Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Hilary Lawson, Jess Frazier, and Graham Priest debate whether human language can ever access truth and reality.
Is there really such a thing as an objective reality?
With a free trial, you can watch the full debate NOW at iai.tv/video/navigating-the-unknown?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description
Most of us assume that science is successful because it is true. It's because the laws of physics accurately describe reality that we can travel into space and generate nuclear power. But critics argue that while seemingly obvious this is mistaken and science does not reveal the truth of the universe. Over half of the world's leading physicists agree that quantum mechanics undermines the possibility of describing reality. Philosophers and some of the world's most renowned scientists including Heisenberg and Hawking have concluded that science provides frameworks and models of the world but does not tell us how it ultimately is.
Should we give up on objective truth and our ability to uncover reality? Can we find a new theory to account for how our theories are successful, and if so, how is that theory able to justify itself? Or is it essential not only to our theories but our culture as a whole that our accounts of the world are effective because they are true?
#philosophy #epistemology #reality
Graham Priest is Professor of Philosophy at City University of New York. He is well known for his work on non-classical logic and Buddhist Philosophy.
Jessica Frazier is an Oxford philosopher who works on Indian Philosophy and the European tradition of phenomenology. She is also a frequent consultant for the BBC and speaker on In Our Time.
Hilary Lawson is a philosopher and renowned critic of philosophical realism. His main work, Closure: A Story of Everything, has been described as ‘the first non-realist metaphysics’.
Shini Somara hosts.
The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today! iai.tv/subscribe?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=navigating-the-unknown
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Hilary Lawson, Jess Frazier, and Graham Priest debate whether human language can ever access truth and reality.
Is there really such a thing as an objective reality?
With a free trial, you can watch the full debate NOW at iai.tv/video/navigating-the-unknown?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description
Most of us assume that science is successful because it is true. It's because the laws of physics accurately describe reality that we can travel into space and generate nuclear power. But critics argue that while seemingly obvious this is mistaken and science does not reveal the truth of the universe. Over half of the world's leading physicists agree that quantum mechanics undermines the possibility of describing reality. Philosophers and some of the world's most renowned scientists including Heisenberg and Hawking have concluded that science provides frameworks and models of the world but does not tell us how it ultimately is.
Should we give up on objective truth and our ability to uncover reality? Can we find a new theory to account for how our theories are successful, and if so, how is that theory able to justify itself? Or is it essential not only to our theories but our culture as a whole that our accounts of the world are effective because they are true?
#philosophy #epistemology #reality
Graham Priest is Professor of Philosophy at City University of New York. He is well known for his work on non-classical logic and Buddhist Philosophy.
Jessica Frazier is an Oxford philosopher who works on Indian Philosophy and the European tradition of phenomenology. She is also a frequent consultant for the BBC and speaker on In Our Time.
Hilary Lawson is a philosopher and renowned critic of philosophical realism. His main work, Closure: A Story of Everything, has been described as ‘the first non-realist metaphysics’.
Shini Somara hosts.
The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today! iai.tv/subscribe?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=navigating-the-unknown
For debates and talks: iai.tv
For articles: iai.tv/articles
For courses: iai.tv/iai-academy/courses
