Podcast appearances and mentions of joanna kavenna

We take it for granted that through language and communication we can learn about the experience of others. But it remains unknown whether we can fully know what it is like to be another human being. James Baldwin and Jean-Paul Sartre take radically different approaches. For Sartre, the experience of others is unknown to us. Fundamentally, we are alone with our own subjectivity. While for Baldwin, "to encounter oneself is to encounter the other; and this is love". Summing up his disagreement with Sartre he remarked: "it has always seemed to me that ideas were somewhat more real to him than people.”Was Baldwin right that to be alive is to be socially connected to others? Or is Sartre's insight that the only thing we can know is our own experience more telling? Should we conclude that we cannot understand the experience of another unless we have had the same experience? Or is language capable of bridging the seemingly impossible gap between us? Jonathan Webber is a professor at Cardiff University specializing in moral philosophy and the philosophy of psychology. Marie-Elsa Roche Bragg is an author, teacher, and priest. Her first novel, Towards Mellbreak is about four generations of a quiet hill farming family on the North Western fells of Cumbria. Joanna Kavenna is an award-winning writer. She was born in the UK but as a seasoned traveller, she was led to her first book, The Ice Museum, which details her experience travelling in the remote North. Hosted by presenter, writer and professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at Oxford, Rana MitterTo witness such debates live, buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In search of oneselfShould we see self-knowledge as an aim not only misguided, but actively dangerous? Is self-knowledge in fact impossible for as Nietzsche argued we have to use the self to uncover the self? Or is self-reflection a vital and rewarding activity that uncovers meaning and improves our ability to act well in the world?Joanna Kavenna hosts this debate on how our contemporary culture is influenced, shaped and potentially misinformed by our most recent self-help culture. Joining her are Frank Furedi, an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent, John Vervaeke, an award-winning professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, and Isabel Millar, an associate resercher at Newcastle University.For hundreds more podcasts, talks and articles, visit https://iai.tv/To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesAnd don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In search of ourselvesIs the 'self' a useful category, philosophically, psychologically, in our everyday lives? What might it help us do? And where do we find ourselves?Join our mixed panel of speakers as they approach this question from their different points of view - Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers, English explorer and survivalist Ed Stafford and novelist Joanna Kavenna. Recording of this conversation in 2017 was partly corrupted and the audio has been restored as best as possible. The discussion does not resolve this age-old question but rather plays with it. There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can art vanquish evil?In a largely secular culture what are we to make of evil? In a rational and relativistic climate without superstitutions, have we lost a cultural space in which to engage with evil? Should we abandon the notion altogether as anachronistic or is it essential in the fight for a better world?Filmmaker Mike Figgis, Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith, Sean Holmes, and philosopher Robert Eaglestone explore the nature of evil and our response to it.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can art vanquish evil?In a largely secular culture what are we to make of evil? In a rational and relativistic climate without superstitutions, have we lost a cultural space in which to engage with evil? Should we abandon the notion altogether as anachronistic or is it essential in the fight for a better world?Filmmaker Mike Figgis, Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith, Sean Holmes, and philosopher Robert Eaglestone explore the nature of evil and our response to it.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hollywood star Benedict Cumberbatch talks about his new series Eric, where he plays a troubled puppeteer in 80s New York whose life and marriage unravel when his young son disappears and the only help he has to find him is from a giant imaginary monster who follows him everywhere. Created by British screenwriter Abi Morgan, the show opens on Netflix on Thursday.Bernard Butler's first solo album in 25 years - Good Grief - is released on 31st May. He plays his latest single and reflects on a career that has involved highly successful collaborations with an eclectic range of artists including Duffy, Jessie Buckley, Tricky and The Libertines. 100 years after his death, Franz Kafka's papers are on display at a new exhibition at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The curator Carolin Duttlinger discusses Kafka's ongoing significance with the novelist Joanna Kavenna. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Torquil MacLeod

A special episode this week, as we join Sally at Brasenose College in a conversation titled ‘A Reading Life, A Writing Life', with fellow writers Aida Edemariam and Joanna Kavenna. Join them for a discussion on memory, storytelling, and the porous boundaries between reality and fiction. Aida is a writer and journalist whose debut book The Wife's Tale received the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Award. More information on her and her work can be found here: https://www.rcwlitagency.com/authors/edemariam-aida/ Joanna, whose 2016 novel A Field Guide to Reality has appeared in a previous episode, is a novelist, essayist and current Frankland Visitor at Brasenose College, Oxford. More information can be found on her website: http://www.joannakavenna.com/ This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.    

