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Does Philanthropy do the Public Good?

Philanthropy has long played a key role in our communities on local, national, and global scales. Yet if we have often assumed that giving is good, we must also step back and ask, “good for whom?” In short, how do we know when philanthropy does the public good?

Blacks Britannica: Diversity in Medieval and Early Modern England

Africans have been present in England for more than two thousand years, but we rarely see them or hear about them. And often their existence is dismissed as a figment of 'political correctness' or 'wokism.' This lecture will critically assess the myth of England's story as a 'sacred white space' and examine the evidence for diversity in medieval and early modern history. Africans are integral to English history and forgetting this diminishes Englishness, by preventing us from understanding ourselves.

Nudging Society to Better Decisions

We often think that psychological biases worsen decision making - but they can also be harnessed for good.

Witness Anonymity: "I Want to Look Into The Eyes Of My Son’s Killer And Know His Name"

The screening of witnesses for anonymity in the context of inquests and public inquiries is hugely contentious. Why does putting witnesses behind a screen cause such concern for human rights and civil liberties advocates? What are protective measures? Has there been an increase in such applications?

Cynics, Stoics, Epicureans

Cynicism, Stoicism and Epicureanism, emerged shortly after Platonism and Aristotelianism in Ancient Greece. Each of these new schools of philosophy offered a moral programme advocating the best way to live and a more abstract physical, scientific model of the workings of the universe.