Empowered Belonging

Pat is one of the founders of neurophilosophy, which examines the relationship between neuroscience and philosophy. According to her, "to understand the mind, we must understand the brain," and she applies findings from neuroscience to common philosophical questions about knowledge, free will, consciousness, and ethics. This video discusses the origins of our moral intuition and how the moral teachings of evolution can be justified. We also discuss implications for wider topics including free will. It is an intriguing and entertaining that raises questions as it answers others. Take part in the comments section by telling us what you think.

Alex O'Connor's YouTube channel can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7kIy8fZavEni8Gzl8NLjOQ.

"If you've learnt your economics from Hayek, and you're let loose in 10 Downing Street, you can do a hell of a lot of harm very fast indeed. It's generally true that economists could do with acquainting themselves with more features of the world."

"As the Prime Minister has said to a lot of the people working with him, what can I do for the people who voted for me. So what has happened is massively unhelpful."

Bronwen Maddox is the Director of the Institute for Government and we were delighted to sit down with her for the fifth episode of our podcast series.

The fate of Brexit, the integrity of our democracy, and the rise of nationalism are three key developments in Britain today. In this 31 minute episode, we explore the causes of nationalism across the United Kingdom, the significance of the new Labour opposition and reforms to our democracy like virtual Parliaments, what coronavirus means for Brexit, and much more.

Bronwen has had a glittering career in the media, and now at the Institute, which works to promote better government by focusing on how it is led and how it makes decisions. Previously, she was the editor and chief executive of Prospect, the leading current affairs magazine, and also worked as an editor at The Times. As a result, she is well placed to offer a unique insight into how Britain is governed.

"Islamist politics has been tried and failed. To be honest, I think Erdoğan's era is over."

In this week's podcast we are joined by Hannah Lucinda Smith, the author of 'Erdoğan Rising: The Battle for the Soul of Turkey'. Hannah is also The Times' political correspondent in Turkey, where she is also responsible for their coverage of the Balkans and the Middle East.

This episode is full of intriguing anecdotes from Hannah's experiences of almost a decade in the region. One cannot help but feel the tension of the attempted coup of 2016, hearing about how commandos stormed his hotel room, with orders to capture him dead or alive, just 30 minutes after he had fled.

In this episode we dive into the religious, political, and cultural traditions of Turkey's political culture and explore how Erdoğan's political coalition has evolved, and narrowed, over time. We also discuss Erdoğan's precarious and crumbling popularity, the political maneuvres he regularly uses to manufacture a bump in the polls, and what the future holds for Turkey, after Erdoğan has left the scene.

"Labour also has to be very careful about two things with the electorate: are my taxes gonna go sky high and whether it's going to be strong enough on national security.

To be absolutely blunt, Jeremy Corbyn didn't pass that test."

Our latest episode with Lord Andrew Adonis is out now! In this 40-minute podcast, Andrew expressed his regrets over Brexit and university tuition fees and reiterated his case for HS2 and expanding Heathrow. We also discussed what Keir Starmer needs to do to become Prime Minster, and touched on the current state of government at Westminster, as well as the one man Andrew believes should be in Number 10 instead.

"If you have managed to reduce risk, then uncertainty is something you can welcome."

Our first podcast is now live! We were delighted to host Professor John Kay for this 34 minute episode. Touching on a universal basic income, Groundhog Day, and green-washing, it is certainly a broad and entertaining discussion.

In the episode, we discuss John's most recent books: Other People's Money and Radical Uncertainty. Other People’s Money plots the route to financial reform and argues why we should take it. It is a fascinating topic which has far reaching implications, which we explore later on. Radical Uncertainty was published in March 2020. Co-authored with former governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King, they explain how contemporary economists have got it wrong on risk and uncertainty. These words are distinct, and 'optimal' models to make decisions are not in fact optimal at all.

Despite his embrace of radical financial reform and of uncertainty, John is not in favour of the radical fiscal idea gripping many political and economic thinkers: universal basic income. Instead, John considers its necessary limits, concluding that the end result looks similar to the welfare system we have already, and for good reason.

Tune in to the Oxford PPE Society's very first podcast: no risk to fear, plenty of uncertainty to enjoy.