Gresham College Lectures

One of the most common themes underlying both the natural sciences and Christian theology is that the world is ordered or structured, and that this order can be discerned by an inquiring mind and represented theoretically. Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) saw human beings as searching for 'patterns' in life, and explored this theme in her detective novels, as well as in her religious writings.

How can we find the best explanation of what we observe? And why do human beings enjoy solving puzzles - whether this relates to the identity of the murderer or the meaning of life? Sayers's approach will be considered in the light of contemporary psychological research and her belief that Christianity can help uncover the coherence of the world.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/does-faith-make-sense-of-things

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Doctors’ careers can be sometimes built on publication rates and citation indices. Medical journals preferentially publish positive results, which also benefits industry. It is not surprising that scientific fraud occurs. When discovered, reputations are broken and livelihoods lost. The collateral damage to innocent patients and other researchers can be catastrophic. This lecture reviews some classic and some new examples of fraud and discusses what can be done to prevent it.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/seeing-through-the-lies-innovation-and-the-need-for-transparency

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

In the commerce second lecture, trends in the labour market will be considered, examining patterns of unemployment, employment, hours worked and real wages. Do high participation rates in the labour market reflect and/or represent economic progress or an economy mired in low-skill low-wages jobs?

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/employment-and-unemployment

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Thomas More’s Utopia was first published 500 years ago. Its central idea, of a perfect but impossible place, has since become part of our mental furniture. But what does this very amusing (though also rather stern) book mean? It has sometimes been seen as a satire on the inevitable conformity of political equality but may rather offer a portrait of a magnificently just society. Utopia’s links both with London and with the civic culture of Renaissance Europe more generally will be explained. Focussing on its significance at the time when it was written, with reflections on its remarkably varied legacy. This is part of the Being Human festival and is complemented by an exhibition at the University of London's Senate House which runs until December 2016, Utopia and Dystopia.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/thomas-mores-magnificent-utopia

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

There is wide variation in how easy cancers are to prevent but greater understanding of modifiable risk factors will lead to many cancers becoming substantially less common in the future. Some, such as cervical or lung cancers are already completely or largely preventable. For a few such as prostate cancer there are no current prevention strategies. For most cancers, however, the risk can be substantially reduced. Finding the right balance between the role of the state and of individuals in preventing cancer is often difficult.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-prevention-of-cancer

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

FULBRIGHT LECTURE

In 1853, the German Physiologist Eduard Pflüger published the first in a series of startling experiments on living, decapitated frogs. He elicited behaviours in these compromised animals that seemed more than just reflexive - the behaviours seemed purposive. An ensuing controversy over whether these frogs could be considered genuinely conscious pitted the English polymath G.H. Lewes against T.H. Huxley. Their debate curiously intertwined empirical with a priori philosophical concerns, concerns which we will try to tease apart.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-curious-case-of-the-decapitated-frog

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

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The European Court of Human Rights has been at the crossroads of two legal civilizations: the Continental Civil Law on the one hand and the British Common Law on the other. The common-law construction with its analogical reasoning is based on the formula that ‘the like cases should to be decided alike’. This legal tradition is more open-textured than the logical reasoning in the Continental legal system. Also, Continental judges are, since Montesquieu, thought of as merely ‘les bouches de la loi’ - bound to derive their judgements from an abstract normative major premise. Here we have yet again two different approaches to reality.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/in-the-context-of-the-common-law-the-european-court-of-human-rights-in-strasbourg

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Amongst all his astronomical allusions, Shakespeare demonstrates a deep knowledge of the night sky and its movements. Although he gives the conventional view of his age that astronomical events offer portents for human affairs, his characters sometimes take a sceptical view, and there are hints that he was aware of the new Copernican world-view that was taking hold during his lifetime. The lecture will be illustrated with quotations from Shakespeare's plays. This lecture also marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death in 1616.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/shakespeares-astronomy

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

One of the most common themes underlying both the natural sciences and Christian theology is that the world is ordered or structured, and that this order can be discerned by an inquiring mind and represented theoretically. Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) saw human beings as searching for 'patterns' in life, and explored this theme in her detective novels, as well as in her religious writings.

How can we find the best explanation of what we observe? And why do human beings enjoy solving puzzles - whether this relates to the identity of the murderer or the meaning of life? Sayers's approach will be considered in the light of contemporary psychological research and her belief that Christianity can help uncover the coherence of the world.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/does-faith-make-sense-of-things

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

Human-induced climate change has been identified by scientists and politicians as the greatest threat encountered by humanity. Deserts, oceans, forests, icecaps, shorelines and reefs all seem threatened, with catastrophic consequences for human life. The lecture will investigate the latest evidence about what is happening to the global climate, speculate on the environment that our children could face in 2100, and discuss some strategies that might be used to make a difference.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/hotting-up-meeting-the-challenges-of-climate-change-in-the-twenty-first-century

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege