No one seems to be feeling sorry for the vain media star and philosopher Bernard Henri-Lévy. He managed to mistake a spoof book for the real thing. Citing a book by the fictional philosopher 'Botul' (founder of the 'Botulism' movement) about Kant's sex life was not a good idea (presumably Kant's sex life involved asking the question 'What if everyone did that' at crucial moments). More interesting, though, is the question of whether BHL (or BHV as some people dub him - after the French department store - because he's always selling himself) is actually a cleverly created fiction himself. His glamorous lifestyle, his beautiful homes, his hair, his open necked shirts (never wears a tie, but has special shirts handmade so they stay open just so)...it all seems like an image...But is there anything behind the façade? Apparently not much rigour. But you have to admire the damage limitation he's been doing in the media since his exposé. Take a look at the bio page of his website if you think Brian Leiter is exaggerating in calling him a poseur.

Listen to a 4 minute interview I did for BBC Radio Scotland's 'Scotland Live' programme on this here from 25'30" in.

I was interviewed for BBC Radio 4 'You and Yours' programme about ageing and Cicero's wisdom on the topic (broadcast 30.12.09).

Listen to this short interview here (requires Real Player).

The discussion sprung from 'Grey Days Ahead' a piece I wrote for my Prospect Magazine monthly column 'Everyday Philosophy' (also available as a podcast here and on iTunes).

Booking for these courses (which can be taken independently of each other) will open in early January 2010 c/o Tate Modern ticketing (either call 0207 887 8888 or register online here). Last year these courses sold out very soon after booking opened.

Aesthetics: An introduction to the philosophy of art in three courses

Thinking about art has a long history. These three courses will give you the opportunity to explore some of that history through a combination of short lectures and discussion in groups. Part of each session will be spent in the Tate Modern galleries. The price of the course also includes a glass of wine after each session and the opportunity to discuss ideas further in an informal setting.

Major themes explored throughout these courses include the nature of aesthetic experience, beauty, creativity, the definition of art, the place of emotion in the arts, interpreting works of art, and the bases of qualitative judgments about art.

Each course lasts six weeks and is independent of the other courses. You can take, one, two or all three courses. Together they provide a comprehensive introduction to the philosophy of art through a consideration of some key readings. No prior knowledge of philosophy or art is assumed.

The set book for the courses is Aesthetics:  A Comprehensive Anthology  ed. Steven M. Cahn and Aaron Meskin, published by Blackwell (2008). You will need access to a copy of this book and will be expected to read a specified section in advance of each session. After each session recommended further reading and hyperlinks will be provided on a weblog.

Course 1:

Classic Aesthetics

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art

Led by Nigel Warburton, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at The Open University

Mondays 22 February – 29 March 2010

Tate Modern, Level 7 East Room

£110(£90 concessions)

30 places

 Thinking about art has a long history. This 6-session course provides an opportunity to explore ideas from Plato's Ion and Republic through to Kant's Critique of Judgement. Each week we will discuss a reading from Cahn and Meskin eds. Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology (Blackwell, 2008). You will also have the opportunity to think about particular works in the Tate Modern collection in relation to these ideas. Key themes include the nature of art, beauty, the sublime, and value judgements about the arts.

Course 2:

Modern Aesthetics

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art

Led by Nigel Warburton, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at The Open University

Mondays 7 June – 12 July 2010

£110(£90 concessions)

30 places

Emotion and expression are key themes in this course which explores ideas from Romanticism through to the mid-twentieth century. Major thinkers whose work we will examine include Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Collingwood, Benjamin and Heidedgger.  Each week we will discuss a reading from Cahn and Meskin eds. Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology (Blackwell, 2008). You will also have the opportunity to think about particular works in the Tate Modern collection in relation to these ideas.

