Join bestselling public philosopher Julian Baggini for a ‘complete treat: a breath of fresh air and a bracing detox for our beleaguered, battered brains’ (Derren Brown).

The bestselling popular philosopher returns to How To Academy with essential principles for better thinking about work, life, politics and much more…

In this livestream In Conversation event, Julian will take us on a revelatory exploration of the methods, tenets and attitudes of thought that guide philosophy, and how they can be applied to our own lives today. 

Drawing on three decades of enquiry and a huge range of interviews, Julian has identified twelve key principles that promote incisive thinking on everything from understanding climate change, to correctly appraising our own temperaments.

We will find out:

• What Boris Johnson’s ‘Partygate’ can teach us about logical reasoning
• How ‘defining your terms’ in advance can bring about swift resolution – e.g. much hot air has been spoken by people who refuse to accept the agreed definition of ‘institutional racism’
• How we lose sight of the overall positive impact of something when we discover a flaw. There are problems with the certification of organic food, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t the best option
• Why you don’t need to be a maths expert to avoid being misled by statistics
• How ‘Question everything. Don’t assume anything about when it comes to what you’re told’ can be good advice and the motto of a leading flat-earther
• Why ‘forest bathing’ is both bunkum and a very good idea
• Why eating kefir may not be as useful for promoting your gut biota as manufactures claim
• Beware thinking that forces you to look at everything through the same lens. You can acknowledge Marx’s astute analyses without being a Marxist, and the efficiency of markets without being a Neoliberal
• How to notice contradictions – for example, conspiracy theories which postulate that the government is both incompetent and able to orchestrate the most remarkable cover up in history…

Praise for Julian Baggini’s How To Think Like a Philosopher:

‘An essential, inspiring guide to the challenges of our time… exactly the book that we need’ Sarah Bakewell

‘Another brilliant, engaging and highly readable account by Julian Baggini… Simply superb’ Gavin Esler