Closer to Truth is a television series on public television originally created, produced, and hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn. The original series aired in 2000 for two seasons, followed by a second series aired in 2003 for a single season. The third series of the program, Closer to Truth: Cosmos. Life. Mind. Meaning., launched in 2008, with 33 seasons to date. Closer to Truth airs on over 200 PBS and public television stations and has had over 200,000 station broadcasts.
The show is centered on on-camera conversations with leading scientists, philosophers, theologians, and scholars, covering a diverse range of topics or questions, from the cause, size and nature of the universe (or multiverse), to the mystery of consciousness and the notion of free will, to the existence and essence of God,University of Birmingham - Global Philosophy of Religion to the mystery of existence (i.e., why there is anything at all).International Business Times - Closer To Truth
Robert Lawrence Kuhn is the creator, executive producer, writer, and presenter of the series. Peter Getzels is the co-creator, producer, and director.
Episode list
The third series of the program, Closer to Truth: Cosmos. Life. Mind. Meaning. launched in 2008, with 33 full seasons to date. Kuhn is the creator, executive producer, writer and presenter of the series. Peter Getzels is the co-creator and producer / director.
The show is centered on on-camera conversations with leading scientists, philosophers, theologians, and scholars, covering a diverse range of topics or questions from the size and nature of the universe (or multiverse), to the existence and essence of God, to the mystery of consciousness and the notion of free will.
Season 22 (2023) No. in Series No. in Season Episode Title Featured Guest / Contributor 271 1 "Why is Mathematics True & Beautiful?"Robbert Dijkgraaf, Edward Witten, Max Tegmark, Sabine Hossenfelder, Jim Holt 272 2 "Is Mathematical Truth & Beauty Intrinsic or Imposed?"Paul Davies, Gregory Chaitin, David Chalmers, Michio Kaku, Licia Verde, David Wallace, Leonard Mlodinow 273 3 "Why the 'Unreasonable Effectiveness' of Mathematics?"Robbert Dijkgraaf, Edward Witten, Sabine Hossenfelder, Leonard Mlodinow, Max Tegmark 274 4 "What does the 'Unreasonable Effectiveness' of Mathematics Mean?"Michio Kaku, David Wallace, Michael Hopkins, Stuart Kauffman, Jim Holt, Paul Davies 275 5 "What are Breakthroughs in Mathematics?"Karen Uhlenbeck, Edward Witten, Michael Hopkins, Ivan Corwin, Gregory Chaitin, Paul Davies 276 6 "What's the Deep Meaning of Probability?"Ivan Corwin, Licia Verde, Sabine Hossenfelder, David Wallace, Aaron Clauset 277 7 "Why do Power Laws Work so Widely?"Geoffrey West, Stuart Kauffman, Aaron Clauset 278 8 "Can Mathematics Explain Biology?"Leon Glass, Martin Nowak, Geoffrey West, Paul Davies, Robbert Dijkgraaf 279 9 "Can Mathematics Elucidate Evolution?"Paul Davies, Aaron Clauset, Martin Nowak, Stuart Kauffman 280 10 "Roger Penrose: Math, Black Holes, Consciousness"Roger Penrose, Stuart Hameroff
