London lectures
This series of weekly talks, beginning in the autumn of each year, draws together philosophers from across the globe to London to give a lecture on a chosen theme.
By series:
Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect (2025-26 Centenary Lectures)
Remembering and Forgetting (2024-25)
Madness and Mental Health (2023-4)
Words and Worlds: New Directions in the Philosophy of Language (2022-3)
Upcoming lectures
Imagining Democracy
In this London Lecture, Professor Michele M. Moody-Adams will explore the role of imagination in political communities as democracies.
Social Equality: Then And Now
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Professor Jonathan Wolff, who explores how ideas of relational equality have developed in the past 100 years.
Wittgenstein and his impact upon Anglophone philosophy
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Professor Peter Hacker. He discusses the salient achievements of Wittgenstein's two masterpieces, the Tractatus and the Investigations, and their influences on philosophy.
Past lectures
Is Philosophy a Science?
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Professor Timothy Williamson. He asks what it might mean to call philosophy a science, and explores different views of the relation between philosophy and science over the past century.
Apocalyptic Technology: Naturalism and Nihilism
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Dr Mazviita Chirimuuta. Science assumes the universe is comprehensible to the human mind. AI tech casts doubt on this. So, should scientists give up on their goal?
Developments in Feminist Philosophy
Over the last 100 years the condition of women in society has changed and so has feminist philosophy. Professor Clare Chambers will reflect on the philosophy, politics, and practice of sex discrimination as it has developed over the past century.
Why Does Philosophy Have a History?
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Professor Michael Rosen. Unlike other disciplines, the history of philosophy does not involve the accumulation of knowledge or the resolution of problems. But why?
The You Turn
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Professor Naomi Eilan. She offers an account of second person awareness, mutual I-you relations, and the essential link between second person awareness and ethics.
Empathy and Ethics: A Complicated Relation?
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Dr Rowan Williams. Is empathy required for ethical values? How we can hang on to a proper valuation of empathic understanding without sentimentality.
Avicennan and Cartesian Doubt
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Professor Peter Adamson, who will argue that Avicennan and Cartesian “arguments from doubt” may actually be stronger than they seem.
The Most Permanent Interests of the Human Spirit
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Professor John Haldane. He looks back at philosophy since 1925, arguing for a kind of philosophical humanism that was more prominent a century ago than it is today.
London Lecture Series
All upcoming London lectures
Imagining Democracy
In this London Lecture, Professor Michele M. Moody-Adams will explore the role of imagination in political communities as democracies.
Social Equality: Then And Now
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Professor Jonathan Wolff, who explores how ideas of relational equality have developed in the past 100 years.
Wittgenstein and his impact upon Anglophone philosophy
This lecture in the series Philosophy in Retrospect and Prospect, is presented by Professor Peter Hacker. He discusses the salient achievements of Wittgenstein's two masterpieces, the Tractatus and the Investigations, and their influences on philosophy.