Advertise on podcast: Reading Our Times

Human beings need a sense of purpose but differ strongly on whether that purpose is discovered or created, on whether the universe itself has a purpose or whether purpose is just the result of a hyperactive human mind? This disagreement often maps onto the theist/atheist divide - but not always and not necessarily. Perhaps the issue of purpose is wider than belief in God. So does the universe itself show signs of purpose? If so, how would we know? Or is all this simply a delusion of a hominid brain than needs purpose and is happy to create it if it can’t find one out there? Join Nick Spencer as he speaks to Philip Goff, a British author, panpsychist philosopher, and professor at Durham University, to discuss his latest book, Why? The Purpose of the Universe. You can buy a copy of Philip's book here.

What is the ultimate nature of reality? And how best to describe it? Is it fundamentally smooth and continuous, flowing seamlessly from one state to another? Or is it discrete, composed of distinct, separate units that interact across unbridgeable gaps? This ancient philosophical puzzle, which dates back at least as far back as Zeno and his famous paradoxes 2,500 years ago, remains surprisingly urgent and relevant today, shaping debates across physics, evolutionary biology, history, and even our understanding of consciousness itself. In this episode, host Nick Spencer speaks with American philosopher Graham Harman about his provocative new book Waves and Stones: On the Ultimate Nature of Reality. Harman argues that both the continuous and the discrete are irreducible aspects of our world - a position he calls "primal dualism" that challenges the modern impulse to reduce everything to a single, unified explanation. You can buy a copy of his book here.

Consciousness is famously called the “hard problem” and it elicits a very wide range of (sometimes very strongly held) opinions. These range from the idea that it is little more than a trick played on us by our brain, to the idea that it is built into the very fabric of matter at the most fundamental level. How does consciousness differ from mindedness? It is all or nothing, or are there grades of consciousness? And how does it map on our ordinary, everyday lives? This week, Nick Spencer speaks to Baroness Susan Greenfield about her new book: A Day in the Life of the Brain: The Neuroscience of Consciousness from Dawn Till Dusk. You can buy a copy of her book here.

Everyone has heard of quantum physics. Many of us can parrot its key ideas – uncertainty, entanglement, collapsing the wave function, something to do with a cat… But when it comes to really understanding it, well that’s a different matter altogether. “Anyone who is not shocked by quantum mechanics hasn’t understood it”, wrote the eminent physicist Niels Bohr. So, what is quantum physics? How did it come about? What does it say about ultimate reality? And how might it transform our lives? This week on Reading Our Times, Nick Spencer delves into the quantum realm with scientist Paul Davies to discuss his latest book, Quantum 2.0: The Past, Present, and Future of Quantum Physics. You can buy a copy of Paul's book here.

The performance of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time in a freezing WW2 prison camp is one of the most famous moments of 20th century music. The piece and performance spoke to audiences movingly, both then and now, of peace, God, time, and the power of music. Such questions remain powerful today. How imprisoned by time are we? In what sense does music and art enable us to transcend the constraints of our existence? What does the end of time mean? This week on Reading Our Times, Nick speaks to poet Michael Symmons Roberts about his latest book Quartet for the End of Time: On Music, Grief and Birdsong. You can buy a copy of Michael's book here.

The idea of transcendence is common, perhaps even universal, among human beings. But what it means (if anything) is much more debatable. There are different ways of understanding transcendence, some orthodoxly religious; others more heterodox and surprising. How should we understand transcendence? If you can be spiritual but not religious, can you experience transcendence without religion? What does it mean to live a transcendent life? This week, Nick speaks to Clare Carlisle, Professor of Philosophy at Kings College London, about her latest book 'Transcendence for Beginners'. Purchase a copy of Clare's book here.

Many of the New Atheist arrows fired in the religion wars of 2000s and 2010s hit their target well and hard. The question is, was it the right target? Believers often claim that atheists don't believe in the kind of God that they themselves don't believe in, and that the concept of God in Christian thought is altogether subtle and more sophisticated than critics give credit. What is the evidence for this? Is this more sophisticated understanding of God not simply a late, post-Enlightenment evasion? Or does the idea that "God is nothing" have deep roots? This week, Nick speaks to Gilbert Markus about his book, 'God as nothing'. Purchase a copy of Gilbert's book here.