Season 21 (2022) No. in Series No. in Season Episode Title Featured Guest / Contributor 258 1 "Freeman Dyson, Part I: From Physics to the Far Future"Freeman Dyson 259 2 "Freeman Dyson, Part II: Mind, God, Religion"Freeman Dyson 260 3 "What are Scientific Breakthroughs in Physics?"Sabine Hossenfelder, Leonard Mlodinow, Edward Witten, Karen Uhlenbeck, Robbert Dijkgraaf 261 4 "What are Scientific Breakthroughs in Biology?"Geoffrey West, Michio Kaku, Stuart Kauffman, Antonio Damasio, V. S. Ramachandran 262 5 "What is Philosophy of Scientific Breakthroughs?"Paul Davies, David Chalmers, David Wallace, Jim Holt, John Horgan 263 6 "How do Breakthroughs Happen in Physics?"Robbert Dijkgraaf, Karen Uhlenbeck, Edward Witten, Gregory Chaitin 264 7 "What is Philosophy of the Breakthrough Process?"Jim Holt, John Horgan, Michio Kaku, David Wallace, David Chalmers 265 8 "How Do Breakthroughs Happen in Biology?"Paul Davies, V. S. Ramachandran, Antonio Damasio, Leon Glass, Daniel Chamovitz 266 9 "How to Decipher Deception in Evolution?"Robert Trivers, Max Tegmark, Jennifer Mather, Daniel Chamovitz 267 10 "How Does Deception Affect Human Behavior?"Joshua Greene, V. S. Ramachandran, Max Tegmark, Robert Trivers 268 11 "How Do Human Brains Experience Music?"John Iversen, Mark Tramo, Elizabeth Margulis, Diana Deutsch 269 12 "Can Music Probe Human Mentality?"Diana Deutsch, Suzanne Hanser, John Iversen, Elizabeth Margulis 270 13 "What Would Transhuman Brains Mean?"Michio Kaku, Leonard Mlodinow, David Chalmers, Antonio Damasio, V. S. Ramachandran
Season 20 (2020) No. in Series No. in Season Episode Title Featured Guest / Contributor 248 1 "Art Seeking Understanding I: Foundations" Justin Barrett, Christopher R. Brewer, David Brown, Anjan Chatterjee, Matthew Milliner, Simone Schnall, W. Christopher Stewart 249 2 "What is Philosophy of Art?" Gordon Graham, Nicholas Wolterstorff, E. Thomas Lawson, Jean-Luc Jucker, Anjan Chatterjee, Stephan van Erp, Nathan A. Jacobs 250 3 "Can the Brain Explain Art?" Anjan Chatterjee, Semir Zeki, V.S. Ramachandran, Raymond Tallis, Antonio Damasio 251 4 "Can Art Clarify the Mind-Body Problem?" Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, W. Christopher Stewart, Gordon Graham, Nathan A. Jacobs, Anjan Chatterjee, Raymond Tallis 252 5 "Can Art Engage Philosophy of Religion?" W. Christopher Stewart, Nicholas Wolterstorff, E. Thomas Lawson, Nathan A. Jacobs, Stephan van Erp, David Brown 253 6 "Can Art Reveal God's Traits?" Nicholas Wolterstorff, Gordon Graham, Matthew Milliner, Jonathan Anderson, David Brown 254 7 "Can Art and Knowledge Enhance Each Other?" Gordon Graham, David Brown, Jonathan Anderson, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Nathan A. Jacobs 255 8 "Did Art and Religion Co-Evolve?" Justin Barrett, Pascal Boyer, Simone Schnall], E. Thomas Lawson 256 9 "Can Art Probe Creativity?" Aaron Rosen, Antonius Roberts, Alfonse Borysewicz, Murray Watts, Carl Plantinga 257 10 "Art Seeking Understanding II: Meaning" Christopher R. Brewer, Justin Barrett, Jonathan Anderson, Judith Wolfe, David Brown, W. Christopher Stewart
Season 19 (2019) No. in Series No. in Season Episode Title Featured Guest / Contributor 235 1 "What is Philosophy of Cosmology?" Barry Loewer, Mario Livio, George Ellis, David Albert 236 2 "What is Fine Tuning in Cosmology?" Geraint Lewis, Luke Barnes, Avi Loeb, Fred Adams, Joseph Silk 237 3 "What is Fine-Tuning in Physics?" Bernard Carr, Luke Barnes, Avi Loeb, George Ellis 238 4 "Is the Anthropic Principle Significant?" Bernard Carr, Pedro Ferreira, Avi Loeb, John Peacock, Luke Barnes 239 5 "What is Strong Emergence?" George Ellis, David Albert, Barry Loewer, Tim Maudlin 240 6 "What Exists II?" Barry Loewer, David Albert, Luke Barnes, Raymond Tallis, George Ellis 241 7 "Why Anything At All II?" Tim Maudlin, Mario Livio, George Ellis, David Bentley Hart 242 8 "Epistemology: How Can We Know God?" Robert Audi, Meghan Sullivan, David Bentley Hart, Menachem Fisch, Bas C. van Fraassen 243 9 "Jesus as God: A Philosophical Inquiry" Sarah Coakley, N.T. Wright, Oliver Crisp, Eleonore