Course 3:

Contemporary Aesthetics

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art

Led by Nigel Warburton, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at The Open University

Mondays 18 October – 22 November 2010

£110(£90 concessions)

30 places

What is art? and How should we understand art? are two key questions explored in this course which ranges from examination of ideas from Arthur Danto through to Kendall Walton and other thinkers in the Anglo-American analytic tradition in the philosophy of art. Each week we will discuss a reading from Cahn and Meskin eds. Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology (Blackwell, 2008). You will also have the opportunity to think about particular works in the Tate Modern collection in relation to these ideas.

You can listen to an audio recording of Slavoj Zizek speaking at London's RSA. I chaired the event and asked a few questions. Zizek's topic was typically controversial: 'Against Charity'

For a different take on charity, visit Giving What You Can.

I chaired a discussion with Slavoj ZIzek last night at London's Royal Society of Arts. The mp3 of that event will be available shortly. In the meantime here is a 4 minute answer he gave me afterwards to the question 'What is Philosophy?' Click on the panel below to play audio (it takes a few seconds to start playing):

SlavojZizekonPhilosophy

More information and booking details from the ICA website

Philosophy Bites, the podcast I make with David Edmonds, has broken the 5 million download barrier! We have 110 episodes so far and are releasing one a fortnight. These are all available free from www.philosophybites.com and you can download them easily for ipod/iphone use from iTunes here.

Angie Hobbs, whom I've interviewed a couple of times for the Philosophy Bites podcast (on Plato on Erotic Love, and Plato on War) has just been promoted to a new post at Warwick University with a brief to promote the public understanding of philosophy. She will clearly be an excellent advocate, particularly on the importance and continuing relevance of ancient philosophy. She has been superb on Philosophy Bites and on In Our Time.

Perhaps other universities will create such a role too...(I'd love to have that brief!).

Angie Hobbs has just begun tweeting as @drangiehobbs

Michael Sandel's Justice website is a superb example of how academics can use the Internet to reach out to a world audience. Based on his renowned Harvard lecture course, it combines slick recordings of his 12 lectures (first 3 available already via a YouTube link) - which are also being broadcast on public service TV in the States - with associated reading lists, back up material discussion groups, etc. And his new book: Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? Eventually all academics should be able to create resources like this...and the exclusive and insular idea of a University (symbolised by those Oxbridge colleges with high walls and gatekeepers) can evolve. Although he believes the website isn't a full substitute for sitting in that lecture theatre in Harvard, it is as close as most people will get to being there, and certainly one of the most important attempts to bring philosophical debate to a wider audience in recent years. Some of Hubert Dreyfus' worries about virtual learning may still apply, but the experience probably beats what most university students get these days in the lower-ranking colleges.

In the UK, many of us still look back fondly to Bryan Magee's BBC television series 'Men of Ideas' (not a title that would work today) and 'The Great Philosophers' (search 'Bryan Magee' in YouTube for long extracts), but since then, apart from  Michael Ignatieff's interviews with thinkers, philosophy on television hasn't really achieved what it might have done (instead we've got the sugared pill of biographical sketches which tend to play down the ideas, or else philosophy lite, or philosophy as self-help). TED.com's popularity, though, should make those commissioners realize the appeal of dynamic speakers presenting ideas they believe in.

It helps, of course, that Sandel is an excellent communicator, engaging in a quasi-Socratic dialogue with questioners even in a large lecture group. In fact, his presentation is so good, that it is easy to be drawn into his worldview (as an antidote, read Michael Sandel Wants To Talk To You About Justice which includes some interesting pointers about where he is coming from and why some philosophers disagree quite strongly with his approach).

I've interviewed Michael Sandel twice - for the podcasts Ethics Bites and Philosophy Bites

Michael Sandel interview on Genetic Enhancement in Sport

Michael Sandel interview on What Shouldn't Be Sold

Sandel gave the 2009 Reith Lecture Series on the theme of 'A New Citizenship' (basically, the themes from his Justice course). You can listen to all 4 Reith lectures here.

In the wake of the Renault deliberate crash, Bloodgate, and Eduardo's onfield acrobatics, Le Monde just ran an interview  with me on cheating in sport: Pourquoi les sportifs trichent-ils?

You can read an earlier piece I wrote on sports cheats just before the 2006 World Cup for Radio 4's (now defunct) The Sports Programme here.

