The physicist Lawrence Krauss recently argued that education should teach all children the central tenet of science – ‘nothing is sacred’. Not God, not human rights, not democracy, not the environment. Nothing. Emile Durkheim, one of the founding fathers of … Continue reading
Last month I interviewed Sir Gus O’Donnell for a forthcoming Radio 4 programme about the revival of Aristotle’s idea of flourishing in public policy. Sir Gus is one of the pioneers of a new movement called the politics of well-being, … Continue reading
Dr Juan M. Zaragoza is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of the Emotions, Queen Mary University of London. Here he writes about his current research into the material culture of medical care and the … Continue reading
Dr Chris Millard is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the QMUL Centre for the History of the Emotions. His PhD explored the history of attempted suicide as a cry for help, and he is now researching the history of … Continue reading
Paul Burstow MP was formerly the minister of state for care services, and is head of a commission on mental health at the liberal think-tank Centre:Forum. That commission has just brought out its report, calling for various policies as part … Continue reading
Should liberal governments try to cultivate certain emotional states in their citizens? This is the interesting contention of the latest book from Martha C. Nussbaum, the leading philosopher of the emotions. In Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice, Nussbaum … Continue reading
We are delighted to announce details of our lunchtime seminars this term. Both seminars start at 1.00pm; speakers will present on their research for 25-30 minutes with time afterwards for informal discussion. Lunch is provided. The seminars are free to … Continue reading
I’ll admit it, I was slightly nervous. I’d been invited to give a philosophy workshop in HMP Dumfries, a prison in west Scotland. Plummy-voiced and puny-framed Englishman that I am, I wasn’t sure what they’d make of me. Mincemeat, maybe. … Continue reading
We all love a bit of ecstasy, don’t we? Not the drug (though that’s a form of ecstatic experience) but, more broadly, those moments of expansion, elation and awe we sometimes feel, when our heart-strings seem to vibrate in harmony … Continue reading
Here’s an interview with Lord Richard Layard, one of the contemporary thinkers I most admire for his ability to turn ideas into policies. Perhaps his greatest success was persuading the Brown government to pass Improving Access for Psychological Therapies (IAPT), … Continue reading