virtual philosopher

Michael Sandel 2009 Reith Lecturer on Start the Week - Listen Again

Michael Sandel interviewed by Andrew Marr on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week. Listen again here. Sandel is the first one on the programme to be interviewed. He discusses his ideas about a New Citizenship, the idea that we need to re-invigorate public moral debate. A key area for him is the way in which many activities have been made into commercial transactions (e.g. carbon trading, buying and selling blood, wombs for hire, etc.) and the morally corrupting impact of this.

Find out more about how the BBC is using multiplatforms to connect with the audience for the 2009 Reith lectures here (where there is also a nice plug for Philosophy Bites).

Michael Sandel 2009 Reith Lecturer interviewed for Philosophy Bites podcast

This podcast interview with Michael Sandel on the topic 'What Shouldn't Be Sold' is now available on Philosophy Bites .

Science, Religion and the Reason Project

Homunculus (aka science writer Philip Ball) has a very interesting article about science and religion on his weblog for 16th May (with links). It includes a brief discussion of The Reason Project, a secular organisation with an  impressive advisory board that includes Aayan Hirsi Ali, Richard Dawkins, D.C. Dennett, Stephen Pinker and Christopher Hitchens.

Bertrand Russell's Voice - Reith Lecture 1948

Bertrand Russell was the first ever Reith Lecturer. You can listen to the 1948 first Reith lecture on the individual and social cohesion. 61 years later, similar themes are likely to emerge in Michael Sandel's 2009 Reith lectures. Lecturing style has come on a lot in the interim.

Bertrand Russell also features as the hero in a graphic novel Logicomix

Reith Lectures 2009 - Michael Sandel

Michael Sandel is giving the 2009 Reith Lectures on 'A New Citizenship'. These will be broadcast on BBC radio from 2nd June. More details available via the Reith2009 Twitter

If you are unfamiliar with Sandel's work, I'd strongly recommend dipping in to his collection of short pieces  Public Philosophy (2005). Many of these  essays were written for The New Republic and are both accessible and thought-provoking. A former intern journalist in Washington on the Houston Chronicle (where he witnessed Nixon's impeachment) he is a superb writer.

Sandel's critique of liberalism, his main contribution to academic political philosophy, is a central theme: he wants politics to have a vision of the good, not just protect rights to freedoms. But along the way there are interesting thoughts on many aspects of civic life. His brief polemic against what he calls the 'civic corruption' of state lotteries, for instance, (they bombard the most vulnerable citizens 'with a message at odds with the ethic of work, sacrifice and moral responsibility that sustains democratic life'), and the false hope that they bring, shows his unwavering commitment to the values that he believes should be at the heart of politics.

I wrote a short summary of his book on the ethics of biological enhancement,  The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering, here, and also interviewed him on the topic last year for the podcast Ethics Bites.

There are a number of free videos of Sandel in action available online here. An outstanding public speaker and lecturer, his lectures on Justice at Harvard are attended by over a thousand students each session.

And, amazing, but true, he was the model for Mr Burns in The Simpsons!

The Prince Charles Fallacy on Architecture

Prince Charles reveals his personal views in a lecture on architecture at RIBA today. Not surprisingly, many serious architects are outraged by the way he wields his influence on planning. See this letter to The Guardian from some of them.

When I wrote my biography of the modernist architect Ernö Goldfinger Ernö Goldfinger: The Life of an Architect (Routledge, 2004) I coined the term 'The Prince Charles Fallacy': the misguided notion that the only buildings that should be allowed to be built are those that look more less like the buildings that are already in the area. Read how this approach blighted Goldfinger's career.

Let's hope this interfering aesthetic conservatism that undermines democratic processes triggers a serious debate about what we value in architecture and how we go about civic decision-making.

John Perry on You Tube

John Perry (Stanford University), best known for his work on personal identity, but also presenter of Philosophy Talk is interviewed for an hour in this You Tube video...a wide-ranging discussion about the nature of philosophy, humour etc.

Free Speech Under Threat Again in the UK

DJ Michael Savage is clearly not particularly nice. He has some obnoxious views (assuming he believes what he says - and not every shock jock does). But as far as I know he hasn't incited violence (unlike some on the banned list) and is not a threat to the UK. So why has he been forbidden entry when he hasn't even requested it? Read about this here and here. This sends out a terrible message about freedom of expression in the UK. It has also given Savage more attention than he deserves. Nice one.

More on Free Speech (including many links)

Telling the Truth

You can listen again (for a week, I think) to this piece on telling the truth within families I contributed to on Radio 4's Woman's Hour today. Listen here.

Atheism: Is It Good For You?

Atheism: is it good for you? Could the middle way between religious fanaticism and ardent atheism be linked with depression? The prognosis isn't great for agnostics. Social scientists are starting to investigate secular as well as religous beliefs and whether or not they bring benefits. See 'Beyond Belief' (thanks to the ever-fascinating normblog for the link).