Have we entered a post-knowledge era? Or was the idea that we can attain knowledge misleading in the first place? Looking for a link we mentioned? Find it here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesThe acquisition of knowledge has been a central factor driving advance. And since Descartes, Western thought has placed the question of what we know, and how we know what we know, at the centre of philosophy. But might this focus on knowledge be a mistake? Feminist and postmodernist critics argue that in seeking to validate knowledge philosophers have merely sought to justify their own interests and prejudices. Instead they argue all knowledge is limited by perspective whether by culture, class, gender, race or the many other factors that influence understanding.Should we give up the idea that our beliefs can provide us with objective knowledge? Should we reject epistemology as an attempt to elevate and make undeniable our particular perspective, interests and prejudices and focus instead on the consequences of adopting a given framework of belief? Or is knowledge essential to culture and the notion that beliefs might be definitively true vital to progress? Philosopher of race Tommy Curry, theoretical physicist Suchitra Sebastian and outspoken scientist Rupert Sheldrake debate the limits of what we can know. Hosted by Joanna Kavenna.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=after-knowledgeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is rationality as vital as we think?Looking for a link we mentioned? Find it here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesPhilosophers from Spinoza and Hegel to Bertrand Russell argued that logic and reason are the key to understanding the world. But is this a fundamental error? After all, recent studies show that reason does not lead to more successful outcomes in business or personal relationships. Should we abandon the idea that reason is the key either to truth or successful action? Or should we see reason as vital to follow through the consequences of our beliefs? In an increasingly chaotic intellectual age, do we need reason more than ever to contain conflict, or is reason no more than a justification of prejudice?Award-winning English novelist Joanna Kavenna, renowned public intellectual Rory Sutherland, philosopher and senior Lecturer Rebecca Roache debate whether we need reason as much as we think we do in an increasingly chaotic modern age. Bahar Gholipour hosts.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=taking-leave-of-reasonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sally is reading A Field Guide to Reality, the debut novel by the Granta Best of Young British author Joanna Kavenna, originally published in 2016 and set in a surreal, quantum alternative Oxford University.  Sally will be in conversation with Joanna Kavenna and fellow writer Elizabeth Lowry at Blackwell's Bookshop in Oxford, from 6pm on September 5th. They will discuss many of the themes of the podcast; reading, writing and the intersection with life and living - and it's free to attend! More details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/s-bayley-e-lowry-and-j-kavenna-a-reading-life-a-writing-life-tickets-688044298017 You can find out more about Joanna's writings here: http://www.joannakavenna.com/ And Elizabeth Lowry here: https://elizabethlowry.co.uk/          

Starting a new book is like starting a new relationship, and Sally is reading Elizabeth Lowry's The Chosen, a ghost story and a love story about Thomas Hardy and his estranged wife.  Sally will be in conversation with Elizabeth Lowry and fellow writer Joanna Kavenna at Blackwell's Bookshop in Oxford, from 6pm on September 5th. They will discuss many of the themes of the podcast; reading, writing and the intersection with life and living - and it's free to attend! More details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/s-bayley-e-lowry-and-j-kavenna-a-reading-life-a-writing-life-tickets-688044298017 Elizabeth Lowry's The Chosen has been shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. You can find out more here: https://elizabethlowry.co.uk/ You can find out about Joanna Kavenna, who is also appearing in the event, here: http://www.joannakavenna.com/        

This is the second half of the chat between Sally and Will Self, held at Blackwell's Bookshop in Oxford, in which they discuss the German emigré writer WG Sebald, their reading and writing habits, parenthood, children and eccentric families. Sally is hosting another evening of literary chat with friends and fellow writers Joanna Kavenna and Elizabeth Lowry, also at Blackwell's Bookshop in Oxford, from 6pm on September 5th. They will discuss many of the themes of the podcast; reading, writing and the intersection with life and living - and it's free to attend! More details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/s-bayley-e-lowry-and-j-kavenna-a-reading-life-a-writing-life-tickets-688044298017 Our thanks to Will Self and to Blackwell's Bookshop. You can find out more about Will Self's book here: https://will-self.com/why-read/  