Stump, C. Stephen Evans, Ian McFarland 244 10 "What is the Trinity: A Philosophical Inquiry" Peter van Inwagen, Oliver Crisp, Michael Rea, Brian Leftow, Richard Swinburne 245 11 "What is the Incarnation: A Philosophical Inquiry" Richard Swinburne, Ian McFarland. Timothy Pawl, N.T. Wright, John Hick 246 12 "What is the Atonement: A Philosophical Inquiry" Eleonore Stump, Alan Torrance, Oliver Crisp, Richard Swinburne, N.T. Wright 247 13 "What is Salvation: A Philosophical Inquiry" Oliver Crisp, Eleonore Stump, Alan Torrance, N.T. Wright
Season 18 (2017–2018) No. in Series No. in Season Episode Title Featured Guest / Contributor 222 1 "The Multiverse: What's Real?" Max Tegmark, Laura Mersini-Houghton, Paul Davies, Andreas Albrecht, Alan H. Guth, Anthony Aguirre, Carlo Rovelli 223 2 "Critical Realism in Science and Religion" Ernan McMullin, Bas C. van Fraassen, Paul Allen, Michael Ruse, Francisco J. Ayala, J. Matthew Ashley 224 3 "Why Consonance in Science and Religion?" Andrew Pinsent, Francisco J. Ayala, Menachem Fisch, Tom McLeish, Michael Ruse 225 4 "Does Consciousness Require a Radical Explanation?" Giulio Tononi, David Chalmers, Sean Carroll, Max Tegmark, David Wallace, Bernard Carr, Paul Davies 226 5 "Cosmology and Creation" Stephen Barr, David Bentley Hart, Nancey Murphy, Tom McLeish, Andrew Pinsent 227 6 "What is Philosophy of Biology?" Michael Ruse, Francisco J. Ayala, Celia Deane-Drummond, Louis Caruana 228 7 "Epistemology: How Do I Know?" Robert Audi, Meghan Sullivan, Bas C. van Fraassen, Louis Caruana, David Bentley Hart 229 8 "What is Analytic Theology?" Oliver Crisp, Sarah Coakley, Michael Rea 230 9 "Being in the World: A Tribute to Hubert Dreyfus" Hubert L. Dreyfus 231 10 "If God, What's Evolution?" Michael Ruse, Nancey Murphy, Celia Deane-Drummond, Francisco J. Ayala, Michael Murray 232 11 "What is Extended Mind?" David Chalmers, Andy Clark, Raymond Tallis 233 12 "God's Sovereignty: A Tribute to Hugh McCann" Hugh McCann 234 13 "Challenges of Analytic Theology" Alan Torrance, N.T. Wright, Eleonore Stump, Michael Murray
Season 17 (2017) No. in Series No. in Season Episode Title Featured Guest / Contributor 209 1 "Death Disrupted?" Julian Baggini, Max More, Sam Parnia, J. L. Schellenberg 210 2 "How Does Faith Work?" Alister McGrath, Gregory Ganselle, J. L. Schellenberg, Edward Wierenga 211 3 "How the Subconscious Affects Us" David Eagleman, Elizabeth Loftus, Nicholas Humphrey, Patrick McNamara, Julia Mossbridge 212 4 "Can Metaphysics Discern God I?" Brian Leftow, John Hawthorne, Robert Spitzer, John Cottingham, Timothy O'Connor 213 5 "Can Metaphysics Discern God II?" Richard Swinburne, Yujin Nagasawa, Michael Almeida, J. L. Schellenberg, Peter Van Inwagen 214 6 "What Is God's Own Being?" Richard Swinburne, Robert Spitzer, Varadaraja V. Raman, Neil Gillman 215 7 "Huston Smith: Tribute to a Religious Visionary" Huston Smith 216 8 "Observing Quanta, Observing Nature?" Max Tegmark, Anthony Aguirre, David Wallace, Sean M. Carroll, Seth Lloyd, David Chalmers, Paul Davies, Alan Guth, Bernard Carr 217 9 "Why Philosophy of Physics & Cosmology?" David Wallace, Sean M. Carroll, James Hartle, Carlo Rovelli 218 10 "What Exists?" Sean M. Carroll, David Wallace, David Chalmers, Don Page 219 11 "To Seek Cosmic Origins" Alan Guth, Andreas Albrecht, Laura Mersini-Houghton, Don Page, James Hartle 220 12 "Is the Universe Theologically Ambiguous?" Andrew Briggs, Carlo Rovelli, Don Page, Paul Davies 221 13 "Science and the Future of Humanity" Max Tegmark, Seth Lloyd, Anthony Aguirre, Paul Davies
Season 16 (2016)