BHA talks from 2009
Prof Richard Dawkins and Prof Sir David King at the Darwin Day Lecture 2009
The British Humanist Association runs a programme of events throughout each year. In 2009 this included the annual meetings for affiliated local group representatives, a day conference for equalities professionals on ‘religion or belief’, and the launch of the Atheist, Humanist and Secularist Student Federation (the AHS). BHA staff also regularly speak at debates, visit local humanist groups, give talks organised by other organisations, run Pride stalls in Brighton, London and Manchester, and last year addressed demonstrations like London For a Secular Europe and One Law For All.
In addition, the BHA also runs a series of well-regarded and often sell-out annual lectures, always featuring some big names and some big ideas, often held in association with the South Place Ethical Society (SPES) at Conway Hall in London. In 2009 there was a particular emphasis on celebrating Darwin’s double anniversary…
Many of these lectures are now shared online via the BHA YouTube channel, and here we pull together some of the highlights from last year’s calendar – mostly with videos!
11th February 2009
The Darwin Day Lecture 2009
200 years after the birth of Charles Darwin, arguably Britain’s greatest scientist, and 150 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species, his greatest work, what is the state of British science today?
For the Darwin Day Lecture 2009, former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government, Professor Sir David King, asked “Can British Science Rise to the New Challenges of the Twenty First Century?” Chaired by Professor Richard Dawkins.
Photographs from the lecture by Andrew West.
See the bottom of this page for details on next month’s Darwin Day lecture for 2010…!
19th March 2009
Daniel Dennett: “A Darwinian perspective on Religions: Past, Present and Future”
For the second event in the BHA’s Darwin 200 series of events, the BHA welcomed Dan Dennett to London. Philosopher and humanist Dan Dennett spoke on “A Darwinian Perspective on Religions: Past, Present and Future” at Conway Hall.
23rd April 2009
The Voltaire Lecture with Kenan Malik
Exploitation, oppression, war and genocide – ‘scientific racism’ helped justify all this and more. And no scientific theory provided more ammunition for racial scientists than Darwinism.
So does science bear the guilt of ‘racial science’? How responsible was Darwinism for the outrages committed in its name? Was Enlightenment philosophy the ‘foundation of racism’, as the historian George Mosse suggests, because of its ‘preoccupation with a rational universe, nature and aesthetics’? And did the scientific methodology help articulate, as the philosopher Emmanuel Chuckwude Eze believes, ‘Europe’s sense of not only its cultural but also racial superiority’?
Kenan Malik’s lecture explored the relationship between science, race and Darwinism and challenged conventional views about the origins and nature of racial thinking.
6th June 2009
“Darwin, Humanism and Science” – the day conference
In June 2009, the British Humanist Association (BHA) hosted the General Assemblies of the European Humanist Federation (EHF) and International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) in London. As part of the associated programme events, and as part of the BHA’s season of events to celebrate ‘Darwin 200‘, we held a special day conference on “Darwin, Humanism and Science” together with EHF, IHEU, and the South Place Ethical Society (SPES).
31st October 2009
Evolutionary Theory: Is this all there is? A Humanist Philosophers Day Conference
Evolutionary Theory has a lot going for it, but how far does it go? Can it provide adequate explanations of human psychology – emotions, imagination – of our moral sense and aesthetic appreciation? Does Evoluntary Theory have anything valuable to say about our free choices and the meaning of life?
These questions were explored in three discussions, chaired by Peter Cave (chair of Humanist Philosophers and author of Humanism: a beginner’s guide), with questions and contributions from the floor at the end of the day.
Human psychology: ‘Are human minds made by memes?’ with Susan Blackmore, Visiting Professor of Psychology at the University of Plymouth and Simon Blackburn, Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge
Ethics: ‘Can there be genuine value and virtue in a godless universe?’ with Emeritus Professor John Cottingham, University of Reading; Professor David Papineau, King’s College, London; Professor Janet Radcliffe Richards, Director of the Centre for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine at University College London.
Meaning and purposes of life: ‘What does evolutionary biology have to say about the meaning of life?’ by Michael Reiss, Professor of Science Education and Assistant Director of the Institute of Education and Emeritus Professor Richard Norman, University of Kent.
Unfortunately we had technical problems with the recording of this event and there is no video. This is a great shame because a lot of people asked after the recording!
18th November 2009
A. C. Grayling in Manchester: Darwin and the Darwinian Controversy
A. C. Grayling addressed the controversy surrounding Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, followed by questions. The event was chaired by John Harris, professor of Bioethics at the University of Manchester and member of the Humanist Philosophers.
26th November 2009
The Bentham Lecture 2009 – The strange rebirth of Liberalism
150 years on from the publication of John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, a view is circulating that liberalism is in crisis.
Richard Reeves, Director of the think-tank Demos, argues that true liberalism – the liberalism of Mill – is not the problem, but the solution. Introduced by Peter Cave, Chair of Humanist Philosophers.
Coming next month…
Darwin Day Lecture 2010
11th February 2009
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Doors open 6pm for 6.30pm start
Professor Chris Stringer, a leading proponent of the ‘out of Africa’ theory of human origins, talks about Darwin’s incredibly accurate and then-shocking educated guess that modern human beings all descend from African ancestry. Chaired by Professor Richard Dawkins. In association with the South Place Ethical Society.
Get more details and buy tickets.
