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Warwick academics to speak at Hay Philosophy Festival

Steve Fuller, Professor of Sociology, and Fabienne Peter, Professor of Philosophy, will be speaking this month at How The Light Gets In - the UK's first ever philosophy and music festival.  

Is Western society being undermined by the values that built it?  Or is the post modern attack on traditional values the source of the current malaise?  How the Light Gets In invites top thinkers and philosophers to explore modern social and philosophical values in Philosophy Session debates.  

On Saturday 23rd May, Steve Fuller will open the festival with a keynote speech on “The Life and Death of the Enlightenment.” On the same day, he will discuss “The Failure of Reason” with Cambridge philosopher Simon Blackburn and post-postmodernist Hilary Lawson, asking whether rationality has failed us, and with it the potential to uncover truth.  

Fabienne Peter will speak on Sunday 24th May in a debate entitled “Banks Bonuses and Inequality”. She and influential political theorist Phillip Blond, will speak on a panel with Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute. Later that day, Fabienne Peter will chair a discussion on “The Limits of Freedom” with Eamonn Butler, Prospect editor David Goodhart, and Will Hutton. To what extent should our political and economic freedoms be regulated? And who will regulate the regulators?  

The festival is running from May 22nd-31st and has a great line up of speakers, bands and comedy, including debates and speeches with Zygmunt Bauman, AC Grayling, Susan Neiman, Kenan Malik, Geoff Mulgan and more, music from Michael Nyman, Stephen Fretwell and Baka Beyond and comedy sketches from Ed Aczel and Robin Ince, among others.

Visit www.howthelightgetsin.org to find out more, download the full programme and book tickets.