Debate: What Is Time For Us?

Bigideas present: What Is Time For Us?
8pm Tuesday 28th September 2010
The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1DG

Do people of different cultures have different experiences of time? Is our relationship to the temporal very different from that of, say, the ancient Romans? Or are our experiences of space and time, as Kant thought, intuitive ideas necessary for human experience to exist at all? Is it possible to find evidence either way? Do these questions even make rigorous sense?

The discussion will be introduced by Dr Andrew Gardner, Lecturer in the Archaeology of the Roman Empire at UCL. Andrew has a special interest in theoretical issues raised by archaeology including questions of temporality. It should offer not only an opportunity to broach a deep philosophical question but also interesting insights into how contemporary archaeologists think about their discipline.


Sessions generally start with a question. Someone who has some relevant expertise gives a very brief, informal talk. After that a discussion develops in a free and unstructured manner. It's not a lecture, and it's not a debate; it's a pub argument, but unlike any you've had before.