A landmark work of oral history written in the spirit of Nell Dunn, Porn: An Oral History (Fitzcarraldo Editions) is a thrilling, thought-provoking, revelatory, revealing, joyfully informative and informal exploration of a subject that has always retained an element of the taboo. ‘Polly Barton is a brilliant, learned and daring writer,' writes Joanna Kavenna, author of ZED. She was in conversation, brilliantly, learnedly and daringly, with Amelia Abraham, author of Queer Intentions (Picador). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is our focus on happiness making us unhappy?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes"Oh happiness! Our being's end and aim!” claimed Alexander Pope. Now, a few centuries later, it's not just smiling faces on billboards, some governments have made happiness measures a central goal. 89% of young people in their twenties think life has no purpose other than happiness. But might this be a fundamental error? Income in the West has gone up three fold since the 1950's, but those who say they are unhappy has not fallen, instead it is up 50%. Countries, like New Zealand, that target a happiness index have some of the highest rates of depression and suicide.Should we see happiness not as the goal, but as the outcome of other actions and focus instead on purpose and achievement, both individual and collective? Or is the notion of an end or purpose to life, be it happiness or anything else, the fundamental mistake?Cofounder of Novara Media Aaron Bastani, behavioural scientist Paul Dolan and multi-award-winning author Joanna Kavenna debate the the role of happiness in life. Rana Mitter hosts.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=the-happiness-delusionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is materialism a fundamental mistake?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesThe relationship between the individual human subject and the world was once the central focus of Western philosophy. Modern neuroscience has instead tended to assume that the world is purely material and physical, and the problem of consciousness a question of how to generate thought from matter. Yet, we are no closer to solving the deep puzzle of consciousness and many argue that the American philosopher Thomas Nagel is right when he maintains that the question of consciousness 'cannot be detached from subject and object'.Is the notion that the world is purely material a fundamental mistake? Would we be more likely to unlock the mysteries of consciousness by once again adopting the framework of the subject and object? Or will slow, piecemeal advances in neuroscience and analytic philosophy eventually yield the answers that we have been searching for?Revolutionary cognitive psychologist Donald Hoffman (joining us live from across the pond), neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow and philosopher Sam Coleman battle to unlock consciousness. Hosted by award-winning novelist Joanna Kavenna.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=the-key-to-consciousnessSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can we make ultimate moral judgements?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesFor a couple of millenia in the West we have judged people and their actions by the standards of good and evil. But, from Mother Theresa to Winston Churchill the notion that an individual is simply good is hard to sustain. Almost all claim to be good. Even the Nazis believed they were on a moral crusade against the evils of corruption and deceit, managing to enlist the Catholic church in support. And, from the Crusades to 9/11, seeing oneself and one's cause as good has a habit of intensifying dispute and conflict.Should we conclude that dividing the world into good and bad is not just misguided but actually dangerous? Should we adopt a Roman approach to human qualities and actions where kindness and brutality could both be valued in the same one individual. Or is the distinction between good and bad essential to social well being, public order, and individual growth?Fearless thinker, Tommy Curry, esteemed philosopher, Massimo Pigliucci, and author of Zed, Joanna Kavenna, explore whether 'good' and 'evil' are just categories used for coercion. Hosted by Myriam Francois.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=the-good-and-the-evilSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Podcast: Philosophy For Our Times Episode: Is our search for an objective morality misguided? | Slavoj Žižek, Joanna Kavenna, Simon BlackburnRelease date: 2023-03-14Should we think of morality in terms of objective truth or social consensus?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesOnce the fashion of a postmodern age, moral relativism has always had its detractors, many of them religious. But now a new breed of atheist celebrity thinkers, from Sam Harris to Peter Singer, are making claims for the existence of absolute moral truths. Critics argue that like authoritarian moralists of the past, they use so-called 'objective' morality to shore up to their own prejudices and silence dissent. Firebrand philosopher Slavoj Žižek, bestselling author of Zed Joanna Kavenna, and philosopher and author of Truth Simon Blackburn debate objective morality in a postmodern age. Hosted by Professor and Chair of Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford, Ruth Chang.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=[iai-tv-episode-title] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Podcast: Philosophy For Our Times Episode: Is our search for an objective morality misguided? | Slavoj Žižek, Joanna Kavenna, Simon BlackburnRelease date: 2023-03-14Should we think of morality in terms of objective truth or social consensus?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesOnce the fashion of a postmodern age, moral relativism has always had its detractors, many of them religious. But now a new breed of atheist celebrity thinkers, from Sam Harris to Peter Singer, are making claims for the existence of absolute moral truths. Critics argue that like authoritarian moralists of the past, they use so-called 'objective' morality to shore up to their own prejudices and silence dissent. Firebrand philosopher Slavoj Žižek, bestselling author of Zed Joanna Kavenna, and philosopher and author of Truth Simon Blackburn debate objective morality in a postmodern age. Hosted by Professor and Chair of Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford, Ruth Chang.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=[iai-tv-episode-title] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Should we think of morality in terms of objective truth or social consensus?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesOnce the fashion of a postmodern age, moral relativism has always had its detractors, many of them religious. But now a new breed of atheist celebrity thinkers, from Sam Harris to Peter Singer, are making claims for the existence of absolute moral truths. Critics argue that like authoritarian moralists of the past, they use so-called 'objective' morality to shore up to their own prejudices and silence dissent. Firebrand philosopher Slavoj Žižek, bestselling author of Zed Joanna Kavenna, and philosopher and author of Truth Simon Blackburn debate objective morality in a postmodern age. Hosted by Professor and Chair of Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford, Ruth Chang.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=[iai-tv-episode-title] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Should we see art as a means of getting closer to the essence of what it is to be alive?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesArt is most often seen as an adornment to everyday life. An entertainment, a delightful distraction perhaps, but not an uncovering of the essential character of the world. To uncover reality, we instead focus on accurate description and the discovery of facts. Yet these descriptions frequently do not settle the matter and can often lead to conflict and dispute, and all the while we are no closer to agreement on the essential nature of reality. Could we successfully refocus culture so that art was the primary means of making sense of ourselves and our reality? Or is this an empty romantic illusion that would leave us poorer, less productive and less able to fend for ourselves in the world?Critically acclaimed writer Janne Teller, musical comedian and writer Isy Suttie, British philosopher James Tartaglia and Pulitzer prize poet Paul Muldoon as they debate whether art can uncover the essence of the world. Hosted by acclaimed author, Joanna Kavenna.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=[infinty-in-the-palm-of-your-handSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Have mundane setbacks become catastrophic? Our experts discuss. Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesTrauma was traditionally associated with events such as war, assault and natural disasters. Now it is increasingly used to describe everyday experiences like personal criticism or romantic rejection, and of becoming an empty therapeutic buzzword. Some psychologists argue that we risk undermining diagnoses of serious disorders by treating the mundane as the catastrophic, at the same time as making us less resilient.Should we stop describing everyday setbacks as trauma? Or is a looser understanding of trauma to be encouraged so that individuals can come to terms with their suffering? Or is this all a symptom of a broader cultural focus on our emotional lives which once promised better mental health, but which has now turned out to have undermined an entire generation?Neuroscientist Sarah Garfinkel, bestselling author of Zed Joanna Kavenna and fearless psychoanalyst Ian Parker explore modern trauma and what we can do about it. There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=the-trauma-of-the-everydaySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Are we incarcerating the innocent?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesNote: this episode was recorded live at our philosophy festival HowTheLightGetsIn.Some argue behaviour is a product of our genes. Others that upbringing and environment play the primary role in determining who we are. So do we carry no responsibility for our actions? Courts have on occasion made judgments in this light. In 2006 Bradley Waldroup was acquitted of murder because he was found to have an unusual variant of a 'warrior gene' and to have been abused as a child.Is responsibility for our actions an illusion? And should we as a result abandon moral responsibility to build a fairer world? Or is the notion that our actions are determined by our genes, our upbringing or some combination a dangerous mistake? Many want to have it both ways: we are the outcome of our genes and upbringing but also responsible for our actions, but how is this possible?Eminent philosopher and literary critic Galen Strawson, stoic philosopher Massimo Pigliucci, and neuroscientist Sarah Garfinkel debate the essence of innocence and guilt. Hosted by novelist Joanna Kavenna.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=beyond-innocence-and-guiltSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can we be sure there is a physical reality? Our philosophers and scientists debate.Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes No-one who has ever stepped on a Lego brick could doubt the reality of physical objects. Yet from Heraclitus to George Berkeley, many philosophers claimed to have disproven the existence of things. Now even high-energy particle physicists are inclined to agree and describe material stuff as energy, or even as mathematical constructs. Could the world truly be made up of fields and processes, rather than physical stuff? Or is science trapped in a philosophical fantasy from which it needs to escape?Chemist and Fellow of Lincoln College Peter Atkins, Philosopher of Science at the University of Bristol James Ladyman and author of A Field Guide to Reality Joanna Kavenna debate whether the everyday objects that surround us are an illusion. Julian Baggini hosts.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=a-world-of-illusionsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Are scientific metaphors a real description of reality? A discussion between our scientists and philosophers.Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesFrom string theory to the Big Bang, black holes to dark matter, our big scientific theories are increasingly conveyed through metaphor. Yet from Newton to the latest theories, science is largely founded on mathematics.Could Newton have chosen to call forces 'spirits' and Einstein have called fields 'matrices'? And if so would our understanding of reality have been profoundly different?Fellow at the Francis Crick Institute Güneş Taylor, scientist and author Rupert Sheldrake, chemist and author of popular works of science Peter Atkins and post-postmodern philosopher Hilary Lawson debate whether scientific metaphors can be considered real descriptions of an underlying universe. Joanna Kavenna hosts.There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=does-ultimate-truth-existSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hannah Arendt tackled the big ideas behind possibly the most dangerous period of the twentieth century: Anti-Semitism, Imperialism and Totalitarianism. These phenomena and the concepts of freedom and evil were all the more immediate to her, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany. In recent years there has been a renewed interest in her writing which has often focused on mass propaganda, the differences between fact and fiction and the rise of the strong man leader. It's 70 years since Hannah Arendt published The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, so what does a re-reading of it tell us about our own world? Anne McElvoy is joined by the guests: Author and journalist Paul Mason, who has just published a book called How to Stop Fascism; Samantha Rose Hill is a senior research fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and the Humanities and her latest book is a biography, Hannah Arendt (2021). Her edition of Hannah Arendt's Poems will be published in 2022. Daniel Johnson is a journalist and the editor of The Article And, Gavin Delahunty is the curator of On Hannah Arendt: Eight Proposals for Exhibition running at the Richard Saltoun Gallery throughout 2021. Producer: Ruth Watts In the Free Thinking archives and available to download as an Arts & Ideas podcast: Anne McElvoy talks to Susan Neimann, Christopher Hampton and Ursula Owen about tolerance, censorship and free speech and lessons from German history https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008hvz Matthew Sweet looks at What Nietszche Teaches Us with biographer Sue Prideaux and philosophers Hugo Drochon and Katrina Mitcheson https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000d8k Orwell's 1984: A Landmark of Culture brings together Peter Pomerantsev, Joanna Kavenna, Dorian Lynskey and Lisa Mullen to explore Orwell's ideas about surveillance and propaganda. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005nrl

