Brown Bag Lecture:Tilman Andris

In ‘The principles of deception – on the philosophy behind magic tricks’, magician and philosopher Andris explains and demonstrates concepts and theories that underlie the performance of tricks and illusions.

The magician convinces you that something is impossible, then demonstrates exactly that impossibility. Of course you know you are being tricked. But exactly which of the magician’s actions are misleading and which of his statements are lies is quite difficult to discover. Does the magician demonstrate that we know less than we think we know? In any case he turns out to play a complex game involving your perception and cognition.

In this lecture performance, magician and philosopher Tilman Andris might not reveal exactly how his tricks work, but he does explain – and demonstrate – some of the concepts and theories that underlie the performance of tricks and illusions.

Tilman Andris studied philosophy in Leiden and Oxford, but decided to become a professional magician after graduation. In 2010 he was one of the featured  acts of the ‘Circus of Thoughts’ in Theatre Carré. In 2013 he gave a TEDx-presentation about trust as seen from the perspective of the deceiver.