It aims "to get philosophy out of the academy and into people's lives"[1] by bringing together philosophers, writers, academics, comedians and musicians for a festival of debate, talks, music, workshops, and late night parties.

[2] Speakers at the festival have included Noam Chomsky, Brian Eno, Ed Miliband, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Philip Pullman, Diane Abbott, Robert Skidelsky, Stanley Fish, Steven Pinker and Laurie Penny, among others.

[9] The 2011 festival included critical theorist Leela Gandhi, Times columnist David Aaronovitch, poet Simon Armitage, New Statesman culture editor Jonathan Derbyshire and screenwriter Jez Butterworth.

[12] Speakers and performers included Roger Penrose, Brooke Magnanti, Bruce Parry, Doon Mackichan, Cory Doctorow, Owen Jones, David Nutt, Molotov Jukebox, Moulettes, Natalie Bennett[13] and Mr Scruff.

The festival for 2015 took place from 21 to 31 May 2015[14] and included performances and talks from Simon Blackburn, Mike Skinner, George Galloway, Natalie Bennett, Lawrence Krauss, Michael Howard, Lianne La Havas, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown[15] and Rae Morris among others.

[20] Speakers included political theorist Noam Chomsky, psychiatrist and former Government Drugs Adviser David Nutt, linguist John McWhorter, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, economist Deirdre McCloskey.

Speakers included neuroscientist Steven Pinker, philosopher and author Rebecca Goldstein, Banksy's former agent Steve Lazarides, novelist Deborah Levy, Turner Prize architect Paloma Strelitz, and long-time Hawking collaborator Roger Penrose.

Speakers included philosopher of language Saul Kripke, Change UK MP Anna Soubry, cognitive psychologist Donald D. Hoffman, novelist Janne Teller, economist and writer Linda Yueh, and Momentum founder Jon Lansman.

[24] Topics of discussion included fake news, the problematic sex appeal of the archetypal "bad boy", space exploration in the 21st century, gene editing, population control, and big data.

Speakers included Slavoj Zizek, politicians Natalie Bennett and Rory Stewart, theorist of surveillance capitalism Shoshana Zuboff, clinical psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen, and economist and policy advisor Mariana Mazzucato.

[citation needed] Speakers attending included Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, director of the Tate Modern, Frances Morris, ecofeminist Vandana Shiva, cognitive scientist and philosopher Daniel Dennett, and theoretical physicist Claudia de Rham.