“My work aims to offer new ways of thinking about the history and future of human history, and I look forward to exploring these issues with academics and students during my year at LSE.”
Ian Morris studies the breadth of human history to find insight into contemporary global issues. Engaging with fields such as archaeology, linguistics, and genetics he analyses what we can learn from 20,000 years of civilisation about the patterns of the past and the shape of things to come.
Professor Michael Cox, Director of LSE IDEAS, said:
“Professor Morris’s work raises challenging questions about what history is and how our understanding of the past can shape our knowledge of the present and future world. It is a great pleasure to welcome him to LSE IDEAS as our next Philippe Roman Chair.”
A Theory of Everything: Evolution, History and the Shape of Things to Come
In the last 50 years, knowledge of archaeology, anthropology, history, evolution, genetics and linguistics has exploded. Biology and geography have driven a 150,000-year story of cooperation and competition.
Ian Morris argues that by projecting forward the patterns of the past and the forces that disrupt them, we can begin to see where the 21st century might take us.
Twitter: #LSEMorris / Listen:
Each Age Gets the Great Powers It Needs: 20,000 Years of International Relations
Ian Morris traces the 20,000 year story of ‘International Relations’ asking why the world’s greatest powers were concentrated in western Eurasia until about AD 500, why they shifted to East Asia until AD 1750, why they returned to the shores of the North Atlantic, and where they will go next.
Twitter: #LSEMorris / Presentation Slides / Listen:
Each Age Gets the Bloodshed It Needs: 20,000 Years of Violence
20,000 years ago, the average person stood a 10-20% chance of dying violently. Today, the chance is under 1%. How has this happened?
Ian Morris argues that violence has slowly been putting itself out of business, with war creating large organisations that impose peace.
This lecture was part of Lectures+, enhancing the experience of public events at LSE for students, speakers and guests. Find out more about Lectures+
Twitter: #LSEMorris / Download Audio / Presentation Slides / Listen:
Each Age Gets the Inequality It Needs: 20,000 Years of Hierarchy
Through most of history, humans lived in small groups with low hierarchy. The invention of farming increased the size of societies and inequality.
Ian Morris explains how the ways we capture energy from the environment has affected hierarchy and what that tells us about where inequality will go in the coming decades.
Twitter: #LSEMorris / Download Audio / Presentation Slides / Listen:
Professor Morris taught a seminar entitled Long-term History: The Patterns of the Past and the Shape of Things to Come during his time as Phillippe Roman Chair.
He also took part in Lectures+ seminars with students exploring his 20,000 Years of Violence lecture.
While at IDEAS, Ian Morris spoke at Jewish Book Week on How Human Values Evolve in an event chaired by IDEAS Director Michael Cox. Watch the event here.
Professor Morris is the Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor in Classics and Professor in History in the Department of Classics at Stanford University.
He has authored a number of wide-ranging and award-winning books including Why the West Rules…For Now and War! What Is It Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots, a provocative study of how war has changed human society for the better named a Book of the Year by the Financial Times in 2014.
His latest work Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve was published earlier this year.
Professor Morris received his doctorate from Cambridge and held positions at the University of Chicago and Cambridge. He has also conducted archaeological fieldwork, most recently as director of Stanford’s dig at Monte Polizzo in Sicily.
Find out more on Morris’ Stanford University page.