Can we look for consciousness outside the realm of space-time?

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Join us as world-leading cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman discusses his cutting-edge research about consciousness and perception, as well as its astonishing implications for the ultimate nature of reality.

Donald Hoffman is an American cognitive psychologist working at the University of California, Irvine. Hoffman's Interface Theory of Perception suggests that, instead of presenting reality as it "really is", our perception is like a desktop interface that has evolved to ensure survival. To advance his theory of consciousness, Hoffman explores cutting edge physics that suggests spacetime is non-fundamental. For Hoffman we must explain consciousness in fundamental terms, beyond spacetime. 

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What role can religion play in our contemporary secularised lives? Why do many (of us) still feel the need for it today?

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Join former Archbishop of Canterbury, theologian, and poet Rowan Williams in a deep-dive interview into his professional and theological trajectory. He reflects on what he's learned, including the challenges of being in the spotlight, why he engaged in climate activism, and how to work in communities across faiths. Perhaps religion, and Christianity specifically, can help us more easily embrace solidarity.

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Should we treat animals and humans equal?

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Almost forty years after these two philosophers helped create the idea of animal rights, what do they believe would constitute further progress in our attitudes to other forms of life?

Live from Melbourne, Australian philosopher, Princeton professor and author of Animal Liberation, Peter Singer joins the "UK's foremost scourge of scientific pretention" (Guardian) Mary Midgley to consider the future of bioethics. Roger Bolton makes sure the tough questions get answered.

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Is 'energy' as a concept suited to the 21st century? Or is it a simplification of processes we do not understand, whose nature may be more mystical rather than purely rational?

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Join leading minds in the world of physics - Priyamvada Natarajan, Avshalom Elitzur, and Bernard Carr - as they face head on the necessity, or lack thereof, of one of the most essential building blocks of contemporary physics: energy. It underlies our universe, and yet its versatile nature is still not entirely understood, for example in its mysterious manifestation as 'dark energy'. In this honest talk, three leading scientists discuss this and other issues, as well as their embrace of mysticism in the search for an underlying physical truth.

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Is standard philosophy too conservative, overly relying on common sense? Can rationality and reason actually lead us to mysticism?

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Join philosopher Michael Della Rocca as he defends his radical interpretation of what philosophy tells us of the world. He encourages us to interpret reality without any distinctions of any kind (and thus, without any relationships either): as a total unity. On this metaphysical adventure, we end up questioning why we had not questioned everything before.

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Can we attribute societal progress to enlightenment ideals?

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The Enlightenment advocated reason, science, democracy, and universal human rights as a grounding for human morality and social organization. In the quarter millennium since, to what extent have these ideals been realized? Has the Enlightenment in fact been successful in bringing about moral progress? Are there viable alternatives to the Enlightenment vision?

Sophie Scott-Brown, Director at Gresham College, hosts a debate between two of the most influential thinkers of our time. Join John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Steven Pinker, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, as they discuss the Enlightenment and its alternatives.

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How do the seemingly modern discussions around transgender and transsexuality relate to age-old philosophical queries?

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Join philosopher Sophie Grace Chappell in this honest interview in which she reflects both on her personal experience as transgender and also on its connections with well-known philosophers such as Plato and John Stuart Mill. Might the modern day openness to exploring our (gender) identities simply be a response to the ancient oracle's 'know thyself'?

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Doestoevsky vs Nietzsche - where do we find meaning in life?

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Dostoevsky and Nietzsche both regarded the creeping nihilism and meaninglessness of their time as a fundamental threat to humanity. While both were critical of modernity and rationalism, their solutions were radically opposed. Dostoevsky looked towards transcendence for an answer and found, in love and compassion, 'the chief law of human existence'. While Nietzsche declared God dead and found meaning in human nature and the assertion of human creativity.

Is Dostoevsky, as some have argued, a denial of all that is human and an acceptance of authority and oppression, or is it Nietzsche who is most dangerous in his endorsement of human desire and the will to power? Can meaning only be found outside of ourselves, in the love of others and in God's love for us? Or should we follow Nietzsche and see human will and desire as the means to create meaning?

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Does our very need for God point to the fact that he (or perhaps she, they) does not exist?

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Join well-known comedian and author David Baddiel in this honest (and funny!) conversation about humanity's deepest fears and desires with Chine McDonald, Director of Theos. Baddiel reads and cites from his 2023 book - 'The God desire: On being a reluctant atheist'. Can those of us who are atheists admit that, at some level, we also really love God?

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Rethinking economics - what is the meaning of productivity in the 21st century?

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"Productivity isn't everything, but in the long run, it is almost everything" claimed Paul Krugman. Throughout the twentieth century productivity, the average level of output for each hour worked, improved dramatically across the developed world. A greater increase than in the previous 2000 years. Driven by life changing technologies, such as electricity, combustion engines, and phones, living standards increased sevenfold. But since the 2008 financial crisis, despite computerisation and the internet, productivity growth in many countries has been low, static or even, in the case of Japan, falling.

Might the 20th century's extraordinary growth prove to be a unique event? Is tech itself the problem, seemingly creating solutions but in fact encouraging pointless activity? Or is the mistake to focus on productivity in the first place, and should we instead change how we value our activities and our time?

This debate was sponsored by Theos.

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