The Battle of Ideas festival was set up 10 years ago, initiated by the IoI and supported by a wide range of partners, to encourage free thinking and open-ended public discussion. In 2014, this feels particularly apposite: we need serious thinking to deal with serious times.

It is easy to become disorientated by contemporary events: society can feel as though it’s spinning out of control, with certainties shaken daily. From modern, Western youth cheering on medieval-style, barbaric beheadings in the name of destroying Western civilisation to the frightening return of Cold War-era tensions which are stoking up the dispute between Russia and Ukraine, how should we interpret today’s world? While the authority of traditional institutions is in decline – a decline that recently even threatened to dismember the UK – policy pundits breathlessly emphasise ‘megatrends’ that include everything from the unstoppable data revolution to ticking demographic time-bombs. It is easy to feel over-awed, to react to such a state of affairs with existential panic.

How then to make sense of things? Some people retreat to the well-worn political formulas of the past. Yet what might once have been useful categories, from class war to left/right divides, become dead dogmas when thoughtlessly trotted out to explain new, complex trends. Conversely, others emphasise that change is so dramatic, we can now dispense with past intellectual gains, dismissing as irrelevant profound insights of thousands of years of human thought. This either leads to provisional, ever-changing pragmatism or, in the quest for certainty, a new faith in science as a silver bullet for social problems. Stephen Hawking may have proclaimed that “philosophy is dead” because it hasn’t “kept up with modern developments in science”. But in an era that confuses evidence and data with knowledge and morality, the Battle of Ideas is happy to stand with Bertrand Russell’s maxim: “The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived… from the habitual beliefs of his age.”

In this context, this year’s Battle of Ideas festival advocates unashamedly the virtue of philosophical thinking, to help us ask the right questions, to seek deeper truths beyond political clichés or scientific evidence. Of course, such an approach is risky; as Hannah Arendt noted, “thinking itself is dangerous”. And in 2014, it is also unfashionable, likely to be gagged by those whose reaction to today’s challenges is to avoid argument by silencing opponents.

When British prime minister David Cameron recently declared the need to win the ‘battle of ideas’ against Islamic State, the call to arms struck a chord. But within days, he beat a cowardly retreat from winning hearts and minds. Those Enlightenment ideals of freedom and democracy are betrayed as much by draconian banning orders as any extremists. And it’s not only the authorities who tell us “you can’t say/think that”. The phrase “It’s offensive” has become a ubiquitous cry of modern-day censors. Debate has never felt more constrained and stifled, with more voices but less room for dissent. Those who challenge orthodoxies are often written off as contrarian or become victims of intolerant twitch-hunts. So the Battle of Ideas festival aims to be an antidote to this censorious climate, by asking difficult questions rather than repeating easy answers or silencing opinions we don’t agree with.

We shouldn’t be frightened of other people’s opinions. We should welcome them as a way of cultivating our own ability to make difficult judgements. Indeed, one of the festival’s key themes is the problem of today’s avoidance of making judgements. Dare one lay claim to Truth or Beauty, and inevitably you’ll be met with the response, ‘but who are you to judge?’ But serious times mean we need judgement more than ever. Beyond black-and-white simplicities (paedophiles are bad; Islamic State is evil), it’s crucial we can discern insightful from ignorant opinions, wise choices from the shallow and kneejerk. And the prerequisite is being a free thinker. According to JS Mill, the only way any of us can become a “person whose judgement is really deserving of confidence” is “because he has kept his mind open to criticism of his opinions and conduct” and by making “some approach to knowing the whole of a subject… looked at by every character of mind”.

And how else to hold each other to account, if we don’t judge? If you don’t judge me, I expect respect for my opinion because it is my opinion, not because it’s worthwhile. When I make a judgement about what I consider to be beautiful or good, I invite a response from you and others. We may disagree. Indeed, disagreement is what makes judgement so necessary; and without the possibility of disagreement, no judgement is worthwhile anyway. But it is also the potential for agreement that makes judgement so powerful. The point is: can I convince you?

If you are prepared to have your views held to account, judge other opinions on intellectual merit, to “enlarge (y)our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom”, then the Battle of Ideas is the only place to be.

Claire Fox, director, IoI and on behalf of the Battle of Ideas Committee 2014

About: What is the Battle of Ideas 2013?

This annual weekend festival, initiated by the IoI (IoI) and organized and supported by a wide range of partners and sponsors, makes virtues of free-thinking and lively exchanges of views. Now in its ninth year, the festival fosters an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and open-ended exploration of new ideas, research and social trends. FREE SPEECH ALLOWED!

We aim:

** to showcase new arguments about the core issues of the day, while avoiding getting bogged down in the minutiae of everyday policy

** to initiate open-ended discussions regardless of demands for immediate practical outcomes, which too frequently act as a brake on innovative thinking

** to shape the future through debate by better understanding the world with a view to changing it for the better.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to identify a new generation of public intellectuals and create a space where they can meet and have their ideas held to account.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to gather those who want to look behind the headlines and who are not prepared to be patronised with simplistic soundbites.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to attract attendees who are willing to challenge and to be challenged, and makes no apologies for putting ideas and argument centre stage.

Appropriately, this intellectual buzz all takes place at The Barbican, one of the world’s leading arts centres and a building where, as the Guardian put it, ‘there is always something rich and strange going on.’

The festival’s flexible format allows attendees either to follow particular strands through one day, or mix and match discussions. The wide variety of partners from the arts, academia, business, science and media both new and old, and the 300 speakers from a wide range of disciplines and viewpoints, results in a potent mix of perspectives, and should produce debates that give us all plenty to think and talk about.

