Humanitas - Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge

With Professor Lorraine Daston, Dr Simon Werrett (UCL), Dr Rhodri Lewis (Oxford), Dr Sachiko Kusukawa (Cambridge) and Prof Martin Mulsow (Erfurt), chaired by Prof Laurence Brockliss (Oxford).

Director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science: Professor Lorraine Daston gives her inaugural lecture at Merton College.

Symposium following Mark Thompson's series of talks for the Humanitas Programme. With Polly Toynbee, Gus O'Donnell, David Willetts MP and chaired by Andrew Marr. Mark's series of lectures is entitled "The Cloud of Unknowing: Policy, rhetoric and public bewilderment".

In his third lecture, Mark Thompson looks at what happens when modern rhetoric and morality collide, taking the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as his principal examples. Mark's series of lectures is entitled "The Cloud of Unknowing: Policy, rhetoric and public bewilderment".

Almost everyone accepts that science is our most authoritative guide to understanding the world so why is it so disputed when it comes to public policy? Mark Thompson examines what's happened to the 'argument from authority' in modern rhetoric. Mark's series of lectures is entitled "The Cloud of Unknowing: Policy, rhetoric and public bewilderment".

Drawing in particular on recent examples from American and British healthcare reform, Mark Thompson asks whether the language of politics is changing in ways which threaten public understanding of and engagement with the most important issues of the day. Mark's series of lectures is entitled "The Cloud of Unknowing: Policy, rhetoric and public bewilderment".

Professor Hyun Song Shin, Hughes-Rogers Professor of Economics at Princeton University, gives a talk for the Humanitas Professorship on Economic Thought.

Professor Sir John Vickers, Warden All Souls College, gives a workshop on Economic thought looking at banking reform.

Stanley Fischer, Govenor of the Bank of Israel and Humanitas Visiting Professor of Economic Thought, gives a talk for the Humanitas program. The Great Depression of the 1930s led to a revolution in macroeconomic thinking and in economic policy. The Great Recession, in which much of the world economy is still engulfed, has seen both monetary and fiscal policy being used to an unprecedented extent, and a greatly strengthened emphasis on the importance of financial stability. But despite these phenomena, and an explosion of professional literature and media attention, the economic policy lessons of the crisis are still in dispute. The Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Economic Thought has been made possible by the generous support of Donald Marron. The Professorship will take place during Michaelmas term and is hosted by Professor Vincent Crawford in association with All Souls College.

Malcolm Rogers and Dr Brown, the Director of the Ashmolean Museum, will discuss and compare their experiences of overseeing the extensive renovations of the Ashmolean Museum and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.