Philosophy For Our Times

Episoade

• Reimagining the right | Richard Tice 02.06.2026 29min

  Richard Tice explains how Reform has disrupted the two-party system and the seemingly contradictory left and right-wing policies behind it.
• Is philosophy becoming irrelevant? | Mary Midgley 26.05.2026 27min

  Does philosophy still matter in today's world? If so, why are students less and less interested in studying in it? In a special episode from the IAI archives, Mary Midgley addresses the declining interest in philosophy among young people. Instead of an outdated discipline for old people with too much time on their hands, Midgley argues that philosophy is more important than ever if we wish to understand the world around us, beyond the narrow spheres of the traditional sciences. Don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode! To witness such talks live, check out our philosophy festivals: 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.
• Who's afraid of gender? | Judith Butler 19.05.2026 40min

  Why has gender identity become such a controversial talking point?
• Human perception is imagination | Nadine Dijkstra 12.05.2026 14min

  Nadine Dijkstra is a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Neurology at UCL. Her research in Imaging Neuroscience explores how the brain generates mental images and differentiates them from actual perception. Utilizing neuroimaging, psychophysics, machine learning, and computational modeling, Dijkstra addresses fundamental questions about the overlap between perception and imagery. Recently, Dijkstra has been leading the Imagine Reality Lab at UCL's Department of Imaging Neuroscience, focusing on the intersection of imagination and reality. Dijkstra's 2023 paper in Nature Communications showed the brain evaluates images against a 'reality threshold' to distinguish between images and perception. Her work also investigates how changes in these neural processes could impact mental health. Check out our new series, Ideas for Our Time: https://youtu.be/nYS4FylZJ2Q 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 brain filters consciousness | Alex Gomez-Marin 05.05.2026 30min

  Neuroscientist and theoretical physicist Àlex Gómez-Marín argues that the brain may not produce consciousness, but instead may filter or permit it.
• Overcoming evolution | Subrina Smith, Keith Frankish, Simon Baron-Cohen 28.04.2026 45min

  Subrena Smith, Keith Frankish and Simon Baron-Cohen debate whether it is evolution or culture which dictates how we behave
• Slavoj Žižek on quantum history and the end of the past 21.04.2026 1h 26min

  Slavoj Žižek explores how quantum mechanics challenges our understanding of the past, arguing that reality’s inherent incompleteness reshapes how we think about history, politics, and power today.
• How they ruined philosophy | Babette Babich, Genia Schönbaumsfeld, and Christoph Schuringa 14.04.2026 48min

  Three philosophers debate the state of modern philosophy
• A new theory of ethics | Martha Nussbaum 06.04.2026 27min

  Join philosopher and ethicist Martha Nussbaum as she argues for a brand new theory of animal ethics in which 'suffering' is not simply a question of pain.
• Crisis in the academy | Yaron Brook, Eric Kaufmann, Catherine Liu 31.03.2026 46min

  Yaron Brook, Catherine Liu, and Eric Kaufmann debate whether universities have lost their purpose amid concerns over academic freedom, value, and rising costs, and consider whether education and research should be radically reformed or replaced.
• Why the neoclassical philosophy of economics is fundamentally flawed | Abby Innes 24.03.2026 25min

  Join political economist Abby Innes as she argues that treating society as a closed systemto be controlled and regulated ignores man's unrelenting capacity for new ideas and technologies.
• On the nature of reality | Rowan Williams and Iain McGilchrist 17.03.2026 33min

  Join Rowan Williams and Iain McGilchrist as they tackle the ever-elusive matter of knowledge, referencing language, the Romantic poets and the Coronavirus pandemic as a means of uncovering the truth about truth.
• Neighbours before strangers | Alain de Botton, Seyla Benhabib and Tommy Curry 10.03.2026 50min

  Alain de Botton, Seyla Behnabib and Tommy Curry debate universalist morality, nationalism, and Kantian ethics.
• The strange search for knowledge in the age of post-truth | Steve Fuller 03.03.2026 28min

  Steve Fuller argues that knowledge is not, in fact, produced by the experts.
• The philosophy of performance | Michelle Terry 24.02.2026 29min

  Creative Director of Shakespeare's Globe, Michelle Terry, explores how pretending to be someone else can help us to better understand ourselves.
• The end of materialism | Àlex Gómez-Marín 17.02.2026 35min

  Alex Gómez-Marín reflects on the scientific evidence we have for near-death experiences and what they might mean for answering ultimate questions about the purpose of human existence.
• The relationship between mind and matter | Slavoj Žižek, Alenka Zupančič and Carlo Rovelli 10.02.2026 50min

  Renowned philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Alenka Zupančič join physicist Carlo Rovelli to investigate the fundamental metaphysical tension between the conscious self and material reality, debating whether human beings are mere observers of the universe or an integral part of its physical structure.
• Freedom and Fate 27.01.2026 53min

  Do we have free will or is everything we do predetermined? Explore these questions with leading thinkers, Paul Bloom, Robert Sapolsky and Lucy Allais.
• The search for higher states of consciousness | Philosopher Jessica Frazier 13.01.2026 38min

  Are we living in the moment? Are we really free? How can we transcend the constant anxieties of our mind? Throughout history, certain people in the West and the East have claimed that the human mind could reach states of so-called higher consciousness. In the twentieth century, several thinkers like Heidegger and Nietzsche returned to this possibility, trying to find the higher regions of the mind. Join Oxford philosopher Jessica Frazier as she explores tales of higher states of mind, and debates whether these experiences are scientific, spiritual, or pure esoteric imagination. Please do email us at podcast@iai.tv with any of 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.
• Should we be transgressive? The limits and potential of transgressiveness | Catherine Liu, Rowan Williams, Josh Cohen 06.01.2026 48min

  Tune into a debate on the role transgression should or should not play in society with provocative cultural theorist Catherine Liu, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and psychoanalyst Josh Cohen.