FREE THINKERS WELCOME!

---

The Battle of Ideas is organised by a committee of individuals from diverse fields and backgrounds, without whom the festival would not be possible. Consisting of students, published academics and professionals, the Battle of Ideas Committee regularly meets to thrash out ideas, discuss current issues and to work out the best ways of promoting the festival and its themes. The Battle of Ideas Committee can be viewed here.

About: Why the Battle of Ideas 2013?

WELCOME TO BATTLE OF IDEAS 2013

The Battle of Ideas festival, initiated by the IoI and supported by a wide range of partners, is back to our new home of the Barbican for a second year. This will be the ninth weekend of free thinking, dissent and open-ended public discussion - and never has it felt more necessary.

WRESTLING WITH THE WORLD

Untangling the ideas that shape policy and culture in today’s climate of intellectual disorientation can seem like an uphill task. While European politicians quibble about whether President Putin’s aide was right that Britain is a ‘small island nobody pays any attention to’, in the real world it’s the people of Europe who feel that nobody is paying attention, wherever they are from. Watching today’s managerial politicians vacillate and bicker, it could be tempting to shrug and conclude ‘the world has gone mad’. One minute Western elites are gung ho for ‘pro-democracy’ militarism in Libya, the next they are applauding a military coup to restore democracy in Egypt; and, seemingly without blinking, they balk at intervention in Syria. It can seem impossible to grapple with what drives such decisions and actions when they seem obscured by pragmatism, divorced from interest or principle.

Campaigners can seem equally muddled, expressing outrage, for example, at the state’s ‘war on journalism’ following the Miranda affair, while celebrating the state’s harassment of tabloid journalists in wake of the phone-hacking scandal. How do we make sense of a world where feminists, in the name of women’s liberation, call for illiberal censorship of everything from newsstand magazines to offensive comments on Twitter? How do we decide on our attitude to what should be private or public (a core theme of many of the debates at the festival) when activists worry about Facebook, Google and the secret services spying on us, invading our privacy, while demanding total transparency of all institutions (with scant regard to the fact that they too might deserve a space to operate beyond prying eyes).

LEARNING TO TRUST AGAIN

Ironically, transparency has become a prominent way in which to understand underlying trends. If we can only see what lies beneath, surely motives will be revealed? ‘Show us the minutes, your tax returns, pay cheque, the inner-workings of your institution.’ And woe betide those who say ‘mind your own business, that’s private’. However, while whistleblowers are lionised for leaking endless discreet documents, is there a danger that such ‘information dumps’ become a lazy substitute for thoughtful analysis? What is more, demands to know every single detail of what goes on behind closed doors can also feed a climate of mistrust. Too often we conclude that everything not revealed is malign, that all emails not scrutinised hide some awful secret. This can encourage a conspiratorial position of assuming the worst of motives, of encouraging us to finger-point and snitch, rather than confront the more challenging task of having open and honest debates about why the world is as it is, or of rebuilding trust.

WEATHERING THE TWITTERSTORM

One way we can demonstrate our trust in each other is by taking each other’s arguments seriously. Inevitably, thrashing out difficult ideas, shaking up orthodoxies and debating such a potent mix of issues will lead to arguments and clashes of deeply held opinions at this year’s Battle of Ideas. If such debates were conducted on social media, no doubt they would be dubbed as Twitterstorms, with ‘victims’ declaring themselves outraged, hurt and offended and demanding a complaint button. But fostering a genuine atmosphere of intellectual freedom means we must be more robust and trust each other to cope with being challenged. We all have an obligation to convince others of the force of our own views rather than closing down the opinions of others; equally, we all have an obligation to listen to new ideas with the possibility we might – just might – be wrong. The Battle of Ideas fiercely declares the right to be offensive, not as a green light for gratuitous insult, but in the interests of the pursuit of clarity in the battlefield of ideas and a commitment to the transformative potential of debate. The festival’s slogan is FREE SPEECH ALLOWED, and we mean it.

THE WORLD AS IT OUGHT TO BE

It is far more constructive to open-mindedly engage in difficult discussions than to become estranged, alienated, cynical; and it is far easier to point the finger of blame at the past and our baby-boomer parents than to take responsibility for shaping the world as it ought to be. It is one thing to reject today’s anodyne, managerialist leaders and another to reject authority per se, to abandon idealism altogether. But if you would rather attempt to comprehend how and why public life is so strangely esoteric, and start to work out what is needed to rectify things, the Battle of Ideas is the place to be.

LET BATTLE COMMENCE!

Claire Fox, director, IoI and on behalf of the Battle of Ideas Committee 2013

About: Venue & directions

Venue Details

The Barbican, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS.

Nearest tubes:

The nearest Underground station is Barbican. Other stations nearby are Moorgate, St Paul’s, Bank, Liverpool Street and Old Street. The Barbican can also be accessed using trains and buses. More detailed info

Car parking:

The Barbican is clearly sign-posted on all roads for cars and coaches and has 4 car parks. More detailed info

View Larger Map

About: What is the Battle of Ideas 2012?

This annual weekend festival, initiated by the IoI (IoI) and organized and supported by a wide range of partners and sponsors, makes virtues of free-thinking and lively exchanges of views. Now in its eighth year, the festival fosters an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and open-ended exploration of new ideas, research and social trends. FREE SPEECH ALLOWED!

