Big Ideas
...doing philosophy, in a pub in London, as and when we feel so inclined
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An Ackroydian pub crawl
Back by popular demand, Robert Kingham is reprising his London pub crawl inspired by the writings of Peter Ackroyd on 24 October. Starting in Clerkenwell at 1 p.m. and finishing in St. Giles at about 9 p.m., its a walking tour that takes in a wealth of Londons history, from plague pits to Victorian …
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It’s Just A Theory
Ive heard the phrase just a theory applied in a few different contexts in recent weeks and thought it might be worth teasing out what we mean by a theory and what that little modifier just might mean.
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EVENT: 29 Sep 2009 12:09 - Are there risks we can’t afford to take?
There is a wonderfully dark metric used by, among others, transport safety experts: CPF, that is Cost of Preventing a Fatality. When investing in a safety system, the decision will often come down to whether the cost of the system per life saved stays below a budget. Remember that if the driver of y …
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The book-free library
New library: lots of new books, but where are they? Im sitting in the new Shepherds Bush Library. Modern libraries dont really do books. Books are certainly knocking around the place, but you get the sense that they serve as waiting room literature rather than the core purpose of the place. In fact …
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The Hirst-Cartrain Incident
As far as I can tell, heres what happened. Last year, a teenager calling himself (or possibly herself) Cartrain made some collages that included images of work by artist Damian Hirst. Somehow or other, they ended up on the 100artworks site. Hirst was not amused.
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On Caroline Bergvall and Visual Poetry
Courtesy of the Poetry Foundation I just discovered a recording of Caroline Bergvall reading Via, a poem composed entirely of English translations of the first line of Dantes Divine Comedy. It might sound like a thin idea, but its mesmerising to listen to. Whats more, even if you know that translat …
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EVENT: 25 Aug 2009 12:08 - Is Rhetoric A Dirty Word?
The term rhetoric is most often levied as a term of abuse, deployed when someone’s empty words are not backed-up by their deeds. More often than not, that someone is usually a politician, spinning a yarn. But do we only refer to rhetoric when it is done badly? Are the classical skills of rhetoric, …
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EVENT: 28 Jul 2009 12:07 - Why Punish?
Ought justice be rendered to the victim, or in the name of society? If so, is there a balance to be struck between gaining retribution, deterring criminality and rehabilitating offenders? Are any of these objectives realistic in the first place? The recent history of punishment has been one of abol …
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EVENT: 30 Jun 2009 12:06 - How Much Privacy Should We Have?
Having a right to privacy seems to mean that we can keep things to ourselves. It means we can socialise only with people we choose to, and limits the demands others can make on us and we on them. But is privacy really valuable in a democratic society and, if so, why? Should each person be an island …
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EVENT: 03 Jun 2009 12:06 - Is Music A Universal Language?
It’s Longfellow who’s usually credited with the claim that music is a universal language. He didn’t know much about music but plenty of people who do have expressed the same view, especially musicians themselves. But in what ways is music like a language? Can it communicate emotions, atmospheres or …
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EVENT: 26 May 2009 12:05 - Why Do We Gamble?
We expend much effort to reduce or avoid risks in our lives. So why are we so fond of gambling? Anthropologist Dr Rebecca Cassidy will introduce some of the myriad explanations for our appetite for risk from Freud to neuroscience, but suggest that finding answers requires an understanding of the con …
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EVENT: 13 May 2009 12:05 - Has New Media Won?
With newspapers struggling to stay afloat, and people skipping the licence fee and just using iPlayer, has the tradiational media had its day? And if it has, what has replaced it? Or is the old/new media divide a false one?
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EVENT: 28 Apr 2009 12:04 - The Truth About Medical Ethics
Moral philosophers offer competing criteria for ethical decision-making. But how are our decisions made on the ground, in real-life cases, where they really matter? Are they products of ‘really valid’ philosophical justifications, or are they made rather under circumstances that have nothing to do w …
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EVENT: 31 Mar 2009 12:03 - What’s The Point Of Regeneration?
Urban regeneration may give us lots of plate glass, steel and Starbucks but at what cost? One person’s urban blight is another person’s home and community, and regeneration has been seen as being about destroying the old as much as creating something new. More recent development aims to be more sens …
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EVENT: 24 Feb 2009 12:02 - Who Am I When I’m Online?
Social networking sites create communities; blogs give us a platform to express thoughts, feelings and ideas; sites like Flickr give us a way to demonstrate our creative side and sites like Slashdot provide a forum for us to be argumentative, funny or belligerant. In the process we make friends, fal …
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EVENT: 27 Jan 2009 12:01 - Why Should We Do What We Should Do?
n January 27 2009, Big Ideas regular Andrew Medworth will kick off the new year with a discussion of one of the thorniest questions in ethical philosophy. We may all agree that an act is wrong, yet still do it occasionally. The fact that we can disobey a moral code almost seems a crucial part of mo …
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EVENT: 16 Dec 2008 12:12 - Christmas Social
Put it in your diary this instant: we’ll be getting together at The Wheatsheaf on the 16th of December (the Tuesday before Christmas) for a few beers and general sociability. There’s no speaker and no agenda, just come along to celebrate another year of Big Ideas talks. You’re welcome to come along …
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EVENT: 25 Nov 2008 12:11 - Football, Loyalty and Identity
The discussion will be introduced by Dave Boyle, Chief Executive of Supporters Direct. Among other things we’ll look at the history of the modern game and its relationship with its fans as well as the fact that, for many people, supporting a team is more than a matter of enjoying a sporting event. …
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EVENT: 28 Oct 2008 12:10 - Is Europe A Place Or An Idea?
Most Europeans now share a red passport and a taste for city breaks in each other’s countries, but what else? Is to call something European simply an indication of location, or something deeper that draws on ideas and tradition spanning millennia? Or is the idea of Europe something more modern and m …
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EVENT: 30 Sep 2008 12:09 - Is Being Rational The Same As Being Logical?
Most of us think it’s a good thing to be rational, but few of us could really say what that means. If pushed, we might say it involves being able to argue coherently for our ideas, not believing contradictory things or things for which we have no evidence. The study of such general patterns of thoug …
Big Ideas
