The London Lecture Series

Philosophers enjoy telling stories. Sometimes the stories are very short, but they can be long and detailed as well, for example in the form of utopian narratives by More, Cavendish and others. Why do philosophers invent such stories, and what do they want to accomplish with them? Helen de Cruz argues that existing accounts of thought experiments cannot easily explain the range and variety of thought experiments. In her view, philosophical thought experiments are not merely prettily dressed up arguments. Neither are they only mental models or intuition pumps. Rather, thought experiments help us through a variety of tools that fictions employ to get rid of certain biases and preconceptions, and thus to look at a philosophical idea with a fresh perspective.Helen de Cruz holds the Danforth Chair in the Humanities at Saint Louis University. Her main areas of specialization are philosophy of cognitive science and philosophy of religion and she also works in general philosophy of science, epistemology, aesthetics, and metaphilosophy. She is the co-editor of Philosophy and science fiction stories (2021) and author of Philosophy Illustrated (2021)

Self-described ‘hippie eco-philosopher’ Joanna Burch-Brown takes us on a deep dive into the philosophy of green finance and a step closer to addressing climate change, by way of a lively tale of philosophy going banking. Joining the discussion is Sean Edwards, chairman of the International Trade and Forfaiting Association Annual Conference. Joanna Burch-Brown is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at University of Bristol. Her work has focused on issues of contested heritage and public memory. She is a founding member of the University of Bristol's Centre for Black Humanities, academic director for the Fulbright Summer Institute on ‘Arts, Activism and Social Justice’ and served on the Bristol History Commission.