Philosophy For Our Times

Are electrons real? What is the connection between physics and Buddhism? Is now the time to rehumanise science?

Eastern philosophies have been an integral part of scientific thought and the development of multiple fields for millennia. Individuality and innovation have resulted in breakthrough after breakthrough, pushing the boundaries of the known in an ever-advancing march. However, Carlo Rovelli argues that science, especially physics, is leaving its philosophical roots behind, to the detriment of clarity and productive discourse.

Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli is a pioneer of theories like Loop Quantum Gravity, White Holes, and the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics. His books include Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, which has been translated into 41 languages and sold over a million copies, as well as the bestselling Reality Is Not What It Seems (2015) and White Holes (2023). He was named one of the 100 most influential thinkers in the world by Foreign Policy magazine, and is Emeritus Professor at the Centre de Physique Théorique of Marseille, as well as holding positions at the Santa Fe Institute and the Perimeter Institute.

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What is managerialism? Why is the meritocracy sliding into technocracy? Does suffering make us seem more pure?

We tend to think that today’s progressive politics advances equality through moral awareness and identity. But Catherine Liu argues that it has been captured by the professional managerial class, which replaces material redistribution with virtue signalling and cultural status. In this interview, Liu examines how universities, identity politics and trauma culture can obscure class struggle and what a renewed working-class politics might look like.

Catherine Liu is an American cultural theorist, critic, and professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine. A sharp public intellectual, Liu is best known for her incisive critiques of elite liberalism, academic hypocrisy, and the commodification of virtue. She brings together Marxist cultural analysis with polemic flair, offering a compelling—and at times confrontational—challenge to the moral self-image of the contemporary professional class.

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Is freedom always an absolute good? For freedom to be beneficial and practical, does it need constraining? Are attacks on freedom really the first step to tyranny?

From freedom from tyranny and poverty to the right to free speech, we assume freedom is always desirable. But critics argue the consequences of freedom are less obviously desirable than we imagine and frequently unknown. Kafka wrote, "It is often better to be in chains than to be free," and Sartre that, "we're condemned to be free" since we are responsible for everything we do. And in wealthier countries where citizens are freer from the hunt for basic necessities like food, water, and housing, studies show depression and anxiety are more prevalent, not less.

Daniel Markovits is Professor of Law at Yale Law School and the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Private Law. He is the author of the bestselling book The Meritocracy Trap

Elizabeth Anderson is Professor of Public Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Michigan. She specialises in moral, social and political philosophy, as well as feminist theory and the philosophy of economics and the social sciences.

Yaron Brook is an entrepreneur, writer, activist, and political scientist. He is currently chairman of the board of the Ayn Rand Institute and host of the Yaron Brook Show.

Isabel Hilton hosts.

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Who was the first person to be cool? What connects the civil rights movement and Albert Camus' 'The Rebel'? How has the coopting of black terminology impacted American society more broadly?

From James Dean to Kate Moss, we know cool when we see it. But its history goes back to jazz music and the civil rights movement. Academic Joel Dinerstein reveals the forgotten history of this elusive concept. "Entertaining and insightful" - New York Times

Joel Dinerstein is the author of The Origins of Cool in Postwar America (University of Chicago, 2017) and Clark Chair of American Civilisation at Tulane University and writes about race, cool, and popular music. 

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Is it truly the beginning of the end of Western dominance? Where did it all go wrong? And is this more than just an upheaval of the status quo?

For centuries, Western powers dominated the global order and mistook that moment for permanence. Join Former President of the UN Security Council. Kishore Mahbubani, who argues the shift now underway is not upheaval but historical rebalancing. Asian and other non-Western societies are not “rising” but returning to their natural weight in world affairs. The danger lies in Western refusal to accept this reality. The West's clinging to primacy is distorting policy and fueling conflict.

"Arguably Asia's most influential thinker." - Martin Wolf

Kishore Mahbubani is a Singaporean diplomat and scholar. A former President of the UN Security Council, his work examines the geopolitics of Asia's return to the global centre stage.

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