Gifford Lectures (audio)

Gordon Brown - The Future of Jobs and Justice

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown returns to his former university to give a talk on economics. The lecture argues that there is an alternative to a future of low growth and high unemployment; that the alternative is a future of jobs and justice. Recorded 19 April 2011 at the McEwan Hall, Edinburgh.

Patricia Churchland - Morality and the Mammalian Brain

Prof Patricia Churchland's Gifford Lecture - Recorded 11 May, 2010 at St Cecelia's Hall, The University of Edinburgh. Self-caring neural circuitry embodies self-preservation values, and these are values in the most elemental sense. Whence caring for others? Social problem-solving, including policy-making, is probably an instance of problem-solving more generally, and draws upon the capacity, prodigious in humans, to envision consequences of a planned action. In humans, it also draws upon the capacity for improving upon current practices and technologies. Audio version.

Terry Eagleton - The God Debate

Professor Terry Eagleton's Gifford Lecture - The God Debate. Recorded 1 March, 2010 at the Playfair Library Hall, the University of Edinburgh. Audio version. In his lecture, Professor Eagleton asks "Why has God suddenly reappeared in intellectual debate? His lecture attempts to put these contentions in the broader political context of the so-called 'war on terror'.

Michael Gazzaniga - We Are the Law (Lecture 6)

The sixth in a series of Gifford Lectures by Professor Michael Gazzaniga. Recorded 22 October, 2009 at the Playfair Library Hall, the University of Edinburgh. Audio version.

Michael Gazzaniga - The Social Brain (Lecture 5)

The fith in a series of Gifford Lectures by Professor Michael Gazzaniga. Recorded 20 October, 2009 at the Playfair Library Hall, the University of Edinburgh. Audio version.