Announcing our 2008 Schedule
7 July 2008 – 11:02 am by The Big Ideas TeamYes, we said we’d get organised this year, and so we have. The following is a preview of the Big Ideas schedule for the rest of 2008. We’re very excited about this — we have some really excellent speakers lined up and the whole programme will, we think, build into something really substantial.
On 29 July, as you may already know, Big Ideas co-organiser Nathan Charlton will be asking "What Makes Us Modern?" and inviting us to consider the question in the light of culture, politics, history, philosophy, technology and all points in between. We’ll be posting up more details on that one shortly.
On 26 August, Hansard reporter and Westminster Village resident Alasdair Mackenzie will be asking "How Much Democracy Is Too Much?" in light of the Irish referendum on Lisbon and the possibilities offered by the internet for almost constant universal involvement by everybody in every corner of government. Do we really want to micromanage ourselves, or is there life yet in the old idea of representative democracy?
On 30 September Wilfrid Hodges, will ask us "Is Being Rational The Same As Being Logical?". Prof Hodges is Professorial Fellow in the maths department of Queen Mary College. He’s made a huge number of contributions to both algebra and logic and is the author of one of the most popular introductions to Model Theory. He has a keen interest in the historical and cultural aspects of his discipline as well as the technicalities and will be starting off, we’re told, from an argument due to C S Peirce that logic and reason are the same thing. No mathematical knowledge required, although those with some will enjoy filling in the details.
On 28 October Simon Glendinning will address the question "Is Europe A Place Or An Idea?". Dr Glendinning is Director of the Forum for European Philosophy at the European Institute, part of the London School of Economics, and is the author of numerous books and papers about the European philosophical tradition. Expect to spend the following week worrying about nationality, identity, sovereignty, power and the whole idea of modern statecraft in ways you never thought possible.
On 25 November, Dave Boyle will invite us to think about "Football, Loyalty And Identity". As well as appearing on national television, radio and at academic conferences, he is Chief Executive of Supporters Direct, a group that aims "to deliver responsible, democratic representation at football clubs". As well as being a fascinating topic in its own right, it might give us an opportunity to pull together some of the themes from the year in a completely different context.
So put all these dates in your diary and prepare to be stimulated — above all we need you clever people there to make these events as rewarding and challening as ever. We’ll post out more details before each event. In December we’ll organise something social — more details to follow.
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