Battle of Ideas 2014
Festival overview: Sunday
Sunday sesions are listed below ordered by time slot and room. See Saturday sessions or see the whole Festival weekend of more than 70 debates.

Full details of each session, including speakers and readings, will be added soon.

Sunday 19 October: 10.00-11.30
Keynote Controversies Cinema 1
Should we fear democracy?
Biomedical Battles Pit Theatre
Dose of reality: the ethics and politics of drug development
Me, Me, Me Politics Cinema 2
Who gives a damn about ‘student satisfaction’?
School Fights Frobisher Auditorium 2
Lessons from Asia: what is a world-class education?
Creative Conundrums Conservatory
What is connoisseurship?
Eye on the World Garden Room
America: the twilight years?
Contemporary Controversies Cinema 3
Do films warp minds?
Contemporary Controversies Hammerson Room
From Amazon to ebooks: are libraries outdated?
Sunday 19 October: 11.00-15.00
Festival Attractions 2014 Art Space C
Free Speech Read-a-thon
Sunday 19 October: 12.00-13.15
Keynote Controversies Cinema 1
Our morals, their moralism?
Sunday 19 October: 12.00-13.00
Biomedical Battles Pit Theatre
What do animals know?
Me, Me, Me Politics Cinema 2
Me, my selfie & I: narcissism or empowerment?
School Fights Frobisher Auditorium 2
Data overload: what is the point of exams?
Creative Conundrums Conservatory
Artistic freedom and political activism: to boycott or not to boycott?
Eye on the World Garden Room
Do they mean us? International views on Britain
BoI 2014 Cinema 3
Why is Ayn Rand so popular today?
Special topical sessions Hammerson Room
ISIS: damned if we do, damned if we don’t?
Sunday 19 October: 13.10-13.50
Special topical sessions Free Stage
Votes for prisoners: essential for democracy or human rights gone mad?
Sunday 19 October: 13.20-13.40
Special topical sessions Conservatory
Shale gas: fracking hell or the future of energy?
Sunday 19 October: 13.10-13.40
Festival Attractions 2014 Hammerson Room
Learn Latin in 30 minutes
Sunday 19 October: 14.00-15.30
Keynote Controversies Cinema 1
Growth is good: mission or mania?
Biomedical Battles Pit Theatre
The science of public health: where’s the evidence?
Me, Me, Me Politics Cinema 2
Are we all vulnerable now?
School Fights Frobisher Auditorium 2
Keeping the faith schools?
Creative Conundrums Conservatory
Are museums turning into playgrounds?
Eye on the World Garden Room
Ukraine: Cold War rebooted?
Contemporary Controversies Hammerson Room
What makes a great sporting leader?
Contemporary Controversies Cinema 3
To boldly go: what is the point of space exploration?
Contemporary Controversies Free Stage
Election 2015: what next?
Sunday 19 October: 16.00-17.15
Keynote Controversies Cinema 1
Big Data: big danger?
Biomedical Battles Pit Theatre
Belgium’s ‘right to die’ for children: a slippery slope?
Me, Me, Me Politics Cinema 2
Hell is other people? Modern misanthropy
School Fights Frobisher Auditorium 2
Evidence-based education: marks out of 10?
Creative Conundrums Conservatory
What is good architecture?
Eye on the World Garden Room
Whose borders are they anyway? The nation state unravelling
Contemporary Controversies Cinema 3
Shopping and fretting: the ethics of buying the right thing
Contemporary Controversies Hammerson Room
Kindergarten culture: why does government treat us like children?
Sunday 19 October: 17.30-18.45
Festival Attractions Milton Court
The next 10 years: why philosophy matters now more than ever
Sunday 19 October: 18.45-20.30
Festival Attractions 2014 Milton Court Level -2 Bar
2014 Tenth Birthday End of Festival Drinks

Our morals, their moralism?

"Although 'battle' suggests destruction, these were some of the most constructive debates I've taken part in. This was civilised conflict in the best sense of both words."
Julian Baggini, author, Welcome to Everytown: A Journey into the English Mind, and The Ego Trick

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