Philosophy Talk returns to The Marsh Theater in San Francisco on Sunday December 14 for the first two live recordings in our 2014-15 season!

• 12:00pm - Anarchy: Dream or Nightmare? with James Martel
  Anarchism says there's no need for a state, that it would be better to have a society without central government. Anarchists dislike the often heavy-handed authority that government brings. Yet the dream of the stateless society is not a simple one. How can we have law and order without government? What's involved in a self-governed society, free from authority? And how could we ever peacefully transition from central governance to anarchy? John and Ken question authority with James Martel from San Francisco State University, editor of How Not to be Governed: Readings and Interpretations from a Critical Anarchist Left. (buy tickets)
   
• 3:00pm - Cyber-Activism with Lucy Bernholz
  Whether it's making donations and signing petitions online, or using social media to highlight political causes, cyber-activism has never been easier. With a few clicks, we can make our voices heard around the globe. But who's listening, and is anything actually changing? Does cyber-activism mobilize real-world action on the ground, or does it reduce political engagement to simple mouse-clicking and ultimately threaten the subversive nature of change? John and Ken get active with Lucy Bernolz from the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, co-author of Disrupting Philanthropy: Technology and the Future of the Social Sector. (buy tickets)

Tickets can be purchased online, by phone, or in person through The Marsh's box office.

The Marsh is located at 1062 Valencia Street in San Francisco's Mission District.

Philosophy Talk is back at The Marsh Theater in Berkeley on Sunday June 22 for the final two live recordings in our 2013-14 season.

• 12:00pm - Second-Guessing Ourselves with Sherri Roush
  We like to think of ourselves as self-aware, reflective beings, but psychological studies demonstrate that we’re usually overconfident in the accuracy of our own beliefs. Memory, for example, can be extremely unreliable, even when we feel certain we know what happened. Surprisingly, when we’re made aware of this, we adjust our level of confidence in ourselves only slightly. How, then, can we doubt ourselves in a rational and efficient manner to bring our beliefs closer to reality? And, just as importantly, how do we prevent ourselves from falling into the other extreme of constant second guessing? John and Ken think twice with Sherri Roush from UC Berkeley, author of Tracking Truth: Knowledge, Evidence, and Science. (buy tickets)
   
• 3:00pm - Is Intuition a Guide to Truth? with Alvin Goldman
  Turns out that Galileo was right and Aristotle was wrong: in a vacuum, a feather and a bowling ball will fall from a tall building at exactly the same speed. This is not to say that Aristotle wasn’t a brilliant thinker; empirical evidence shows he just had a wrong intuition. Even the most powerful intuitions we have can be misleading. Why is it, then, that many philosophers treat them as crucial when arguing for a conclusion? Can intuitions lead us to important truths about the world, or do they merely teach us about ourselves? John and Ken trust their gut with Alvin Goldman from Rutgers University, author of Pathways to Knowledge: Public and Private.  (buy tickets)