It’s 100 years since the first Royal Institute of Philosophy Lectures were held in 1925. To mark the centenary, the 2025/6 London Lecture Series, beginning this autumn, will focus on the theme Philosophy in Retrospect and in Prospect. Distinguished philosophers have been invited to reflect on where their area of the discipline has got to over the last hundred years, and/or where it might go – or should go – over the next hundred.
The lectures, aimed at a general audience, form part of the Royal Institute’s mission to make real philosophy available to everyone. The programme of events is as follows:
Nikhil Krishnan:: The Problematic and Unproblematic (9 October 2025)
Regina Rini: What became of the public philosopher? (16 October 2025)
Fiona Woollard: Why philosophers need to think about pregnancy (23 October 2025)
John Haldane: The Most Permanent Interests of the Human Spirit (6 November 2025)
Peter Adamson: Avicennan and Cartesian Doubt (13 November 2025)
Rowan Williams: Empathy and Ethics: A Complicated Relation? (20 November 2025)
Naomi Eilan: The You Turn (27 November 2025)
Michael Rosen: Why Does Philosophy Have a History? (15 January 2026)
Clare Chambers: Developments in Feminist Philosophy (22 January 2026)
Mazviita Chirimuuta: Apocalyptic Technology: Naturalism and Nihilism (29 January 2026)
Timothy Williamson: Is Philosophy a Science? (12 February 2026)
Michele M Moody-Adams: TBC (19 February 2026)
Jonathan Wolff: Social Equality: Then And Now (26 February 2026)
Peter Hacker: Wittgenstein and his impact upon Anglophone philosophy (5 March 2026)
Each event will include an “in conversation” segment with our Academic Director, Edward Harcourt, followed by audience Q&A.
Free tickets (without guaranteed admission) will be available for each event, held in London. Reserved, guaranteed tickets will also be available for £10 (£7.50 unwaged). The lectures will also be made available in due course on our YouTube channel and podcast.
Alongside the London Lectures, tickets will soon also be available for this year’s Annual Symposium and Annual City Lectures:
Annual Symposium 2025: Has there been moral progress? Chaired by Ritula Shah. Panellists: Edward Harcourt, Allan Buchanan, Hanno Sauer and Julia Hermann (30 October 2025)
Annual London Lecture 2025: Quassim Cassam: Extremism without Politics (4 December 2025)
We will also soon be announcing lectures in Dublin, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Book tickets now
Our events are always popular, and you are urged to book early before they sell out. You can book tickets now on Eventbrite.