"Identity Matters" (Julian Baggini): 2021 Jane Wynne Willson Lecture [Online]

We are pleased to announce that the 2021 Jane Wynne Willson lecture "Identity Matters" is being given by Julian Baggini.

Issues of identity loom large in our world today, as a rallying call in fights against oppression and as source of division and conflict. Why does identity matter so much and does it matter too much? In this talk, Julian will set out some of the philosophical foundations of identity. He will explain how misunderstanding the true diverse nature of identity causes myriad problems and demonstrate how a proper understanding of identity can help us to avoid them.

Dr. Julian Baggini is Academic Director at The Royal Institute of Philosophy. He is author, co-author or editor of over 20 books, including ‘The Great Guide: What David Hume Can Teach Us about Being Human and Living Well’, ‘How the World Thinks’ and ‘The Ego Trick’. He was the founding editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine and has written for numerous newspapers and magazines, as well as for the think tanks The Institute of Public Policy Research, Demos and Counterpoint. He is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent.

We are thrilled that Julian’s talk will be our annual Jane Wynne Willson Lecture. Jane Wynne Willson is a humanist of considerable renown, not least as the author of Humanists UK’s popular ceremony booklets. She initiated the foundation of Gloucestershire Humanists in 1963 (in its previous guise of Cheltenham Humanists) and was secretary of the group for seven years before moving to Birmingham in 1970.