We aim:

** to showcase new arguments about the core issues of the day, while avoiding getting bogged down in the minutiae of everyday policy

** to initiate open-ended discussions regardless of demands for immediate practical outcomes, which too frequently act as a brake on innovative thinking

** to shape the future through debate by better understanding the world with a view to changing it for the better.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to identify a new generation of public intellectuals and create a space where they can meet and have their ideas held to account.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to gather those who want to look behind the headlines and who are not prepared to be patronised with simplistic soundbites.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to attract attendees who are willing to challenge and to be challenged, and makes no apologies for putting ideas and argument centre stage.

Appropriately, this intellectual buzz all takes place at The Barbican, one of the world’s leading arts centres and a building where, as the Guardian put it, ‘there is always something rich and strange going on.’

The festival’s flexible format allows attendees either to follow particular strands through one day, or mix and match discussions. The wide variety of partners from the arts, academia, business, science and media both new and old, and the 300 speakers from a wide range of disciplines and viewpoints, results in a potent mix of perspectives, and should produce debates that give us all plenty to think and talk about.

FREE THINKERS WELCOME!

---

The Battle of Ideas is organised by a committee of individuals from diverse fields and backgrounds, without whom the festival would not be possible. Consisting of students, published academics and professionals, the Battle of Ideas Committee regularly meets to thrash out ideas, discuss current issues and to work out the best ways of promoting the festival and its themes. The Battle of Ideas Committee can be viewed here.

About: Why the Battle of Ideas 2012?

WELCOME TO OUR NEW HOME

The Battle of Ideas festival, initiated by the IoI and supported by a wide range of partners, now has a new home. For our eighth year we are delighted to be at the Barbican, one of the world’s leading arts centres. While the festival venue has changed, the purpose remains to make virtues of free-thinking and dissent, and spark public conversations on the key issues facing society. We aim to foster an atmosphere of intellectual freedom, and the open-ended exploration of the ideas that are shaping policy and culture.

INTELLECTUAL LEGACY

How does the pursuit of new ideas go beyond the shallow rhetoric about finding the next ‘Big Idea’, so fashionable in research, policy and think-tank circles? Many seem to believe blue-skies thinking is conjured up in brainstorming sessions; that new ideas lurk in laboratories. What about the wealth of ideas at our fingertips in our shared intellectual legacy? Unfortunately, marshalling these intellectual resources to give important ‘old’ ideas meaning in the twenty-first century is seen as futile, even dangerous. Society seems estranged from the important intellectual legacy that has helped secure human progress to date. Certainly many of the insights that have guided human development in the past can no longer be taken as self-evident. Some of the most precious ideas that emerged with the rise of the Enlightenment - liberty, equality, solidarity - now appear emptied of their critical and subversive content, little more than barren slogans.

TAKING FREEDOM FOR GRANTED

One idea easily taken for granted is freedom, a particular focus of this year’s festival. Of course we all pay lip service to valuing liberty. Even in the recent past, the Cold War pitted a free society against totalitarianism, European cooperation was supposed to guarantee liberty, and today Western society favourably contrasts itself to parts of the world that lack a tradition of individual freedom. And yet it is difficult to assert the importance of freedom in 2012 without people raising a range of caveats: do we mean unregulated freedom to exploit? Aren’t the media, bankers and big business too free? How can we trust organisations that want the freedom to hide their secrets? Ironically one of the French Revolution’s three core ideas - égalité - is used to clip its sister liberté’s wings. In the name of equality, everything from freedom of religious belief to who is admitted to university has become a matter of controversy. Many panels at the Battle of Ideas will explore how those two concepts are now seen as goods to be traded off against one another, in the process losing their original creative content.

EUROPEAN INTELLECTUAL SUMMIT

To help in this endeavour of debating freedom, we have invited a range of European speakers to join festival panels. Sadly the mere mention of Europe today can elicit a yawn; the bureaucratised EU hardly seems an inspiring home of intellectual life. Meanwhile, Brussels and the Eurozone are seen more as limiting freedom rather than championing it. In contrast to the land of technocracy, the Battle of Ideas aspires to create Europe anew. Following a series of weekend Battle satellite events in European cities throughout October, we have invited independent intellectuals from Portugal, Greece, Germany, Holland, Scandinavia, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and elsewhere to gather in London to create a modern, pan-European public salon. This will create a potent mix of perspectives from 400 speakers, thrashing out difficult ideas and shaking up orthodoxies.

DEFENDING DISSENT

No doubt many of the ideas expressed at the festival will be contentious; no doubt sensibilities will be offended. But let’s hold our nerve. After all, as the name suggests, the Battle of Ideas is not afraid of dissenting opinions and encourages people to speak their minds. Above all, tolerating dissent is an essential precondition for any commitment to developing ideas beyond soundbites. The festival’s slogan is FREE SPEECH ALLOWED, and we mean it.

LET BATTLE COMMENCE!

Claire Fox, director, IoI and on behalf of the Battle of Ideas Committee 2012

About: What is the Battle of Ideas 2011?

This annual weekend festival, initiated by the IoI (IoI) and organized and supported by a wide range of partners and sponsors, makes virtues of free-thinking and lively exchanges of views. Now in its seventh year, the festival fosters an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and open-ended exploration of new ideas, research and social trends.  FREE SPEECH ALLOWED!

We aim:

** to showcase new arguments about the core issues of the day, while avoiding getting bogged down in the minutiae of everyday policy

** to initiate open-ended discussions regardless of demands for immediate practical outcomes, which too frequently act as a brake on innovative thinking

** to shape the future through debate by better understanding the world with a view to changing it for the better.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to identify a new generation of public intellectuals and create a space where they can meet and have their ideas held to account.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to gather those who want to look behind the headlines and who are not prepared to be patronised with simplistic soundbites.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to attract attendees who are willing to challenge and to be challenged, and makes no apologies for putting ideas and argument centre stage.

