Science and Truth; Marx and Philosophy
An interview with Peter Vickers; an event with Paul North, Sandro Brito Rojas and Vanessa Wills
Dear all,
The main announcement is that our new print issue on “Marx and Philosophy” is almost at the printers. It is currently available for pre-order with a 20% discount here and will be published at the end of this month. To coincide with its publication, we are holding two multi-speaker events, one digital event tomorrow (see below for full details) and one in-person event in London on Thursday 29th May (see here for details and tickets). Andrés Saenz de Sicilia has put together the print issue and the two events, so let’s all shower him with praise and gratitude in any ways we can.
Your Sunday Read
“When is a Fact a Fact?”
a conversation with Peter Vickers
Is science getting at the truth? Those who spread doubt about science tend to argue that scientists were “sure” in the past, and then they ended up being wrong. This conversation looks to historical investigation and philosophical-sociological analysis to defend science against this potentially dangerous scepticism. Indeed, as Peter Vickers argues, we can confidently identify many scientific claims that are future-proof: they will last forever, so long as science continues. You can read the conversation here.
Monday Event: 11am PT/2pm ET/7pm UK/8pm CET
“Marx and Philosophy”
Paul North, Sandro Brito Rojas, and Vanessa Wills in conversation with Andrés Saenz de Sicilia
In a 2005 poll carried out by the BBC Radio show “In Our Time”, Karl Marx was voted the greatest philosopher of all time, winning more than double the number of votes of the second place thinker. Marx would likely have been bemused by this, given the recurring aspersions he cast on philosophy and philosophers throughout much of his life. Yet Marx’s relation to philosophy is by no means straightforward, as this event will demonstrate. While Marx struggled against it, denouncing its distortions, parochialism, and impotence, philosophy remained a crucial reference point for him throughout his life, even long after he had apparently left it behind. Philosophy, too, has not been left untouched by this encounter, having irretrievably lost something of its naivety and self-satisfaction as a result of Marx’s famous claim that rather than merely interpreting the world (as philosophers have done), the point is to change it. You can find out more and register here.
Event Recording
If you missed Monday’s conversation with historian Sophia Rosenfeld on “The Age of Choice”, you can watch the recording here:
Ending
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Wishing you all a lovely Sunday, wherever you are.
Anthony Morgan
Managing Editor