Events

Taylor Swift and philosophy

Hosted by the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science

In-person and online public event (Sheikh Zayed Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building)

Speakers

Eline Kuipers

Eline Kuipers

Dr King-Ho Leung

Dr King-Ho Leung

Dr Georgie Mills

Dr Georgie Mills

Dr Catherine M Robb

Dr Catherine M Robb

Chair

Professor Jonathan Birch

Professor Jonathan Birch

Taylor Swift's music connects with philosophy in many places: What is love? What is the value of negative emotions like anger, heartbreak and grief? Is there a moral obligation to speak out against injustice? What does it take to count as a "philosopher"? A new edited book, Taylor Swift and Philosophy, offers a fun and accessible discussion of the ideas and questions that arise from Taylor Swift's life and work.

Combining top-tier philosophical research and a passion for Taylor's music, a team of scholars investigate the wisdom that can come from Taylor's songs, bringing new perspectives to important contemporary issues. This panel event will launch the book with a discussion of its main themes.

Meet our speakers and chair

Eline Kuipers (@kuiperseline) is a doctoral researcher in philosophy of mind at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, where she is part of the Situated Cognition Research Group. Her work investigates how we plan, control, and execute our actions. One of her favourite actions is making sparkling friendship bracelets.

King-Ho Leung (@kingholeung) is a Lecturer in Theology, Philosophy and the Arts at King's College London. The lingering questions that keep him up include the relation between philosophy and religion, what it means to exist spiritually or authentically, and whether Taylor Swift will ever return to writing pop-country ballads.

Georgie Mills is a philosopher and songwriter studying for a PhD at Tilburg University. Her philosophical work explores topics such as personality, emotion, disability, fandom, and punk rock. She has been furious with Taylor Swift since a sixteen-year-old Georgie heard the first album of a sixteen-year-old Swift and could not believe someone her own age had the audacity to be such an accomplished songwriter.

Catherine M Robb (@catherinemrobb) is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Tilburg University, Netherlands. She has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Glasgow, and previously worked at the University of Hull before moving to Tilburg in 2018. Her research interests span ethics, metaphysics, aesthetics, phenomenology and the philosophy of music. She is currently working on a project about the philosophy of fame and celebrity.

Jonathan Birch (@birchlse) is Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he is best known for his work on animal consciousness and the origins of altruism.

More about this event

This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

The Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (@lsephilosophy) promotes research into philosophical, methodological and foundational questions arising in the natural and the social sciences.

This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024, taking place from 19 October to 9 November with events across the UK.

Podcast & video 

A podcast of this event is available to download from Taylor Swift and philosophy.

A video of this event is available to watch at Taylor Swift and philosophy.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.

Hashtag for this event: #LSEEvents

LSE Blogs

Many speakers at LSE events also write for LSE Blogs, which present research and critical commentary accessibly for a public audience. Follow British Politics and Policy, the Business Review, the Impact BlogEuropean Politics and Policy and the LSE Review of Books to learn more about the debates our events series present.

Live captions

Automated live captions are available at this live event. Please note that this feature uses Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology, or machine generated transcription and is not 100% accurate.

Photography

Photographs taken on behalf of LSE are often used on our social media accounts, website and publications. At events, photographs could include broad shots of the audience and lecture theatre, of speakers during the talk, and of audience members as they participate in the Q&A.

If you are photographed participating in an event Q&A but would not like your photograph to be stored for future use, please contact events@lse.ac.uk.

Podcasts

We aim to make all LSE events available as a podcast subject to receiving permission from the speaker/s to do this, and subject to no technical problems with the recording of the event. Podcasts are normally available 1 week after the event. Podcasts and videos of past events can be found online.

Social Media

Follow LSE public events on X for the latest updates on all our events and ticket releases. 

Livestreams and archive videos of past lectures are shared on our YouTube channel while event podcasts can be found on the LSE Player.

Event updates and other information about what’s happening at LSE can be found on our Facebook page and for live photos from events and around campus, follow us on Instagram

Attending our events in-person or online? Join the conversation using #LSEEvents.

Accessibility

If you are planning to attend this event and would like details on how to get here and what time to arrive, as well as on accessibility and special requirements, please refer to LSE Events FAQ.  LSE aims to ensure that people have equal access to these public events, but please contact the events organiser as far as possible in advance if you have any access requirements so that arrangements, where possible, can be made. If the event is ticketed, please ensure you get in touch in advance of the ticket release date. Access Guides to all our venues can be viewed online.

WIFI Access

LSE has now introduced wireless for guests and visitors in association with 'The Cloud', also in use at many other locations across the UK. If you are on campus visiting for the day or attending a conference or event, you can connect your device to wireless. See more information and create an account at Join the Cloud.
Visitors from other participating institutions are encouraged to use eduroam. If you are having trouble connecting to eduroam, please contact your home institution for assistance.
The Cloud is only intended for guest and visitor access to wifi. Existing LSE staff and students are encouraged to use eduroam instead.
From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event.