos, life, mind, and meaning that presents leading scientists, philosophers, and creative thinkers discussing the fundamental questions of existence. Join him in conversation with post-realist philosopher Hilary Lawson as they cast their eyes over the hundreds of different theories of consciousness. Don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The psychedelic revolution Will LSD, Psilocybin, MDMA, and Ketamine treatments live up to the hype? For decades, psychedelics were derided as dangerous recreational drugs; now many claim they have the potential to revolutionise the treatment of mental health. With hundreds of clinical trials now taking place, the psychedelic therapeutic market is predicted to be over ten billion within the decade. It has been widely thought that psychedelics are effective at treating mental health because of the way they change brain chemistry. But studies from King's College London and Johns Hopkins suggest this is an error, arguing that it's the psychedelic experience that aids mental wellbeing, not the physical brain changes. Should we stop focussing on brain chemistry as the solution to mental health? What is it about psychedelic experience that can aid mental well being and will psychedelics live up to their promise and usher in a mental health renaissance? Or is the hype bubble about to burst and should we look elsewhere for the silver bullet to the mental health crisis of our age? Matthew Johnson is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Shayla Love is a freelance reporter and former senior science writer at Vice News, focusing on psychedelics. Kevin Sabet is the founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, and he has been described as the "quarterback of the new anti-drug movement". Don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/ And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/ You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.