As readers, we often fall into a bubble of reading the same type of book over and over, and our hosts are no stranger to that, which is why during this episode Ryan, Hillary, and Kelso temporarily set aside the Sci-Fi, the Fantasy, the Horror, the Queer Lit, and instead recommend "anything but fiction"! Click the link to purchase the book from our store, or click the (audiobook) link to get the Audiobook on Libro.fm. Thanks for shopping local! Books Mentioned During This Episode RECENT READS Kelso, https://www.gibsonsbookstore.com/staff/kelso The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel (May 4th) Hillary, https://www.gibsonsbookstore.com/staff/hillary We Need New Stories: The Myths that Subvert Freedom by Nesrine Malik (May 11th) Ryan, https://www.gibsonsbookstore.com/staff/ryan-elizabeth-clark My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (August 31st) (audiobook) The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (audiobook) ANYTHING BUT FICTION Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (audiobook) Hamilton: The Revolution by Jeremy McCarter & Lin-Manuel Miranda (audiobook) Running with Sherman by Christopher McDougall (audiobook) Disney's Land by Richard Snow (audiobook) Mousejunkies! by Bill Burke Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker (audiobook) Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension by Matt Parker Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson (audiobook) Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (audiobook) Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost  The Painted Bed by Donald Hall The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman (audiobook) Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier (audiobook) You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier (audiobook) 24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection by Tiffany Shlain (audiobook) Zed by Joanna Kavenna (audiobook) The Circle by Dave Eggers (audiobook) The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel (audiobook) Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell (audiobook) You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe (audiobook) Meet Me In the Bathroom by Lizzy Goodman (audiobook) Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature by Angus Fletcher (audiobook) The Cycles of Constitutional Time by Jack M. Balkin The Plague Cycle by Charles Kenny (audiobook) Adventures in Eden by Carolyn Mullet Murder Maps: Crime Scenes Revisited by Dr. Drew Gray Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World by Simon Winchester (audiobook) (event recording) A Good War is Hard to Find: The Art of Violence in America by David Griffith POETRY FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK THEY DON'T LIKE POETRY Buddy Wakefield Taylor Mali Amanda Gorman Poetry Society of New Hampshire Slam Free or Die Conversations with Granite State Poets: Maudelle Driskell and Meg Kearney - April 5th Martha Carlson-Bradley and Liz Ahl - April 12th Rodger Martin and Henry Walters - April 19th OTHER LINKS Gibson's Bookstore Website Shop The Laydown Purchase Gift Certificates!  Browse our website by Category! Donate to the bookstore! Check out our Events Calendar! Gibson's Instagram The Laydown Instagram Facebook Twitter Libro.fm (Our Audiobook Platform) Use the code LAYDOWN for 3 audiobooks for the price of 1!  Email us at thelaydownpodcast@gmail.com