Appropriately, this intellectual buzz all takes place at the Royal College of Art, a working art college, rather than a traditional conference venue, and a cherished home to creativity.

The festival’s flexible format allows attendees either to follow particular strands through one day, or mix and match discussions. The wide variety of partners from the arts, academia, business, science and media both new and old, and the 300 speakers from a wide range of disciplines and viewpoints, results in a potent mix of perspectives, and should produce debates that give us all plenty to think and talk about.

FREE THINKERS WELCOME!

---

The Battle of Ideas is organised by a committee of individuals from diverse fields and backgrounds, without whom the festival would not be possible. Consisting of students, published academics and professionals, the Battle of Ideas Committee regularly meets to thrash out ideas, discuss current issues and to work out the best ways of promoting the festival and its themes. The Battle of Ideas Committee can be viewed here.

About: Why the Battle of Ideas 2011?

Making sense of ‘too much news’

Since its inception seven years ago, the Battle of Ideas festival has sought to debate the challenges facing society, dig beneath the surface and understand what lies behind the headlines. But this year, where to start? From the unravelling of the Eurozone to the overthrow of long-standing regimes in the Middle East, from the never-ending scandals surrounding the world’s most famous media empire to the UK’s shocking urban riots, the world seems to be undergoing a surfeit of significant events. ‘Too much news!’, one commentator complained during what was supposed to be summer downtime. And that’s without even mentioning Fukushima, Osama bin Laden and Anders Breivik. Too often, the prevailing response to such bewildering change is conservative, risk-averse and intolerant rather than critical, open-minded and thoughtful. The challenge for Battle of Ideas 7 will be to avoid knee-jerk responses by untangling what is peripheral from what matters, identifying which trends are deep-rooted and which superficial, and distinguishing inflated panics from genuine problems. Equally important is to explore these trends in their international context. Drawing on our expanded international Battle Satellite programme, people who are struggling with such issues in different countries will help us understand what is universal and what is particular.

Born this way

There has been no shortage of responses to recent events. But many of these are technical fixes or understand the world through the prism of outmoded political categories. More betray today’s climate of fatalistic thinking, suggesting our choices are constrained by everything from our biology to individuals’ irrational psyches. We are regularly described as victims of forces beyond our control: Mother Nature, manipulative advertisers, greedy bankers, systemic unfairness, our genes, our neurology, our upbringing.

What these ideas have in common is an unusually limited scope for the exercise of free will and self determination. This is not just a philosophical issue, but has political implications. After the riots, David Cameron spoke of a ‘slow-motion moral collapse’. But rather than struggle with questions of morality, policy proposals have followed a deterministic script according to which our life-course is set while we are toddlers, and the solution is ever-earlier state intervention in the lives of children. What hope of encouraging true moral agency when parental authority is undermined by the notion that, left to their own devices, Mum and Dad will inevitably ‘f*** you up’? We even celebrate who we are in essentialist terms. Feminists demand recognition for women’s innate qualities; gay rights activists embrace the idea of the gay gene. No wonder Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ has become an anthem for today’s fatalistic zeitgeist.

The world at seven billion

Of course we need not be slaves to our biology. Human endeavour and ingenuity can ensure we need not bow to fate. But when even moral reasoning is depicted as a mere function of the brain, this inevitably fosters cultural pessimism. We seem conflicted about whether humans are a source of creativity or destruction. On 31 October the World Population Clock will number seven billion. Rather than this being a cause of celebration, it is widely viewed with alarm, with cataclysmic predictions of generation wars, food shortages, and environmental Armageddon. Perhaps it’s time to adopt the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius - ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ - as an ambitious aspiration, recognising our capacity to overcome apparently insurmountable obstacles.

Tolerating dissent

No doubt many debates at the festival will be contentious. Indeed we invite speakers and audience alike to challenge conventional thinking. Of course sensibilities will be offended over the weekend. But let’s hold our nerve; after all, as the name suggests, the Battle of Ideas is not afraid of dissenting opinions, and encourages people to speak their minds. The festival will champion tolerance, but we also recognise that true tolerance depends on a willingness to make judgements rather than granting equal respect to all opinions. Above all, though, we understand that to tolerate dissent is an essential precondition for moral independence and free thinking. The festival’s motto is FREE SPEECH ALLOWED.

LET BATTLE COMMENCE!

Claire Fox, director, IoI and on behalf of the Battle of Ideas Committee 2011

About: What is the Battle of Ideas 2010?

This annual weekend festival, initiated by the IoI (IoI) and organized and supported by a wide range of partners and sponsors, makes virtues of free-thinking and lively exchanges of views. Now in its sixth year, the festival fosters an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and open-ended exploration of new ideas, research and social trends.  FREE SPEECH ALLOWED!

We aim:

** to showcase new arguments about the core issues of the day, while avoiding getting bogged down in the minutiae of everyday policy

** to initiate open-ended discussions regardless of demands for immediate practical outcomes, which too frequently act as a brake on innovative thinking

** to shape the future through debate by better understanding the world with a view to changing it for the better.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to identify a new generation of public intellectuals and create a space where they can meet and have their ideas held to account.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to gather those who want to look behind the headlines and who are not prepared to be patronised with simplistic soundbites.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to attract attendees who are willing to challenge and to be challenged, and makes no apologies for putting ideas and argument centre stage.

