Philosophy For Our Times

What do memes really mean? Listen to find out!Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesMemes are everywhere. But the term was coined only a few decades ago by Richard Dawkins to describe ideas and cultural behaviour that can be passed on from one individual to another. He argued that memes are a stage in evolution, and just as humans are carriers for genes, we are also carriers for memes. We don't so much choose our memes as they choose us. Its critics however argue that meme theory upends all human agency and thought. Is meme theory an exciting new framework that moves evolution forward to account for concepts and culture? Or is the very idea of a meme a misguided and reductionist account of what it is to be human?  Post-postmodern philosopher Hilary Lawson, Professor of Ethics and Technology at Hertie School Joanna Bryson and Professor of Philosophy at City College of New York Massimo Pigliucci discuss whether or not it is useful to think about sharing mimetic information like genetic information. Gunes Taylor hosts.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=Memes-all-the-way-downSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

All the questions.Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesWhat exists? Why is there anything at all? Are there realities beyond physics? What is consciousness, personal or cosmic? Robert Lawrence Kuhn, host of the long-running 'Closer to Truth' television series and acclaimed website, has spent over 20 years interviewing the greatest thinkers and exploring the deepest questions. In this talk, he uncovers the common thread running through the most profound mysteries of existence and human sentience.Robert Lawrence Kuhn is the creator, writer, host and executive producer of Closer To Truth. He has written or edited over 30 books, including The Mystery of Existence: Why is there Anything At All? And Closer to Truth: Challenging Current Belief.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=asking-the-ultimate-questionsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is our obsession with enhancing ourselves leading to the end of humankind? Luke Robert Mason explains.Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesThe transhumanist dream, the merging of humans with machines, may soon be a reality. Elon Musk's NeuraLink is developing quickly, and before long, with the rise of more forms of human biotechnology, we may find that more and more of us are becoming half-human, half-machine.Futures theorist Luke Robert Mason is a researcher, filmmaker and digital media artist. He has been a frequent contributor to BBC Click Radio, The Guardian, Discovery Channel, VICE Motherboard, Wired Magazine and Futurism.com.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=dreams-of-a-transhumanist-futureSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Has contemporary culture abandoned the quest for the sublime? Our experts try to find out.Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesFrom Rembrandt to Rothko, Mozart to Wagner, art and music have the capacity to give us a feeling of the sublime and transcendent wonder. Yet in contemporary culture the sublime is rare and for the most part not even desired. Few would claim that watching the WAP video or Takashi Murakami's art are gateways to the sublime.What really is the sublime and where can we find it in the 21st century?Thought-provoking author Olivia Fane, journalist and social critic Minna Salami, radical biologist Rupert Sheldrake and award-winning novelist Joanna Kavenna interrogate our awe at what lies beyond, and how it does - and doesn't - manifest today. Mark Salter hosts.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=art-beyond-the-sublimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is metaphysics back in fashion? Or is philosophy getting increasingly lost?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesThe twentieth century began with a revolutionary new approach to philosophy. The great arguments about the nature of reality and human experience were deemed empty and meaningless. A new philosophical broom, in the form of analytic philosophy, claimed to sweep away vacuous grand theories and replace them with hard logic and analysis and a close attention to the meaning of the words. Yet, a hundred years on metaphysics is back. Theories of consciousness and the character of reality are once again the topic of debate.Should we welcome this return to stories about the ultimate character of the world? Or do they risk being empty, conveying little other than the prejudices and desires of their authors? Are grand metaphysical theories about the nature of reality and consciousness vital topics of debate or a set of fairy tales?Legendary Neurophilosophy pioneer Patricia Churchland, Closure theorist Hilary Lawson and analytic philosopher Galen Strawson lock horns over the future of metaphysics.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=the-return-of-metaphysicsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How does panpsychism clash with fundamental physics? Does it? Can we find a theory that supports science AND philosophy to finally explain consciousness?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesIn this episode Philip Goff responds to recent critiques of panpsychism by theoretical physicists Sean Carroll and Sabine Hossenfelder, and then explores some implications for the science of consciousness.Philip Goff is a philosopher of consciousness at Durham University. His research focuses on integrating consciousness into our scientific worldview. His 2019 book Galileo's Error sets out his defence of panpsychism rooted in an analysis of the work of Arthur Eddington and Bertrand Russell.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=the-many-voices-of-consciousnessSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do we make decisions regarding our children in an impossibly complicated digital world?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesTechnology is changing parenthood. From children raised by smartphones, to making choices about gene-editing and enhancement, Melanie Challenger asks what it means to be a parent in a technological age.Melanie Challenger is a researcher on the history of humanity and the natural world, and on environmental philosophy. Her latest book, How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human was published by Canongate in 2021.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=Technological-parentingSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is the abandonment of ritual a contemporary mistake? Listen to what our experts have to say.Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesFrom greetings and introductions, to love and relationships, church services and dances, formality and ritual were once a central part of our lives. But form and ritual have been in retreat for more than a century. Many now see formality as outdated, an unnecessary sign of deference, and welcome a less constrained, more open culture.Historian of ideas Hannah Dawson pulls no punches debating philosopher of religion Linda Woodhead and distinguished art critic Noel Carroll on the place of formality and ritual in the modern world. Writer and broadcaster Myriam Francois hosts.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=form-and-ritual-power-and-prejudiceSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How wrong was Descartes exactly? Listen to find out!Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesProfessor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Anil Seth explores the ultimate mystery of our consciousness experience. In this interview, Seth discusses the misconceptions surrounding the difference between consciousness and intelligence, the link between consciousness and self-consciousness and why consciousness can be seen as similar to a controlled hallucination. Seth also considers whether or not he thinks science will ultimately dissolve the sense of mystery surrounding what consciousness really is.Anil Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness. He is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness. He is also a regular contributor to the New Scientist, The Guardian, and BBC, and writes the blog NeuroBanter.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=anil-seth-interviewSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can morality lead society down dangerous roads? Listen to how our speakers deconstruct our idea of right and wrong.Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesMany would argue that for at least a century we have been moving away from the moral certainties of traditional Christianity. Yet, a new form of moral certainty is now reappearing, with much of our culture seemingly gripped by a focus on virtue and a tightly policed sense of right and wrong.Should we welcome this return to virtue and embrace a moralism that will purge society of its newly found sins? Or are these certainties a new prejudice and the intolerant assertion of tribal attachments? Is our culture morally bankrupt in need of greater virtue, or could we be in the early stages of a Salem witch trial?Chief Executive of The RSA and former head of the No. 10 Policy Unit Matthew Taylor, ethicist Rebecca Roache and philosopher and Closure theorist Hilary Lawson ask whether it's time to move beyond our fixation on morality is misguided. Author Danielle Sands hosts.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=virtue-and-viceSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.