On the related question of whether genetic enhancement in sports is a good thing, listen to my podcast interview with Michael Sandel on this topic for the Ethics Bites podcast.

You can now book by telephone on 0207 887 8888 for my 7 Ways of Thinking About Art course on Monday evenings at Tate Modern 19th October to 30th November 2009 (7 sessions). If you need information about the sorts of topics covered and the approach, you can check out notes from a previous version of this course. Further details of the course should be on the Tate Modern website next week and in the forthcoming events leaflet.

Watch this nice video about Ernö Goldfinger's own house, now owned by the National Trust, but take with a pinch of salt the Ian Fleming story about Goldfinger  - the truth about how Fleming named his villian is here 'The Real Goldfinger'

I'll be giving a free lunchtime lecture on Ernö Goldfinger at the National Portrait Gallery in October 2009, further details here.

Julian Baggini of the Philosophers Magazine interviewed me in 2001 about my book Thinking from A to Z . The video has just surfaced on You Tube:

G.A. Cohen, the political philosopher sometimes known as Jerry Cohen, died in the early hours of this morning of a suspected stroke (see Normblog for some further details). More links and memories on Leiter Reports

I interviewed him for a Philosophy Bites podcast in his rooms at All Souls in Oxford in December 2007. Before the interview he performed a few snippets from his stand up comedy routine, and seemed in fine form. We'd hoped to go back to interview him on Marx at some point. (An Open University interview with Cohen on Marx's German Ideology (Part One), audio track 7 from the course AA311 Reading Political Philosophy: Machiavelli to Mill, has recenty been made available on iTunesU - further details here). Links to podcasts of a recent Oxford University conference on his work here.

Listen to G.A. Cohen on Inequality of Wealth. (Philosophy Bites)

Tate Modern - I will be teaching the course 'Seven Ways of Thinking About Art' on  7 consecutive Monday evenings from 19th October until 30th November. Booking required.

The course explores the philosophical basis of our attempts to understand works of art. Topics covered include the question of whether works of art are simply catalysts to purely subjective responses, the relevance of an artist's intentions, a work’s historical context, its originality, and its context within the gallery.

Participants have the opportunity to explore a range of positions from a theoretical perspective and to test their application against particular works of art in the gallery.

Booking will open in September. All booking is via the Tate Modern booking office.

In the Spring I will begin the cycle of three 6-session courses on Aesthetics at Tate Modern Classic Aesthetics, Modern Aesthetics and Contemporary Aesthetics.

My Twitter updates from www.twitter.com/philosophybites now appear in the right hand column of this weblog. They include links to philosophy-related material on the Web.

For the uninitiated, a 'Tweet' is simply an entry in Twitter (which is a kind of microblogging - each entry restricted to a maximum of 140 characters).

A 'Retweet'(abbreviated to RT) is when someone forwards someone else's Tweet.

The @ sign is used to refer to another person's account name on Twitter - so I am @philosophybites
(sometimes when people reply to other people's comments they include this @ sign, but nothing about the original message being replied to, so that can get quite confusing).

A 'trending' topic is one that is popular enough to appear in a constantly updated top ten.

The hash tag (hard to find on a Mac keyboard!) is a way of labelling a topic so that others can easily find it in the search box.

You can send direct messages (i.e. not public ones) to other people on Twitter once you join.

The easiest way to add URLs is by shortening them, e.g. by going to www.tinyurl.com

If you join Twitter (which is free) you can follow other people's tweets (i.e. they automatically appear on your Twitter home page)...and they can follow you. I have nearly 900 followers at the moment.

It's a lot simpler to get the hang of than it sounds from this. Please follow me if you are already on Twitter.

Take Another Look: Ernö Goldfinger - free lunchtime lecture 1.15 pm in the Ondaatje Lecture Theatre of the National Portrait Gallery, London on 8th October. I will be speaking about the architect Ernö Goldfinger's career.

Learn more about Ernö Goldfinger here (including the link with James Bond's enemy).