Hey everyone. We know that it's been a couple months since we've been in touch—we've been busy planning out our next batch of episodes, performing various income-earning activities, managing our social media intake, and just generally taking a moment to recover from the hellscape that was 2020. But we're excited to be back. And we're especially thrilled to be kicking off our second season today with a conversation on a subject that is near and dear to hearts: counterculture.It's a term that has been used to describe pretty much every major, music-adjacent youth movement of the 20th century, from the Beats and the hippies, to 70s hip-hop and punk, to the darkened warehouses in Detroit where techno was born. For some of us, counterculture conjures memories of specific spaces, like the smelly basement where you took in your first college noise show. For others it speaks more to the abstract idea of carving out a safer, utopian alternative to the messy, exploitative, inequitable reality we live in every day.But is counterculture—and underground culture as a whole—even possible in the era of the Internet? Today, we'll be talking about what counterculture is, what it means, and whether it can even exist at a time when pretty much every interpersonal interaction we have takes place on social media, for everyone to see. To guide us, we've enlisted the powerful brain of Caroline Busta, a Berlin-based writer and editor and co-founder of the media aggregator and podcast New Models, which is always a source of intriguing food-for-thought on the intersection of art, cultural production, and technology. At the top of the year, Carly published an essay on Document Journal that tapped into a feeling we'd been turning over for a long time: "To be truly countercultural today, in a time of tech hegemony, one has to above all betray the platform, which may come in the form of betraying or divesting from your public online self," she writes. Whether you're a life-long weird music head, or a Marxist art theory nerd, or somebody who is simply having a hard time finding community inside the 280-character confines of Web 2.0, you'll probably find something to chew on in the piece, which is called "The Internet Didn't Kills Counterculture—You Just Won't Find It On Instagram." Either way, we hope you'll enjoy our conversation with Carly. Follow Carly on TwitterCheck out the New Models website and PatreonSome further reading on the topic, courtesy of CarlyJoshua Citarella, 20 Interviews, 2019Joshua Citarella & Cade lectures for SimSociety: Worldbuilding & Political Identity Formation on MMORPG Earth, Feb 2020Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution (Princeton, 2017)Achile Mbembe, Thoughts on the Planetary, New Frame, (Sept 2019)Joanna Kavenna, “Shoshana Zuboff: ‘Surveillance capitalism is an assault on human autonomy'” The Guardian, 2019Fred Turner, From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Steward Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism (Chicago Univ. Press, 2006)Thomas R. Bates, "Gramsci and the Theory of Hegemony," Journal of the History of Ideas (Apr-Jun 1975)Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe

