What is nothing? Can it be defined, either philosophically or scientifically? Or will the exploration of nothing bring, ultimately, to nothing?

The philosophical exploration of nothingness is an ancient one, from the mysterious number zero through theological understandings of the absence of God right to modern physics and ideas of the void.

Join leading theoretical physicists David Deutsch and Lee Smolin, alongside science writer Amanda Gefter, as they discuss the edges of their understanding of nothing, including what something is, what physics tells us, and the extent to which we require esotericism to comprehend it.

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Why are we fascinated by apocalyptic stories?

Join the team at the IAI for a reading of four Halloween-themed articles, written by historian and philosopher Natalie Lawrence, professor of political philosophy Matthew Festenstein, and professor of comparative literature Florian Mussgnug. From the allure of the end times to the symbolic value of monsters, this episode is a spooky journey through all things macabre.

Natalie Lawrence is a researcher in history and the philosophy of science at the University of Cambridge, specialising in the natural histories of exotic monsters. Matthew Festenstein is a professor of political philosophy at the University of York where he is the former director of the Morrell Centre for Toleration and head of the politics department. Florian Mussgnug is professor of comparative literature and Vice Dean International for Arts and Humanities at University College London. 

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Einstein was called “slow” at school, J. K. Rowling collected a dozen rejections, and Walt Disney was once fired for “lacking imagination.” We love stories of perseverance—but what’s the cost of never letting go? In this conversation, psychoanalyst Adam Phillips argues that our obsession with endurance can have hidden, corrosive effects. He invites us to consider giving up not as failure, but as a creative act: a way to revise who we are, resist the tyranny of completion, and make room for lives that fit.

Adam Phillips is a leading British psychoanalyst and acclaimed essayist, celebrated for bringing psychoanalytic ideas into everyday life with clarity and wit. He is the author of more than twenty books, including On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored, Darwin’s Worms, Going Sane, On Balance, Attention Seeking, and On Wanting to Change. He has served as a child psychotherapist in the NHS and is the general editor of the new Penguin translations of Sigmund Freud. Health journalist Claudia Canavan hosts.

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Slavoj Žižek is back in a new interview where he takes us through his thoughts on the role of philosophy, the future of sex, his fear and love of AI and, as always, so much more.

Tune in to hear one of contemporary philosophy's most original and darkly comedic minds expose his thoughts on the present and where we are heading - though that is impossible to know.

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What should time mean to us?

Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes is a philosopher of mind who specialises in the thought of Alfred North Whitehead, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Benedict de Spinoza, and in fields pertaining to panpsychism and altered states of mind. In this talk, he combines insights from psychedelic experiences with an intriguing view put forward by Spinoza: that the mind can enter a rare state of eternity, not as a spirit enduring beyond the corpse, but as a mind collapsing into the eternal.

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Hugely influential in the latter decades of the 20th century, postmodernism transformed many academic disciplines and culture at large. Associated with an attack on objective truth and the uniqueness of meaning, it called into question the whole edifice of knowledge which Western culture had previously glorified. But it left many lost, and in the wake of a polarising post-truth world, there is a widespread recognition that we need to move on. Feminist and post-colonial critics though claim there is a danger that instead we risk retreating to the questionable certainties of the past. Alongside defenders of objective truth like Richard Dawkins and Noam Chomsky, figures like Jordan Peterson argue for a return to moral certainties and belief in the existence of God.

Are there viable alternatives to postmodernism that are not simply a return to belief in universal truth? Are metamodernism or model-theoretic realism possible ways forward? Or is the chaos initiated by postmodernism so profound that the only credible approach is to return to the Enlightenment notion that we can arrive at the objective truth?

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As ChatGPT and AI increase their presence in our lives, have we interrogated enough what this means for, and about, our collective psyche?

In one of the most original critiques of ChatGPT, Slovenian Lacanian philosopher Alenka Zupančič interprets large language models as a form of our collective unconscious that has absorbed all our discourse at the expense of the subject, shutting down emancipatory possibilities. She analyses the Right's use of ChatGPT, the evolution of irony, and more.

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The Enlightenment has faced a lot of criticism in recent years - its defenders and detractors often come head to head, scrambling to articulate its ultimate value or lack thereof to contemporary society.

This podcast contributes to this wider debate and question facing all those interested in philosophy and politics: Are Enlightenment ideas salvageable? Or are they too intrinsically tainted with the racism of their times? If so, what do we do next?

Join Birmingham City University Professor Kehinde Andrews in this exclusive interview as he lays out his provocative claims on the limited utility of Enlightenment thought.

What do you think? Do you agree with Kehinde? Who is your philosophical reference? Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts or questions on the episode!

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We all want to live the good life. But how many of us can claim to be truly content? Join philosopher and evolutionary biologist Massimo Pigliucci as he argues that pleasure, character, and a healthy dose of doubt, form the basis of the good life, and that purpose in life is crucial to realising our potential.

Massimo Pigliucci is a renowned philosopher and professor at the City College of New York. He is the author of several books, including, 'How to be a Stoic' and 'Beyond Stoicism'. A former co-host of the Rationally Speaking Podcast and a self-proclaimed sceptic, Pigliucci is a champion of Enlightenment notions of reason and rationality.

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Truth, delusion and psychedelic reality

Do psychedelics reveal hidden layers of reality, or are we simply tripping?

Psychedelics are back in the cultural zeitgeist, this time as a treatment for mental health issues. However, critics argue that psychedelics only work by replacing mental illness with a distorted view of reality - but, is this an accurate assessment? A study from Imperial College London suggests that after taking psychedelics people get better at future life events. Visual acuity is also known to increase, suggesting people become less delusional, not more, when taking psychedelics. Should we see the psychedelic experience as showing us something true about the nature of reality? Or is it merely a distortion?

James Rucker is a Consultant Psychiatrist and a Senior Clinical Lecturer in mood disorders and psychopharmacology at the Centre for Affective Disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.

Julian Baggini is a philosopher, journalist and author of over 20 books about philosophy for the general reader. He is the co-founder and editor of "The Philosophers’ Magazine", and also writes and broadcasts for The Guardian and the BBC.

Eileen is an Ecuadorean-Scottish creative director, artist, and explorer based in London. She is the founder of Tayos, an organisation supporting the protection of endangered habitats in Ecuador as well as exploring their relationship to nature and its role in wellbeing through art, music, and science.

Don't hesitate to email us at [email protected] with your thoughts or questions on the episode!

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