Appropriately, this intellectual buzz all takes place at the Royal College of Art, a working art college, rather than a traditional conference venue, and a cherished home to creativity, which will also feature a specially curated RCA student exhibition on the theme, ‘designing the future’.

The festival’s flexible format allows attendees either to follow particular strands through one day, or mix and match discussions. The wide variety of partners from the arts, academia, business, science and media both new and old, and the 300 speakers from a wide range of disciplines and viewpoints, results in a potent mix of perspectives, and should produce debates that give us all plenty to think and talk about.

FREE THINKERS WELCOME!

---

To read IoI director Claire Fox’s welcome essay from 2009, please click here.

The Battle of Ideas is organised by a committee of individuals from diverse fields and backgrounds, without whom the festival would not be possible. Consisting of students, published academics and professionals, the Battle of Ideas Committee regularly meets to thrash out ideas, discuss current issues and to work out the best ways of promoting the festival and its themes. The Battle of Ideas Committee can be viewed here.

About: Why the Battle of Ideas 2010?

Why the Battle of Ideas 2010?

30 & 31 OCTOBER, LONDON

The Battle of Ideas festival, now in its sixth year, is very much about a PUBLIC conversation. Since its inception ten years ago, the IoI (IoI) has sought to interrogate orthodoxies and debate the challenges facing society, and to make these things public activities. We put an emphasis on audience participation, and the festival is open to anyone with intellectual curiosity and the courage to think critically.

PEOPLE POWER?

This public orientation may not seem so unusual these days. The rhetoric of public engagement is all pervasive. In politics, much is made of maximising the public’s involvement: ‘People Power’ is the slogan of the UK’s Big Society. Everywhere from science to the arts, participation and crowd sourcing are buzzwords. At the IoI, though, we are sceptical about this flattering rhetoric. Many initiatives look like paper exercises in connecting to an imaginary public. When confronted with the real thing, too often our leaders recoil in horror. When the last Prime minister expressed his contempt for ‘that woman’ in the infamous Bigotgate incident, he gave a glimpse of what those who run society really feel about ordinary people. How dare we offend today’s politically correct etiquette or ask awkward questions? The rise of an illiberal liberalism silences genuine public challenges to received wisdom. One arena where this intolerance of unfashionable ideas is clearly expressed is in discussions about religion and how secular society should accommodate it, or not. We will tackle these topics headon at the festival. As the name suggests, the Battle of Ideas is not afraid of dissenting opinions and encourages people to speak their minds and battle over difficult issues. The festival’s motto is FREE SPEECH ALLOWED.

EVIDENCE VERSUS ARGUMENT

What faux engagement initiatives lack is any content to inspire and engage the public’s minds and passions. Historically, what has moved millions to act upon the world and change things for the better has been big ideas, such as freedom, progress, civilisation and democracy. Today we are offered the thin gruel of ‘evidence-based policy’. When we are told that scientific research demands particular courses of action, ever increasing areas of politics are ruled out-of-bounds for democratic debate; ideas and morality are sidelined by facts and statistics. In contrast, the Battle of Ideas is a public square within which we can explore the crisis of values, and start to give human meaning to trends too often presented fatalistically and technically.

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

Despite the fashion for ‘localism’, we need to expand our gaze beyond our own back yards. With this in mind, on the IoI’s tenth anniversary, we are launching the Battle of Ideas as an international project. We have a series of Battle Satellite debates in India, the US and Europe, and have invited as many international speakers as resources have allowed. We not only look abroad for intellectual renewal, but also to the past. In a strand of debates on history, we assess whether we can make the best that has been thought and known a source of future inspiration; standing on the shoulders of giants and reinvigorating their ideas for a new era.

LET MAN BE THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS

One such idea worth rescuing is the ancient Greeks’ notion that ‘Man is the measure of all things’. Today, such humanistic thinking is under threat, from those who warn that human-centredness is no more than hubris, that man’s ambitions are destructive, that we cannot trust politicians, bankers, cricketers, even each other or ourselves. Sessions will explore what these ideas mean for our attitude to human life or for our ambitions to engineer our future and use the huge gains of science, technology and biomedicine to solve problems associated with ageing, with the economy or even natural disasters. Is man guilty of playing God? Or would any lessening of our aspirations mean simply accepting our fate? We welcome attendees who are free thinkers, who have verve, passion and idealism, and a dose of irreverent scepticism; who believe mankind has a future worth fighting for. LET BATTLE
COMMENCE!

Claire Fox, director, IoI and on behalf of the Battle of Ideas Committee 2010

About: Why the Battle of Ideas 2009?

Why the Battle of Ideas 2009?

SAVING POLITICS

Now in its fifth year, the Battle of Ideas festival comprises 75 debates and nearly twenty satellite discussions confronting society’s big issues and unresolved questions. The coming year will see a general election in the UK; rather than this prospect inspiring vigorous debate, though, the discussion feels like a stale re-hashing of limited, managerial policies. For those of us with aspirations to change the world, principles-lite politics is a dispiriting affair. But the prevailing cynicism about parliament and politicians per se is equally unedifying. So, what is to be done? The Battle of Ideas affords the opportunity for some clear thinking, rational debate and agenda-setting. Above all, we hope it will be future-orientated, while retaining a healthy regard for the past achievements of humanity.