Joanna Kavenna joins Josie Mitchell to discuss Zed – a sci-fi dystopia exploring our fears about the psychological cost of surveillance capitalism. Early in 2020, newly under lockdown, they discussed the psychic threat posed by today's tech companies, the blurring of citizen and consumer, and the early optimism of cyberspace. You can read an excerpt from the novel on our website for free, and subscribers can also read ‘The Perfect Companion', an AI short story that journeys further into the world of Zed. 

Is true privacy possible or desirable in a digital age? This episode focuses on the right to privacy in the age of big data. Mark Zuckerberg has said that ‘nobody wants privacy anymore’. Is he right? Sharing a common interest in the potential for the abuse of data gathered by tech companies to invade individual life – and a strong desire to prevent this from occurring – are the award-winning literary novelist Joanna Kavenna, Imperial College computer scientist Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye, and Marie Nemond, Chief Data Officer of the Pictet Group.  

Peter Pomerantsev, Joanna Kavenna, New Generation Thinker Lisa Mullen and Dorian Lynskey join Matthew Sweet to debate George Orwell's vision of a world of surveillance, war and propaganda published in June 1949. How far does his vision of the future chime with our times and what predictions might we make of our own future ? Dorian Lynskey has written The Ministry of Truth Joanna Kavenna's new novel Zed - a dystopian absurdist thriller is published in early July. Peter Pomerantsev's new book This Is NOT Propaganda: Adventures in the war against reality is published in August. Lisa Mullen has published a book of criticism mid-century Gothic and is continuing her research on George Orwell. You can hear her Free Thinking Festival Essay about the role of Orwell's wife Eileen asking Who Wrote Animal Farm? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000413q Part of a week long focus Free Thinking the Future. You can find more interviews and discussions to download and catch up with on the playlist on our website https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zwn4d You can find more Landmarks of Culture from 2001 Space Odyssey to Zamyatin's We in our playlist https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01jwn44 Producer: Zahid Warley

