the Forum

You love it, you need it. But food production and consumption are changing fast. What are the ethics and policy issues on your dinner plate today? What does it mean to be healthy or sustainable? Do we need new food policies, and if so, which ones? Come join the discussion with: Luc Bovens, Professor of Philosophy, LSE Elena Rivilla Lutterkort,…

How can we imagine a way out of the stasis of a Europe mired in financial crisis? The proponents of ‘accelerationism’ argue the need to embrace forces of abstraction and technology that can escape ‘old’ Europe. In this talk, Benjamin Noys will critically explore these alternative geographical imaginaries as attempts to come to terms with the ‘uneven’ forms of capital…

Questions of Identity Thursday 11 December, 6.30-8pm Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE Vincent Descombes, Visiting Professor of French Literature, University of Chicago and Director of Studies, School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Paris Alan Montefiore, Emeritus Fellow, Balliol College, University of Oxford and President of the Forum for European Philosophy Chair: Danielle Sands, Lecturer in Philosophy, Royal Holloway,…

Is the world you are experiencing a mere forecast created by your brain? Research in neuroscience has suggested that you don’t see the colour of the sky but you anticipate its blueness and use your sense of vision to adjust this prediction. This radical idea explains how your brain can be one step ahead of reality, but also susceptible to…

Realists take truth to be a robust property of our thoughts and assertions, one which fits certain facts in the world. Deflationists, expressivists and pragmatists disagree: for them truth is a very shallow notion, which comes down to a few (important) trivialities. The view one takes on truth has important consequences for all sorts of issues, in particular for moral…

Informed consent is not the most fundamental ethical standard, but a means of securing respect for other, more basic standards or aims. It is neither possible nor required when public goods – such as sound currency or clean air – are to be provided. Where it is possible and can be required, as in transactions with individuals, it must be…

50 years ago Professor Glendinning gave an inaugural lecture arguing for the abolition of inaugural lectures. His failure allows his son to return to this theme. This lecture will explore whether philosophy’s distinctive and historic relation to something like an inaugural public pledge to speak publicly points towards a conception of the professor in general as someone who, working in…

John Gray draws together the religious, philosophic and fantastical traditions that question the very idea of human freedom. We flatter ourselves about the nature of free will and yet the most enormous forces - biological, physical, metaphysical - constrain our every action. Many writers and intellectuals have always understood this, but instead of embracing our condition we battle against it,…

The controversial designation “Anthropocene” names a geological epoch in which the planet has been irrevocably changed by human activity. In this panel, three thinkers consider the ways in which the Anthropocene requires us to reconsider both human self-identity and the human capacity for creation and destruction. Is art a narcissistic reflection of human concerns and desires or might it provide…

Is the 'novel of ideas' an outdated genre or are we witnessing its resurgence? What answers can it offer to twenty-first-century questions? In this panel three speakers will discuss examples of the 'novel of ideas' and assess the genre's contemporary relevance. Peter Boxall is Professor of English and Deputy Head of the School of English at the University of Sussex.  His research…

Are there ‘hardwired’ psychological differences between men and women? Do these alleged differences show that gender differences in society have a biological explanation? And what does talk of ‘hardwiring’ even mean? In this interdisciplinary dialogue, philosopher John Dupré and cognitive neuroscientist Gina Rippon will debate these and other issues concerning the science and philosophy of gender. John Dupré is Professor…

When is it permissible to resort to civil disobedience? Do we sometimes have a moral duty to do so? Should we be punished for it? Kimberley Brownlee is Associate Professor of Legal and Moral Philosophy at the University of Warwick. Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEcivildisobedience

Is politics the instrument of moral ideals and values? Is it something like ‘applied morality’? In recent years there has been a revival of approaches which give greater autonomy to distinctively political thought, which can be called ‘political realism’, in contrast to ‘political moralism’. The panel discussion will explore this contrast, and ask whether political legitimacy is ultimately a question…

The human mind produces countless biases, illusions and predictable errors. Are such false beliefs adaptive? Had they evolved for a reason? From overconfidence to the illusion of control, the speakers will argue that false beliefs can provide the individual with an advantage in domains ranging from war and politics to health and finance. But how do such beliefs affect us…

What makes a life good? Is the ‘good life’ a happy life? Does the ‘good life’ name an individual experience or a social goal? In what ways have alterations in our perception of the human changed the notion of human flourishing? In this event, three thinkers will address the meaning and significance of the ‘good life’ today. Amber Carpenter is…