Is Radical Politics Still Possible? - Indianapolis, 30 Janaury

A second run of the talk I'm giving in New York earlier in the month. Full details here.

Is Radical Politics Still Possible? - New York, 12 January

Francis Fukuyama may have been prermature in heralding the end of history, but many people agree that politic in western democracies has entered a post-ideological phase. Everyone accepts that society should be run as a democratic, regulated market economy, and disagreements are all about the details. To what extent is this diagnosis correct? And even if it is, does that mean that radical politics is no longer possible? In this talk, Julian Baggini will suggest that there is plenty of room for radicalism, even if the grand ideological debates of the past have run their course.

Talk starts at 7 at University Settlement (in Speyer Hall) 184 Eldridge St. at Rivington St. Full details here.

Philosophy and the Media - Boston, 30 December

Talking on a panel at the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division's annual meeting at 9 a.m.
Chair: Andy Lamey (University of Western Australia)
Speakers: Christopher Shea (Boston Globe), “What Makes a Good Philosophy Story?”
Anastasia Friel Gutting (University of Notre Dame) “Philo-zine: Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Past and Future”
Julian Baggini (The Philosophers’ Magazine), “Fast and Loose? Integrity with a Broad Brush”
Gary Gutting (University of Notre Dame), “Socrates in the Virtual Agora: Reflections on the Stone”
Andy Lamey (University of Western Australia), “Generating Media Interest in Philosophy: Suggestions for Researchers and Conference Organizers”
Full details here

Festive greetings

(Statue of Queen Victoria, College Green, Bristol)

Pure genius

"In the popular imagination, geniuses are a breed apart. They are capable of insights or artistic creations that no amount of training and effort could produce in mere ordinary folk. You can squander your genius or fail to fulfil it but, ultimately, you either have it at birth or you don’t. Four new books about genius all interrogate this powerful myth. At the very least, they show that the soil in which genius grows matters at least as much as the seed, which is why particular cultures produce particular types of genius at particular times in history."

Review essay in this weekend's FT.

The Infinite Monkey Cage - BBC Radio Four

Podcast is available indefinitely of this BBC Radio Four Programme, broadcast yesterday, on which I appeared with other guests Ray Tallis and Alexei Sayle, with hosts Robin Ince and Brian Cox, discussing the question, “Is philosophy dead?” Click here for show’s website and podcast link.

December podcast +

This skeptical edition features founder of The Skeptic magazine, Wendy Grossman; journalist, broadcaster and writer Simon Hoggart; and psychologist Christine Mohr. Recorded at the Bristol Festival of Ideas to mark the publication of Why Statues Weep, the best from the first twenty years of The Skeptic. You can buy the book at 10% discount here: just enter the code SKEPTIC at checkout.

Click here to listen or download now from


Also, I neglected to update on other podcasts since July, including the August and September editions. You can catch up here and at the iTunes link above.

The Shrink & The Sage: Gut instinct

"Relying on our feelings is not the same as entirely trusting whatever we intuitively feel. Reason can expose some emotions as unjustifiable prejudices or irrational distortions. What it can’t do is provide the basic benevolent impulse that makes kindness possible."

This week's FT Magazine column

The Shrink & The Sage: Pessimism

"Our tendency to equate darkness with depth is as irrational as a Panglossian optimism. What we often praise as a profound ability to see in the dark is often no more than an inability or unwillingness to turn on the light."

Last weekend's (27/28 November) FT Magazine column