Where should we draw the line between hate speech and simply saying things other people don’t want to hear? When some social groups can access media much more easily than others, has the idea of free speech as a free contest of ideas had its day? Should governments intervene to restrict the right to express opinions – for example, on climate change, or vaccination, which are obviously untrue? Obviously according to whom?

These are among the urgent questions to be addressed by our panel of four distinguished philosophers, chaired by the radio and TV presenter, Ritula Shah.

We make art out of life, but life in turn is remade by art. We are by nature tied to art, and this means, finally, that we can’t really speak of our “nature” at all. We are art’s product. Art is not a late accomplishment of our history, a mere cultural add on. We are entangled with art, and the whole phenomenon of the aesthetic, from the very beginning. If there is to be a science of the human (neuroscience, or cognitive science etc.) it must come to grips with our aesthetic character.

In this talk, Professor Alva Noë explores the inseparability of life, art, and philosophy, arguing that we have greatly underestimated what this entangled reality means for understanding human nature.

Jo Wolff is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. He was named the new President of The Royal Institute of Philosophy in October 2023, and in May 2024 he gave his inaugural Presidential Address.

A political philosopher, he has worked on questions of inequality, disadvantage,social justice, and questions of public policy, and in his Address he explored the positive role of ceremonies in a meaningful life and how ceremonies can help us to think about human values.