Recent decades have seen the gene as supreme in all discussions of what life is and how it works. Whether selfish, co-operative or eternal, it's genes that matter. But that picture is changing, in favour of a much subtler, more complex and more layered understanding. Life, it seems, goes all the way down (and up). So what role do genes play in life? Where, if anywhere, does agency reside? Are human beings more than mere propagation vehicles? How, in effect, does life work? This week, Nick speaks to Philip Ball about his book 'How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology'. Purchase a copy of Philip's book here.

Reading our Times is back – and this series we’re getting metaphysical.   We're going to be talking about the building blocks of life, the universe and reality, with scientists, philosophers, theologians and poets.  We’ll be talking to Clare Carlisle about transcendence and Susan Greenfield about consciousness. We’ll talk to Philip Ball about how life really works And to physicist Paul Davies about the quantum world.  To philosophers Graham Harman and Philip Goff about the nature of reality and the reality of purpose. To poet Michael Symmons Roberts about music and time and to theologian Gilbert Markus about whether God is Nothing. So if you like books, you like ideas, you like thinking – and you want to go deeper, join Nick Spencer for Reading our Times coming soon.

Western societies have fallen out of love with (having) children, and all too often this is treated as a policy problem. But in reality, it's a much deeper personal and philosophical one.  What has changed in our attitudes to having children? How do we understand the role and standing and "purpose" of children in society? What, in effect, do we think children are for?  This week Nick Spencer talks with Anastasia Berg about her book co-authored with Rachel Wiseman, ‘What are children for? On Ambivalence and Choice’  Purchase a copy of their book here:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Are-Children-Ambivalence-Choice/dp/0861549481

Choice is so important to who we are in the West is no longer feels like something we do, so much as something we are. Deny someone choice, and it feels like you are challenging their very humanity.  Where does this obsession with choice come from, historically and philosophically? What are its foundations and justifications? And has it gone too far? Can you have too much of this particular good thing?  This week Nick Spencer talks with Sophia Rosenfeld about her book ‘The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life’  Purchase a copy of her book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Age-Choice-History-Freedom-Modern/dp/0691164711  

Strange things are happening to Christianity in the West. Some people are talking about revival whereas others are talking about extinction. Whoever is right, the ramifications for our culture will be immense. What is happening? If we are entering a period of eclipse for Christianity, would it matter? Would it simply be strike us through the loss of beautiful buildings and moving music? Or is there something more substantial in all this?  This week Nick Spencer talks with Rupert Shortt about his book ‘The Eclipse of Christianity and why it matters’  Purchase a copy of the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eclipse-Christianity-why-matters/dp/1399802747  

The idea that society should grow - and continue to grow, economically, without ending, without limits - is a relatively new and fiercely defended idea. It emerged first in Western countries but has captured much of the world today.  How realistic is it? How "sustainable"? What should we think about “limits to growth”? Is it a narrative of declinism, best ignored? Or a warning we dismiss at huge peril?  This week Nick Spencer talks with Richard McNeill Douglas about his book ‘The Meaning of Growth: The Rhetoric of Environmental Scepticism and the Defence of Modernity’  Richard’s book will be published in Autumn, find out more here. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003607632/meaning-growth-richard-mcneill-douglas   

The Russian Orthodox Church has been conspicuous in its support of Putin's war against Ukraine. The reasons seem as obvious as they are depressing.  But behind the politics, there are centuries of history and theology. How did we get here? How is history of the church in Russia shaping the nation's present? How might it shape the future?  This week Nick Spencer talks with Lucy Ash about her book ‘The Baton and the Cross: Russia’s Church from Pagans to Putin’. Purchase a copy of Lucy's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Baton-Cross-Russias-Church-Pagans/dp/1837731837

The UK has one of highest levels of dissatisfaction with democracy in the world, though other Western countries aren't far behind. Hopes that the rest of the world would naturally follow the West and democratise have all but evaporated.  How serious is this decline in democratic sympathy? What lies behind it? What are the deep foundations on which democracy rests? And what, if anything, can be done about it?  This week, Nick Spencer talks with Jonathan Sumption about his book ‘The Challenges of Democracy: And The Rule of Law’.  Purchase his book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Challenges-Democracy-Rule-Law/dp/1805222503