IDEAS TO SHAPE THE FUTURE

One demoralising aspect of cultural life is what might be called ‘presentism’. Rather than seeking opportunities to shape the world for the better, we are fearful of the future, imagining apocalyptic sci-fi scenarios caused by climate change, demographic timebombs, or the unintended consequences of biomedical and technological breakthroughs. Meanwhile, the past is seen as little more than evidence of human hubris: our economies grew too fast, we neglected the planet, we were too greedy and ambitious. While we pay lip service to knowledge and creativity, powerful cultural influences call into question the enormous artistic and scientific gains and insights made in the past.

The Battle of Ideas is an opportunity to overcome this alienation from past and future alike, and the resulting mood of cautiousness and risk aversion. The festival will involve grown up discussions about what we want to achieve in the 21st century. We will rethink major concepts like freedom, privacy and authority. We will evaluate the social and moral problems facing the world, debating everything from reproduction to energy. We will go beyond talk of ‘green shoots’ and ‘greedy bankers’ to assess the meaning and legacy of the economic recession. How do we assess the pros and cons of work in the context of rising unemployment? What are our attitudes to economic growth? Can we make a case for purposeful human activity as a means of improving society, when behaviourist ideas in economics and social policy cast doubt on our rationality? Can we build a good society, and what values will it espouse?

PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL LIFE

The scholar is that man who must take up into himself all the ability of the time, all the contributions of the past, all the hopes of the future. He must be an university of knowledges.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘The American Scholar’

The Battle of Ideas aims to be the 21st century equivalent of Emerson’s ‘university of knowledges’. This is an appeal that we all become thoroughly modern scholars, a new generation of public intellectuals. It is not about being academic per se, and certainly not about being po-faced or over-earnest; we expect our attendees to be free thinkers with verve, passion and idealism, embodying a spirit of irreverent scepticism. As the name suggests, the Battle of Ideas rejects safe consensus. Taking ideas and ourselves seriously means questioning and criticising one another. It can mean saying the unsayable and challenging received wisdom. It certainly means holding true to the Battle of Ideas’ motto ‘Free Speech Allowed’.

Let battle commence!

Claire Fox, director, IoI and on behalf of the Battle of Ideas Committee 2009

About: What is the Battle of Ideas 2009?

REPRINTED FROM 2008

This annual weekend festival, initiated by the IoI (IoI) and organized and supported by a wide range of partners and sponsors, makes virtues of free-thinking and lively exchanges of views. Now in its fourth year, the festival fosters an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and open-ended exploration of new ideas, research and social trends.  FREE SPEECH ALLOWED!

We aim:

** to showcase new arguments about the core issues of the day, while avoiding getting bogged down in the minutiae of everyday policy

** to initiate open-ended discussions regardless of demands for immediate practical outcomes, which too frequently act as a brake on innovative thinking

** to shape the future through debate by better understanding the world with a view to changing it for the better.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to identify a new generation of public intellectuals and create a space where they can meet and have their ideas held to account.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to gather those who want to look behind the headlines and who are not prepared to be patronised with simplistic soundbites.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to attract attendees who are willing to challenge and to be challenged, and makes no apologies for putting ideas and argument centre stage.

Appropriately, this intellectual buzz all takes place at the Royal College of Art, a working art college, rather than a traditional conference venue, and a cherished home to creativity, which will also feature a specially curated RCA student exhibition on the theme, ‘designing the future’.

The festival’s flexible format allows attendees either to follow particular strands through one day, or mix and match discussions. The wide variety of partners from the arts, academia, business, science and media both new and old, and the 250 speakers from a wide range of disciplines and viewpoints, results in a potent mix of perspectives, and should produce debates that give us all plenty to think and talk about.

FREE THINKERS WELCOME!

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To read IoI director Claire Fox’s welcome essay from 2008, please click here.

The Battle of Ideas is organised by a committee of individuals from diverse fields and backgrounds, without whom the festival would not be possible. Consisting of students, published academics and professionals, the Battle of Ideas Committee regularly meets to thrash out ideas, discuss current issues and to work out the best ways of promoting the festival and its themes. The Battle of Ideas Committee can be viewed here.

About: Why the Battle of Ideas 2008?

Now in its fourth year, the Battle of Ideas festival comprises 75 debates and a dozen satellite discussions confronting the big issues and unresolved questions facing society. From the banking crisis to the new cold war rhetoric around Georgia, from the implosion of the Labour Party to the contest to lead the most powerful country on earth, from the new ethical questions surrounding biomedicine to the thorny question of knife crime and young people – the need for clear thinking and rational debate has never been more urgent.

SERIOUSNESS, IDEAS AND CHANGE

A year ago, newly crowned Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a plea for substance and seriousness in politics. No matter how hollow that plea sounds today, there certainly is a need for those things. Indeed the festival was devised by the IoI as an annual event with the serious intent of shaping intellectual life. We are unapologetic in putting ideas centre stage; as an antidote to policy churn, slick soundbites, managerialism and opportunism.

Those who espouse big ideas are frequently dismissed as ‘idealists’ - a term that has acquired negative connotations. Ideas associated with important moments in history - the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the American and French Revolutions - are often dismissed as pompous rhetoric or impossible myths. Instead we have the mantra of Change with a capital C.

The argument goes that the world is changing so much that every insight from the past must be dumped or revised. We are told we must ‘change to keep up with Change’, as though we are passive victims of changing forces ‘out there’. But change is not a force in history; it is the outcome of human intervention. Historically, it is ideas that have enabled people to change the world. One key aim of the Battle of Ideas is to scrutinise the ideas that make history.

