With a focus on real-world problems and debates, Issues in Political Theory is a clear and engaging introduction to political theory and how it is applied to address a range of global challenges. Expert contributors ably introduce students to important concepts, key thinkers, and major texts in political theory, while extended case studies at the end of each chapter show how to apply theoretical ideas to real contemporary issues and debates. The text is supported by online resources (which include additional case studies intended to give students confidence in using theory to shed light on key issues) and a range of additional teaching and learning resources.

The Philosophy Department welcomed Professor Etienne Balibar as its distinguished Guest Speaker on 11 February 2019, as part of the new research programme 'Philosophy in a Time of Crisis'. Professor Balibar's Public Lecture focused on 'Circulation and Hospitality as Fundamental Rights', and was recorded. It can now be viewed via the project website. www.philosophyx.co.uk

Summary Overview of Lecture:

As migrants and refugees in increasing numbers are subjected to extreme violence in their attempts at crossing borders to reach a more livable place, a fundamental reflection is needed to update the concepts which frame mankind’s treatment of its own mobility. This includes a critical return on the question of the “law of population” of capitalism, but also a juridical elaboration of the rights of circulation and hospitality which articulate territory, citizenship, and community. At stake, ultimately, is a political transformation of the world into a place where everyone can live a decent life.

Etienne Balibar is Emeritus Professor at Paris X Nanterre and Anniversary Chair of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University, London. He is an internationally recognized political philosopher and critical thinker, a leading voice in the Marxist tradition, and the author of Spinoza and Politics, The Philosophy of Marx and co-author of Race, Nation and Class and Reading Capital. In these, and many other seminal works, Professor Balibar has addressed fundamental questions such as racism, the notion of border, whether a European citizenship is possible or desirable; violence, identity and emancipation.

Professor Quassim Cassam features in The Irish Times of 5 March 2019, where he speaks to journalist Joe Humphreys in the 'Unthinkable Guest' interview series. Professor Cassam expands on recent examples of 'Intellectual Vice' from Brexit to the Birmingham Six, themes which are explored in his new book 'Vices of the Mind', published by Oxford University Press (2019).

See full interview here:https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/intellectual-vices-from-brexit-to-the-birmingham-six-1.3809754

The Department of Philosophy is excited to announce its participation in the Warwick Pre-University Summer School (Tuesday 2 July - Friday 12 July 2019). The Pre-University Summer School offers students an enriching opportunity to study at the University of Warwick for an exciting ten-night, fully inclusive, residential Summer School.

Philosophy is teaming up with the Departments of Law, Psychology, and Liberal Arts to offer A Taste of Social Sciences. This is a course aimed at motivated 16-18 year olds who are thinking about studying for a degree in Philosophy or other social sciences and wishing to enjoy a truly memorable summer experience:

Students will enjoy:

• A choice of two courses taught by top Warwick faculty: 'A Taste of Social Sciences' or 'Introduction to Economics and Finance'
• Engaging with like-minded peers from around the world
• Outstanding guest speakers
• Personal effectiveness training, including leadership and communications skills
• Preparing for University in the UK
• Living on the beautiful and self-contained Warwick campus for eight nights
• Spending two nights in London, and a visit to the London School of Economics
• An informative industry visit
• Visiting the City of Oxford and an Oxford College

Click to learn more about the Warwick Pre-University Summer School and our A Taste of Social Sciences programme.

Professor Cassam's new book, 'Vices of the Mind' published by Oxford University Press, examines human character traits, attitudes and thinking styles ('Epistemic Vices') which prevent us from gaining, keeping or sharing knowledge. Professor Cassam, who is pioneering this new area of philosophical research, draws on recent events to analyse the nature of Truth in politics; how political facts can be highly contested, and how we can try to overcome self-ignorance through a number of self-improvement strategies. 'Vices of the Mind' also elaborates on the concept of 'epistemic insouciance', a term Professor Cassam has developed to describe a new intellectual vice which he identifies as a product of today's toxic political climate.

Professor Quassim Cassam Interviewed on BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Programme

Professor Cassam was the central guest of the BBC's flagship Radio 3 late evening cultural engagement programme, Free Thinking, broadcast on 7 February 2019 at 10pm. In a live round-table debate hosted by Matthew Sweet, Professor Cassam spoke at length about self-knowledge, intellectual vices and conspiracy theories - themes which he examines in greater detail in his new book 'Vices of the Mind'.

