Truth, Science and Reality

IN CONVERSATION
A series of events bringing thinkers together to share and explore key topics of the moment.

Most of us think science to be true, but Standford professor John Ioannidis has demonstrated that the majority of scientific papers make claims that are never successfully repeated and we should therefore conclude are false. Meanwhile, post-realist philosopher, Hilary Lawson argues that science is never true in the sense of describing the ultimate character of reality, but is instead a way of framing the world to enable us to intervene. Join them to explore the problematic relationship between science, truth and reality, and what it means for our understanding of the world.

"Dr Ioannidis has been waging war on sloppy science." - The Economist

"Hilary Lawson shows himself to be a latter-day metaphysician on the grand scale ... a quite astonishing achievement." - Alan Montefiore, University of Oxford