REAL DEBATE

As the name suggests, the Battle of Ideas rejects anodyne consensus. Taking ideas seriously means questioning and criticising one another. It can mean saying the unsayable and challenging received wisdom. It certainly means holding true to the Battle of Ideas’ motto ‘Free Speech Allowed’. Importantly, however, the Battle of Ideas is not about Punch and Judy-style formal debating.

Today’s big questions rarely lend themselves to black and white positions, as is clear from this year’s festival programme. When it comes to the changing role of the family or concerns about antisocial behaviour, ‘for and against’ positioning would be unhelpful. There is no simple way to understand the significance of emerging economies such as India and China. And the fracturing of traditional loyalties means identity is contested in everything from rows about cricket to diversity policies in the arts. Meanwhile, the collapse of traditional communities means that how we educate and socialise children, relate to each other at work and welcome (or not) new immigrants are highly charged issues.

How should we interpret the greening of politics when environmentalist thinking questions the very ideas of progress and development? Is there more to truth than scientific evidence and hard facts? Is there more to radicalism than harking back to ‘68? Is there more to leadership than speechifying? Is the credit crunch or anti-consumerism the greater challenge to capitalism? The IoI believes that through asking these and other difficult questions, a more enlightened and deeper culture of public debate can emerge.

AUDIENCE

The success of the Battle of Ideas to date has revealed an appetite for this kind of thought-provoking and lively public debate. The high level of audience contributions - in quality and quantity - is something that marks out the Battle of Ideas. It is also clear from the verve and wit of attendees that seriousness is not synonymous with being po-faced or sanctimonious. The festival has light and shade, and stimulating intellectual exchanges can be lots of fun. All ages are welcome, and it is refreshing that so many young people - from school pupils to postgraduates - attend and defy their ‘whatever’ caricature. However old you are, come along and pitch in. Free thinkers are welcome.

The Battle of Ideas is more than a ‘talking shop’, or indeed a festival. It’s a declaration: ideas matter and it’s time to get serious. We certainly aim to make a mark beyond one weekend. But it all starts 1-2 November 2008. Let battle commence!

Claire Fox, director of the IoI and the Battle of Ideas Committee 2008

About: What is the Battle of Ideas 2008?

This annual weekend festival, initiated by the IoI (IoI) and organized and supported by a wide range of partners and sponsors, makes virtues of free-thinking and lively exchanges of views. Now in its fourth year, the festival fosters an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and open-ended exploration of new ideas, research and social trends.  FREE SPEECH ALLOWED!

We aim:

** to showcase new arguments about the core issues of the day, while avoiding getting bogged down in the minutiae of everyday policy

** to initiate open-ended discussions regardless of demands for immediate practical outcomes, which too frequently act as a brake on innovative thinking

** to shape the future through debate by better understanding the world with a view to changing it for the better.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to identify a new generation of public intellectuals and create a space where they can meet and have their ideas held to account.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to gather those who want to look behind the headlines and who are not prepared to be patronised with simplistic soundbites.

The Battle of Ideas seeks to attract attendees who are willing to challenge and to be challenged, and makes no apologies for putting ideas and argument centre stage.

Appropriately, this intellectual buzz all takes place at the Royal College of Art, a working art college, rather than a traditional conference venue, and a cherished home to creativity, which will also feature a specially curated RCA student exhibition on the theme, ‘designing the future’.

The festival’s flexible format allows attendees either to follow particular strands through one day, or mix and match discussions. The wide variety of partners from the arts, academia, business, science and media both new and old, and the 250 speakers from a wide range of disciplines and viewpoints, results in a potent mix of perspectives, and should produce debates that give us all plenty to think and talk about.

FREE THINKERS WELCOME!

---

To read IoI director Claire Fox’s welcome essay, please click here.

The Battle of Ideas is organised by a committee of individuals from diverse fields and backgrounds, without whom the festival would not be possible. Consisting of students, published academics and professionals, the Battle of Ideas Committee regularly meets to thrash out ideas, discuss current issues and to work out the best ways of promoting the festival and its themes. The Battle of Ideas Committee can be viewed here.

About: Contact

The Battle of Ideas is organised by the IoI.

For general information including ticketing, email Battle of Ideas or call 020 7269 9220.

For any media-related enquires, or to request a press pass, please contact Dave Bowden on: (020) 7269 9221 / 07751 942606 or email: Dave.

Write to us at:

IoI
Signet House
49-51 Farringdon Road
London
EC1M 3JP

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7269 9220

About: Why the Battle of Ideas?

Now in its third year, the Battle of Ideas comprises 70 debates about the big themes facing society. The festival was devised by the IoI (IoI) as an annual event bringing together different strands of social, political and cultural discussion to meet the growing demand for high-level, thought-provoking and lively public debate that cuts across particular issues and fields of interest. This reflects the IoI’s interest in broad themes that affect a variety of debates – such as the shift from grand political visions to micro-management of individual behaviour, or contemporary doubts about economic growth and development.

As the name suggests, the Battle of Ideas avoids being anodyne in the name of consensus, reflecting instead the IoI’s commitment to robust debate. Taking ideas seriously means questioning, criticising and interrogating one another. This does not mean Punch and Judy-style formal debating, however. Today’s big questions do not lend themselves to neat, black and white positions. The IoI believes that through asking difficult questions and opening them up to scrutiny, a more enlightened and deeper public discourse can emerge.

Politics is certainly in need of an injection of substance. It is refreshing that the new prime minister Gordon Brown promises to distance his reign from celebrity culture. Yet it was this same celebrity-bashing Gordon Brown who urged us all to vote for Shippa Shetty in the ‘Big Brother’ house, and who has kowtowed to St Bono and Bob Geldof in their ‘save Africa’ crusade. Brown is right that there is ‘a new thirst for seriousness’, and yet one of the first acts of his administration has been to emasculate the school curriculum. Do five-minute lessons and the subordination of subject disciplines to faddish political concerns mark a new era of seriousness?