See link here to listen to the programme: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002cf0

'The process of "rubbishing" tries to make people doubt their own knowledge—whether it's about smoking or the President's tweets’ argues Professor Cassam in the recent edition of Prospect Magazine: see here: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/doubt-is-our-product-what-trumps-political-spinning-has-in-common-with-the-tobacco-industry

Professor Cassam is interviewed by Richard Marshall in 3:AM Magazine: Vices of the Mind: Fake News, Conspiracy Theories, etc…https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/vices-of-the-mind-fake-news-conspiracy-theories-bullshit-etc/

Amedeo Policante, a political philosopher and critical theorist in the Philosophy Department, whose research focuses especially on the study of violence, has been interviewed on Italian public radio (RADIO3 MONDO) in a programme dedicated to War and the Global Economy. Dr Policante discusses the new regimes of violence emerging from contemporary processes of globalization (the subject of his two previous monographs, The New Mercenaries and The Pirate Myth) and the relationship between neo-liberalism and the war on drugs. He elaborates on how the structural causes of contemporary violence are systematically obscured by the ubiquitous appeal to the concept of 'crisis' - one of the subjects of the Philosophy in a Time of Crisis research project (in collaboration with Professor Miguel de Beistegui). See link attached to hear Dr Policante's interview in full. https://www.raiplayradio.it/audio/2019/01/RADIO3--MONDO-a9d152f7-b7a3-4b69-9d6c-7fc8b46725a8.html

The important new series of Critical Guides, published by Edinburgh University Press and co-edited by Professor Ansell-Pearson (with Daniel Conway, Professor of Philosophy at Texas A+M) has now been launched. The series aims to enrich and enhance the reading and understanding of Nietzsche's writings for the benefit of students, teachers and scholars alike. Every volume will explore each text individually, and will incorporate new research and the latest scholarship to explain the seminal importance of Nietzsche's writing and to illuminate the significance of his body of work for contemporary thought.

The first volume in the series, entitled 'Nietzsche's Unfashionable Observations' by Jeffrey Church has just been published.

https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/series-edinburgh-critical-guides-to-nietzsche.html

'What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know' (St Augustine).

What if time did not really pass or flow? If there was no real difference between the past and the future? If 'now' were just a matter of where you happen to be, just like 'here'? How can we square our day-to-day experience of time with these incredible claims, all of which are made by leading physicists?

In this evening of 'time based arts', performance art, theatre, dance and psychology join forces to explore what it means to exist in a time-bound world. Professor Christoph Hoerl and his colleague Teresa McCormack (Queen's University Belfast) have worked in close collaboration with members of Big Telly Theatre Company (Portstewart), BBeyond Performance Art (Belfast), and Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company (Derry-Londonderry) to bring this performance to the stage of the Warwick Arts Centre Studio for two evenings only, Friday 8 February and Saturday 9 February 2019 (7.45pm). They will join the artists on both evenings to introduce their ideas to the audience. https://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/whats-on/2019/about-time/

"Because performance artists work with time as a medium, their art can prompt questions about the very nature of time and our experience of time. In our collaboration, we have invited three performing arts groups to respond in their own way to how notions of time are debated across philosophy, psychology and science. The result is this performance evening" - Christoph Hoerl

Professor Cassam featured on a recent edition of the BBC's flagship Radio Four news programme, The World Tonight. Broadcasting live on 24 December 2018, Professor Cassam spoke with the BBC's Reality Check Correspondent about the nature of 'Truth' in politics; the difficulties of interpreting fact from fiction; the essential role in a healthy democracy of 'fact checkers' for correcting political beliefs, and how political facts can be highly contested.

Please see attached link to The World Tonight programme, which includes the interview in full: https://bbc.in/2s7nd83

Keith Ansell-Pearson has been awarded the prestigious Outstanding Academic Titles Award (OAT) 2018 by CHOICE, for his publication, Bergson: Thinking Beyond the Human Condition, published by Bloomsbury Academic (2018).

Described by the judges of the Award as 'essential reading', this accolade recognises Professor Ansell-Pearson's outstanding scholarship and his facility to appeal to the general reader. The judges considered this volume to be the best introduction to Henri Bergson (1859-1941) now on the market.

The CHOICE Review observed that 'Ansell-Pearson touches on most of Bergson's major works and clearly articulates the most crucial Bergsonian concepts. Interest in Bergson is suddenly on the rise, and this volume, which is both spirited and rigorous, will more than meet the needs of newcomers to Bergson's corpus. But the book is much more than an introduction. It will offer clarity and support to those already immersed in Bergsonian philosophy. In sum, this book demonstrates that Bergson readily addresses 21st-century questions about the human condition'.