Big Ideas
...doing philosophy, in a pub in London, as and when we feel so inclined
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If Things Carry On This Way…
The Mail today is reporting excitedly that House sales hit 18-month high as prices rise for FOURTH month in a row. And in other news, if temperatures keep going up at this rate well all be dead by December.
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WEDNESDAY 13TH MAY: 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? Nathan Charlton leads the discussion as Big Ideas comes to Hammersmith. Date …
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Is Music A Universal Language?
Its Longfellow whos usually credited with the claim that music is a universal language. He didnt 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 id …
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Dividing By Zero
On the TES forums and The Scotsman weve recently seen an outbreak of confusion about division by zero, which actually turns out to be an interesting topic. Heres our cut-out-and-keep guide to this oft-debated topic. Are You Telling Me You Cant Divide By Zero? Yeah, thats right, you cant, as Alex Sa …
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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? Nathan Charlton leads the discussion as Big Ideas comes to Hammersmith. Date …
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In the West End on Record Store Day
About this time last year I posted about what Big I webmaster Danny referred to as “the dematerialisation of music”, and suggested I was reconciled to it and everything was OK. Today, on Record Store Day, I’m feeling more ambivalent. The attraction of physical LPs and CDs was, I’d convinced myself, …
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April 2009 Event: The Truth About Medical Ethics
On 28 April 2009, Miran Epstein offers to take us behind the scenes of moral philosophy. As usual, the venue will be upstairs at The Wheatsheaf, well start at 8pm and the event is free to all. Moral philosophers offer competing criteria for ethical decision-making. But how are our decisions made on …
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July 2009 Event: Why Punish?
Ought justice be rendered to the victim, or in the name of society? What is it that our legal system seeks to punish? And why: to gain retribution; to deter; or, to rehabilitate? The history of criminal justice in the past 200 years has been one of abolitions (torture, hard labour, deportation, capi …
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May 2009 Event: 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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June 2009 Event: 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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March 2009 Event: What’s The Point Of Regeneration
Urban regeneration may give us lots of plate glass, steel and Starbucks but at what cost? One persons urban blight is another persons 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 sensit …
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On the Liverpool University Closure
As you may already know, Liverpool University is considering closing a number of its departments, including Philosophy and Politics. This is a Bad Thing, and I think it exemplifies some of the muddled thinking that pervades current debates about education, especially in the Humanities. Broadly spea …
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Banned Words, Plain English and Old News
So, with much glee the British media report that the Local Government Association has published a list of words and phrases that all public sector bodies should avoid when talking to people about the work they do and the services they provide. Lets have a look. (more)
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Latest Podcast: St Pancras International
The new Big Ideas Podcast is now available. St Pancras station and the Midland Grand Hotel is the topic. (more)
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New Podcast Available: Probability
The latsest instalment of the Big Ideas Podcast is now available. This time we tackled the subject of probability. (more)
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Next Event: Who Am I When I’m Online?
Our February event will be presented by Dr Andrew Edgar from Cardiff University on the subject of online identity. (more)
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Next Event: Why Should We Do What We Should Do?
On 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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There’s Probably And Then There’s Probably
So, as you will no doubt know, telly writer and journalist Ariane Sherine has used her Comment Is Free blog to raise donations for an advertising campaign for atheism. One word in the ads has caused far more comment so far than the others. (more)
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Football, Loyalty and Identity on 25 November 2008
Join us upstairs at The Wheatsheaf at 8pm on 25 November 2008 for a discussion of Football, Loyalty and Identity. The discussion will be introduced by Dave Boyle, Chief Executive of Supporters Direct. Among other things well look at the history of the modern game and its relationship with its fan …
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Podcast Out Now: Trafalgar Square
Danny Birchall and Nathan Charlton talk from Trafalgar Square in London about ideas of Britishness, and you can listen in by downloading the latest podcast.
Big Ideas