But let’s take Gordon Brown at his word and ask some hard questions. Today’s managerial politics, from Brown’s government of ‘all the talents’ to Cameron’s A-list candidates who previously have shown no interest in Conservatism, are clearly failing to inspire. Might the solution be ‘participatory’ schemes like local decision-making and citizens’ juries, or are these actually compromising representative democracy and the very idea of political vision? When does the much-vaunted ‘moral compass’ spin into moralising about private behaviour? ‘You can’t do that!’ is a familiar hector as we light up, sip a pint, eat a burger. Worse, too often we are told, ‘You can’t say that!’. The climate of inquistion that stifles ‘new heretics’ who challenge today’s orthodoxies, whether on climate change or offensive speech, is anathema to the IoI’s aim of fostering open argument. It is free speech that enables different interpretations of the world to be debated on their merits. That is why the Battle of Ideas’ motto is ‘Free Speech Allowed’.

The high level of audience contributions – in quality and quantity – is something that marks the Battle of Ideas out. That’s why we have introduced new formats that allow even more audience participation. Look out for poetry and play readings followed by discussions about the arts and politics, Bar-Room Rants on Iraq and ‘revolting students’ in the RCA Student Union, and Battle Talk ‘in conversation’-style sessions on citizenship education and China. These run alongside the regular keynote debates, café conversations, breakfast banters, provocation lectures, screenings and themed strands of debate on Africa, music, new technologies, science and film.

As ever, the promise to give renewed vigour to intellectual life is a lot to load on one weekend, but the success of the previous two Battle of Ideas festivals proves it is possible. And the Battle of Ideas is more than a weekend. Through ‘Battles in Print’, satellite events, media discussions, filmed vox pops and live debates on Friction TV, Fora TV and 18 Doughty Street, podcasts on The Times online and monthly forums on everything from parenting to literature, the Battle of Ideas aims to set the intellectual agenda far beyond the festival. But it all starts this October. Let battle commence!

Claire Fox, director of the IoI and the Battle of Ideas Committee 2007

About: What is the Battle of Ideas?

The weekend, initiated by the IoI and organized and supported by a wide range of partners and sponsors, makes virtues of free-thinking and lively exchanges of views. We aim:

** to showcase new arguments about the core issues of the day, while avoiding getting bogged down in the minutiae of everyday policy

** to initiate open-ended discussions regardless of the demands for immediate practical outcomes, which too frequently act as a brake on innovative thinking

Emulating the best of academia, the Battle of Ideas fosters an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and open-ended exploration of new ideas, research and trends. Additionally we challenge academics to distil their insights for a public intellectual gathering, creating a truly accessible university. The IoI seeks to identify a new generation of public intellectuals, and create a space where they can meet and have their ideas held to account.

Emulating the best of the literary festivals, the Battle of Ideas asks authors to join panels and bring their written work to life. Additionally we challenge authors to reflect beyond their latest books and apply their insights to broad questions of intellectual importance. The IoI seeks to create a space where readers and writers alike can mull over the social trends reflected in the latest fiction and non-fiction.

Emulating the best of the media, the Battle of Ideas brings together broadcasters, journalists and columnists to continue their invaluable role as inquisitors of current affairs. Additionally we challenge panels of pundits to become more than talking heads, and instead interact with the audience and engage with their ideas. The IoI seeks to gather those who want to look behind the headlines and who are not prepared to be patronised with simplistic soundbites.

The festival’s flexible format allows attendees either to follow particular strands through one day, or mix and match discussions. The wide variety of partners from the arts, academia, business, science and media both new and old, and the 200 speakers from a wide range of disciplines and viewpoints, means a potent mix of perspectives, and should result in debates that give us all plenty to think and talk about. We work hard to attract festival attendees who are willing both to challenge and to be challenged.

Appropriately, in the year of the 150th anniversary of the Great Exhibition cultural hub in South Kensington, this intellectual buzz all takes place at the Royal College of Art, a working art college, rather than a traditional conference venue, and a cherished home to creativity, which will also feature a specially curated exhibition on the theme, ‘should art change the world?’

---

To read IoI director Claire Fox’s welcome essay, please click here.

The Battle of Ideas is organised by a committee of individuals from diverse fields and backgrounds, without whom the festival would not be possible. Consisting of students, published academics and professionals, the Battle of Ideas Committee regularly meets to thrash out ideas, discuss current issues and to work out the best ways of promoting the festival and its themes. The Battle of Ideas Committee can be viewed here.

For the first time in 2007, we gathered a group of advisors who have generously given their time to advise on the content of the festival. We would like to thank them all. The Battle of Ideas Advisors can be viewed here.

The old Battle of Ideas 2006 site can be viewed at www.battleofideas.co.uk.

About: Directions

Venue Details

Royal College of Art, London, SW7 2EU (next to Royal Albert Hall).

Nearest tubes:

High Street Kensington: 10 minute walk or 5 minutes on bus 9, 10 or 52

Gloucester Road: 10 minute walk  

South Kensington: 10 minute walk

Car parking:

There is no car parking surrounding the Royal College of Art. Some metered parking is available in the surrounding area.

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 Festival Buzz

Particle Physics is Sexy [Opens in new window]

"The Battle of Ideas sounds like it ought to be feisty - and it is."
Alyson Rudd, The Times