In this week's episode we speak to novelist and essayist, Joanna Kavenna. We talk about beginnings, finding a voice in fiction and taking a Wittgensteinian view of reality, as well as how to deal with Polar Bears while conducting research and the ways in which literature can help us understand and limit technology before the machines destroy us. Joanna is the author of the _Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule_ and _A Field Guide to Reality_ (riverrun, 2016) as well as three other novels and non-fiction essays. Find out more about Joanna at [joannakavenna.com](http://www.joannakavenna.com/) Photo credit: A Michaelis Follow us [@unsoundmethods](https://twitter.com/unsoundmethods) or [unsoundmethods.co.uk](https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/)

In this episode, Rob chats to novelist and Orange Prize winner, Joanna Kavenna about the individual experience of reality, Baudelaire, George Osborne, the British Class system and her latest work, The Field Guide to Reality. Rob and Kate Feld also argue about all things literary (and otherwise). Kate tells us what the UNESCO City of Literature designation means for Manchester and Rob forces the Times Literary Supplement Twenty Questions on her. Apologies in advance to The New Statesman.

This episode, Brea and Mallory discuss book politics, interview author and podcaster Jessa Crispin and solve your bathtub reading problems. Use the hashtag #PagePolitics on Twitter and Instagram to participate in online discussion! Send your thoughts to readingglassespodcast at gmail dot com. Books Mentioned - A Night In The Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny   Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward   The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson   Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci   The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger   Inglorious by Joanna Kavenna   Reading Glasses Tote Bags - https://topatoco.com/collections/maximum-fun/products/maxf-rg-dnd-tote   Sponsor - Read Dog Books http://read.dog/about-us   Links - Reading Glasses Transcriptions on Gretta https://gretta.com/1246042223/ Reading Glasses Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/259287784548200/?ref=bookmarks Reading Glasses Goodreads Group https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/224423-reading-glasses---fan-group   Jessa Crispin https://twitter.com/thebookslut http://www.jessacrispin.com/ http://www.jessacrispin.com/podcast/    

Philip Dodd and Joanna Kavenna discuss the challenges of art in an age of irony as the work of Käthe Kollwitz goes on display in Birmingham at the Ikon Gallery. Lawrence Norfolk pays tribute to the work of the great American poet, John Ashbery, who died last week. Plus a discussion of social conservatism in the USA, Europe and the UK with Sophie Gaston from the think tank, Demos and the political commentators, Tim Stanley and Charlie Wolf. Kollwitz was born in Königsberg in East Prussia in 1867 and the show gathers together 40 of her drawings and prints under the themes of social and political protest, self-portraits and images she made in response to the death of her son Peter in October 1914. Portrait of the Artist: Käthe Kollwitz A British Museum and Ikon Partnership Exhibition runs from 13 September 26 November 2017 with a fully illustrated catalogue.John Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) is the author of collections including Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror which won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 Image: Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) Self Portrait, (1924) Woodcut Copyright: The Trustees of the British MuseumProducer: Zahid Warley

How have political ideologies and crises impacted families throughout history? With new austerity measures under discussion, a refugee problem continuing, the aftermath of the Brexit vote and more to come, it is one the most relevant questions today. How do writers reflect these pressures in characters, in their work? And how do they engage with alleged realities when creating fictional versions of their own? On 18 October 2016 novelists Benjamin Markovits and Joanna Kavenna came together at Free Word Centre to discuss these issues with John Freeman, editor of the literary journal Freeman's.

H G Wells -- the man, his women and his writing. Matthew Sweet chairs a discussion about the father of science fiction to open the London Liteature Festival at South Bank Centre. Joining him for the event are Louisa Treger, Mark Blacklock, Joanna Kavenna and Christopher Priest.Louisa Treger's novel The Lodger was inspired by Dorothy Richardson, one of the key women in Wells' life. Christopher Priest's books include The Space Machine and his latest, The Gradual which explores ideas about time. He 's Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society. Joanna Kavenna's latest novel is called A Field Guide to Reality. Mark Blacklock teaches science fiction at Birkbeck College and is the author of The Emergence of the Fourth Dimension: Higher Spatial Thinking in the Fin de Siecle.More information about anniversary events to mark 150 years since the birth of HG Wells are found at http://hgwellssociety.com/ .Sound Frontiers: BBC Radio 3 live at Southbank Centre. Celebrating 7 decades of pioneering music and culture.Producer: Zahid Warley.

