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Steven Pinker – The New Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy, and Outrage
01 October 2025 @ 7.30pm to 9.30pm
About Steven Pinker – The New Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy, and Outrage
The Harvard Professor and bestselling author of Enlightenment Now and The Better Angels of Our Nature joins us to reveal the power and perils of thinking alike. What do you know that everyone else knows?
As a cognitive scientist, the ultimate subject of Steven Pinker’s fascination is how we think about each other’s thoughts, ad infinitum. This awareness is called common knowledge – and it has a momentous impact on our social, political, and economic lives.
Common knowledge can make sense of financial bubbles and crashes, revolutions that come out of nowhere, the posturing and pretence of diplomacy, the eruption of social media shaming mobs and academic cancel culture, and the awkwardness of a first date.
But people also go to great lengths to avoid common knowledge―to ensure that even if everyone knows something, they can’t know that everyone else knows they know it. And so we get rituals like benign hypocrisy, veiled bribes and threats, sexual innuendo, and pretending not to see the elephant in the room.
Returning to How To Academy to explore these paradoxes of human behaviour, Harvard’s most renowned psychologist will invite us to understand the ways we try to get into each other’s heads – and the harmonies, hypocrisies, and outrages that result.
Every live ticket includes a copy of Steven’s new book, ‘When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows…’ (RRP £25.00).
Tickets
Please see important booking information below.
Booking information
Ticket prices:
From £44.32
Tickets are subject to a transaction fee of £3.95
Dates & times:
Wednesday 01 October 2025 at 7.30pm
Running time:
1 hour 50 minutes, including an interval
Age guidance:
14+ at the discretion of a parent or guardian.
Good to know:
All tickets will include one copy of Steven Pinker’s new book “When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows”.
About New Theatre Oxford
There has been a theatre on George Street for almost 170 years. The first theatre was built in 1836, and a second in 1886. In 1934, the third New Theatre opened.
The theatre has been owned by several different companies and undergone several name changes. It is now owned by the Ambassador Theatre Group and hosts everything from ballet and opera to musicals.
On performance days, the Box Office opens at noon and closes 15 minutes after the show starts. If there is a performance on a Sunday or Bank Holiday, Box Office will open 2 hours before the show begins and close 15 minutes after the show starts.
There is a large air-conditioned bar with seating located below the Stalls Foyer, two further bars in the Circle Foyer and an additional one at the back of the balcony. All stocked with an array of drinks and snacks.
There is a cloakroom located in the stalls bar. If this is closed, please speak to a member of staff. £1 per item. It is free to ATG Theatre Card members.
See important information about Getting there and Access here
