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	<title>Big Ideas Events</title>
	<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events</link>
	<description>All Big Ideas event details here</description>
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		<title>How Do Art And Science Visualise Life?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Digital technology has permeated everyday life and filled it with reproducible images. This has affected art and science too and their inter-relation: for example, older illustrations of flora and fauna have been replaced by photography and filmed nature documentaries.
Do different ways of seeing the world and presenting life depend on different, distinct and exclusive interpretations? How far can artistic practice advance science through image-work under these new conditions?
Rob Kesseler is Professor of Ceramic Art and Design at Central Saint Martins College of Art &#38; Design. His books, Fruit, Pollen: the ...]]></description>
		<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events/how-do-art-and-science-visualise-life/</link>
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		<title>Landscape</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The term landscape, derived from the sixteenth-century Dutch word landschap, was originally used for the demarcation of land but has subsequently become associated with a way of seeing space from a distance. This sense of landscape as a visual panorama — developing initially through landscape art — has subsequently expanded and diversified in the modern era to include a variety of urban and industrial spaces and their representations in art, cinema and literature. To what extent does our concept of landscape determine how we experience these spaces and representations? What ...]]></description>
		<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events/landscape/</link>
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		<title>Different Class: What Does It Mean To &#8220;Be Yourself&#8221;?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Erving Goffman wasn't the first to suggest that the human world is like theatre but in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life the dramatic metaphor is central. ]]></description>
		<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events/what-does-it-mean-to-be-yourself/</link>
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		<title>Different Class: Who Are &#8220;The Elite&#8221;?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[At a time when the phrase “We are the 99%” has gained popularity, the idea that somehow an elite – the 1% – has taken more than its fair share by stealth has been transformed into a rallying cry for protesters across the United States and elsewhere. There is nothing new in this analysis, however. C. Wright Mills classic, The Power Elite, was published in 1956 and brought to the attention of the American public the possibility that a relatively small set of interlocking elite groups had gained effective control of their country. It ...]]></description>
		<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events/who-are-the-elite/</link>
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		<title>Christmas Social</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Join us for the traditional Big Ideas Christmas Social. There’s no speaker and no particular theme: it’s a good opportunity for us to get to know each other better and discuss some of the events of the past year. No doubt there’ll be puzzles, games and other seasonal activities for those that want, but as usual most of us will just want to have a few beers and set the world to rights.
This year we&#8217;re holding the event on a Friday, which hopefully won&#8217;t be a school night for most ...]]></description>
		<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events/christmas-social-4/</link>
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		<title>Different Class: Should we be utopian?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Many of the most influential political projects: that is, they&#8217;ve aimed at creating an ideal society, and have had a definite idea of what that society might look like. Some people believe utopianism is now disreputable, and lead inevitably to the totalitarian horrors of the last century. Others wonder how we will ever radically change society if we don&#8217;t have a goal in mind.
Join us for a critical discussion about the idea of utopias and their relevance to modern political thought and action.
Preliminary Reading
Passages from Karl Mannheim&#8217;s Ideology and Utopia
We&#8217;ll be ...]]></description>
		<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events/different-class-should-we-be-utopian/</link>
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		<title>Different Class: How do rulers win the consent of the ruled?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We&#8217;re excited to announce the first session of Different Class, our series of free seminars programmed and chaired by Dr Jonathan White of the London School of Economics.
We&#8217;ll start with one of the key questions of political philosophy: when, if ever, should some person or group rule over another? How do they convince us to let them do this? Is it trickery or is there a legitimate reason why we should allow ourselves to be ruled?
Preliminary Reading Reading: Weber, Max (1914), &#8216;The Types of Legitimate Domination&#8217;, in Economy and Society.
You&#8217;re strongly advised ...]]></description>
		<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events/different-class-how-do-rulers-win-the-consent-of-the-ruled/</link>
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		<title>Are Cities Important To Philosophy?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Socrates in Athens; Kant in Konigsberg; Hegel in Jena; Russell in Oxford; Carnap in Vienna; Sartre in Paris. Cities, of course, attract cultural production of all kinds to themselves, and the great cities act as magnets for philosophers just as they do for artists, entrepreneurs and chancers. But is there something more to the relationship between philosophy and the city? Has the course of Western philosophy been influenced by its overwhelmingly urban setting?
Dr David Cunningham is Deputy Director of the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture at Westminster University and ...]]></description>
		<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events/cities-philosophy/</link>
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		<title>What Form Of Education Should We Offer Prisoners?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If you were designing the prison system from scratch, how would you set up its educational function? Would you emphasise skills that are in demand in the employment market? Social skills like conflict management that may help reduce reoffending? Life skills like financial planning and DIY? Creative skills that might provide an expressive outlet and a source of self-confidence? Physical activities that emphasise discipline? Humanistic subjects that invite us to ask deep questions about ourselves and our society? Or is all of this a waste of money, pandering to those ...]]></description>
		<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events/prison-education/</link>
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		<title>What Does It Mean To Die Well?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Increased longevity &#8212; thanks largely to improvements in health care and medical technology &#8212; is devoutly to be wished for, but in a sense it only puts off the inevitable: we all die, and some of us seem to make a better end than others. How much choice should we have about how and when we go? How do we know when someone is competent to make such a decision and who else, if anyone, should be involed? What criteria matter most in making the decision?
Euthanasia is a standard topic ...]]></description>
		<link>http://bigi.org.uk/events/dying-well-euthanasia/</link>
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