On Start the Week Tom Sutcliffe asks if one day we might know everything. The mathematician Marcus du Sautoy and the physicist Roger Penrose explore the far reaches of knowledge, questioning whether certain fields of research will always lie beyond human comprehension. They ask how much fashion and faith shape scientific theories. The experimental physicist Suzie Sheehy attempts to build machines to test the latest theories, while Joanna Kavenna plays with a philosophical Theory of Everything in her latest novel A Field Guide to Reality. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Artist Dorothy Cross, author Joanna Kavenna, the cosmologist Jo Dunkley and our second 2016 New Generation Thinker historian Edmund Richardson from Durham University join Matthew Sweet for a programme recorded in Oxford exploring mysticism and its role in a timeless search for reality.Joanna Kavenna's novel A Field Guide to Reality is published at the end of June.Dorothy Cross is displaying art as part of Mystics and Rationalists - it runs from June 11th to August 7th as part of the Kaleidoscope series celebrating 50 years of Modern Art Oxford.Edmund Richardson has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels & Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity.New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio programmes. Find out more from our website and hear them introducing their research in the programme which broadcast on May 31st - available as an arts and ideas podcast.Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Angela Carter's work was described by Salman Rushdie as 'without equal and without rival'. The award winning author of novels including The Bloody Chamber, Wise Children and Nights at the Circus was a pioneer of English magic realism who re-imagined fairy tales and explored boundary breaking and rebelling against the confines of society. Her non- fiction book The Sadeian Woman explored the ideology of pornography. Thirteen years after her early death, the novelists Joanna Kavenna and Natasha Pulley join Angela Carter's literary executor Susannah Clapp and her friend the cultural critic Christopher Frayling to discuss Carter's writing and influence with Free Thinking presenter Philip Dodd. The readings are performed by Emily Woof. Christopher Frayling is the author of Inside the Bloody Chamber: on Angela Carter, the Gothic, and other weird tales which draws on the letters he and Carter exchanged. Joanna Kavenna is the author of five novels including Come to the Edge. In 2013 she was included in the Granta List of 20 best young writers. Natasha Pulley is the author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and a graduate of the creative writing programme at the University of East Anglia. Susannah Clapp is the author of A Card from Angela Carter and Theatre Critic for The Observer. Recorded in front of an audience at the Free Thinking Festival Sage Gateshead. Producer: Zahid Warley

As the Iceland Symphony Orchestra appear at the Proms, Radio 3's New Generation Thinker and expert in Nordic sagas Eleanor Rosamond Barraclough joins novelist Joanna Kavenna to discuss Icelandic culture with Ian Macmillan. This programme was recorded in front of an audience at The Royal College of Music as part of the BBC Proms. To find out further information about the events which are free to attended go to bbc.co.uk/proms.

Continuing a series of podcasts featuring our Best of Young British Novelists, today we bring you an interview with Joanna Kavenna. Kavenna grew up in various parts of Britain and has also lived in the US, France, Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic States. She is the author of three novels: Inglorious, The Birth of Love and Come to the Edge, and one work of non-fiction, The Ice Museum. In 2008 she was awarded the Orange Prize for New Writing. ‘Tomorrow’, which appears in the issue, is an excerpt from a forthcoming novel. Here she spoke to deputy editor Ellah Allfrey about her incurable wander-lust, genre-hopping and why Nietzsche was wrong about the ordinary man.

On Start the Week Andrew Marr discusses creativity with the writer Jonah Lehrer. In his latest book, Imagine, Lehrer unpicks the creative process in both science and art, to ask where inventiveness and imagination spring from, and how they can be harnessed. Experimental sound artist, Scanner, talks about creating unique musical compositions and his latest collaboration with the Heritage Orchestra at the Brighton Festival; and the novelist Joanna Kavenna considers the importance of nourishing creative ideas in writing fiction. She argues that everyone is born creative, although as we get older this innate imaginative ability is often suppressed or side-lined. Finally, the chemist, Rachel O'Reilly, explains the importance of the creative process in scientific research and how blue-sky thinking aids developments in nano-materials and technology.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Mariella talks to award-winning author Amitav Ghosh about River of Smoke - the second book in his Ibis Trilogy set in the waterways around Canton during the events leading up to the start of the First Opium War in 1839. In this week's Reading Clinic, author Joanna Kavenna recommends fiction in which women rise like a phoenix from the ashes. And writer and poet Iain Sinclair explains why Alexander Baron, the British novelist of the Second World War, should be rediscovered and re-read.

Mariella Frostrup talks to novelist Michael Arditti about his new book and to writer Sebastian Faulks about his new television series Faulks on Fiction, and Joanna Kavenna steps in for a reading clinic on Frontier Fiction.