A History of Ideas
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A History of Ideas
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the work of key philosophers and their theories.
Neueste Episoden
60 Episoden
Neuropsychologist Paul Broks on Wittgenstein
Paul Broks looks at the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and the problem of "other minds". How do I know you are not a zombie who behaves like a human...
Philosopher Clare Carlisle on Reality and Perception
If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
That's the kind of head-scratching question that's popularly b...
Physicist Tara Shears on Falsification
Science is based on fact, right? Cold, unchanging, unarguable facts. Perhaps not, says physicist Tara Shears.
Tara is more inclined to follow t...
Lawyer Harry Potter on Eyewitness Testimony
Barrister Harry Potter asks whether we can believe the evidence of our own eyes. It's a vital question for the justice system today and Harry traces i...
How Can I Know Anything at All?
A history of ideas. Presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.
Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to...
Writer Lisa Appignanesi on the Love of Children
How should we love our children? Can we build on the feelings we experience when we see them for the first time, raise them by instinct and personal p...
Psychotherapist Mark Vernon on Freud
What is love? Psychotherapist Mark Vernon looks at Freud's ideas on the Greek god Eros, which he saw as a kind of life force running through us, shapi...
Theologian Giles Fraser on Altruism
Giles Fraser discusses gene theory versus altruism with playwright Tom Stoppard whose play The Hard Problem explores the extent to which our genes dic...
Classicist Edith Hall on Aristophanes in Plato
In 416BC the Greek playwright Aristophanes went to a drinking party. The guests included many famous Athenians, including Socrates, and all of them de...
What Is Love?
A history of ideas. Presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.
Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to d...
Philosopher Timothy Secret on Ancestor Worship
If we're to live well together we must first learn to live well with the dead, says Timothy Secret.
At traditional Chinese funerals money, and s...
Philosopher Angie Hobbs on Plato's Philosopher Kings
Professor Angie Hobbs asks if the key to harmonious living could be found in Plato's Republic where he proposes that the ideal state be run by philoso...
Economist Kate Barker on the Free Market
Is a Free Market the vital foundation of a fair, dynamic and creative society? The father of economics, Adam Smith certainly thought so. Since the pub...
Historian Justin Champion on Toleration
Professor Justin Champion examines Locke's theory of Toleration through the inhabitants of Spitalfields past and present. He goes to Brick Lane whose...
How Should We Live Together?
A history of ideas. Presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.
Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to...
Philosopher Barry Smith on Descartes and Consciousness
Rene Descartes, one of the most influential philosophers ever, thought the mind was like an open book that could be read by the light of reason. So th...
Philosopher Jules Evans on Jung and the Mind
Philosopher Jules Evans explores Jung and the shadow inside all of us. With archive contributions from Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud; plus fantasy write...
Writer AL Kennedy on Sartre and the Individual
Writer AL Kennedy on Existentialist ideas about the individual. Jean Paul Sartre argued that, for humans, 'existence preceded essence'. This means tha...
Paul Broks on John Locke and Personal Identity
Neuropsychologist Paul Broks asks how we can be sure we're the same person as we were yesterday. The philosopher John Locke thought it depended on wha...
What Does It Mean to Be Me?
A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.
Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds...
Historian Alice Taylor on Habeas Corpus
Historian Alice Taylor explores the idea of justice through history, through the lens of power. Who holds the power? Who SHOULD hold the power? Who do...
Thomas Hobbes and Civil Disobedience
Criminologist David Wilson looks at 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes and his "social contract" theory. Hobbes argued that the only way to secure...
Philosopher Angie Hobbs on the Veil of Ignorance
Angie Hobbs with Leif Wenar and David Runciman debate and explore one of the most searching ideas of twentieth century legal thought: John Rawls' asse...
Barrister Harry Potter on Deterrence
All this week Melvyn Bragg and guests are discussing ideas of Justice. Today lawyer Harry Potter uses the ideas of the philosopher Kant to ask whether...
What Is Justice?
A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.
Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds...
Ayn Rand and Selfishness
The Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand believed that behaving rationally meant putting your own interests first: you actually have a moral duty to be...
Naomi Appleton on the Buddha's Four Noble Truths
Naomi Appleton explores the Buddha's Four Noble Truths in a week of programmes asking how do I live a good life. She speaks to a buddhist nun in Edinb...
Justin Champion on Max Weber and the Protestant Ethic
Hardworking families, alarm clock Britain, shirkers and strivers...there's no doubt that ideas about the moral power and value of hard work are embedd...
Philosopher Jules Evans on Aristotle and Flourishing
Philosopher Jules Evans wants to prove there's been a revival of Aristotle's ideas about flourishing and how to live a good life. "These ideas, which...
How Do I Live a Good Life?
A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.
Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds...
Archaeologist Matt Pope on tools and human evolution
There's a tiny bone needle at Creswell Crags in Derbyshire. For archaeologist Matt Pope it's hugely significant. 13,000 years ago local people used it...
Surgeon Gabriel Weston on medical technology
Surgeons of the distant past were little more than skilled butchers, trying to minimise the agony of their bone-sawing craft. Surgery itself was a las...
Historian Justin Champion on Francis Bacon
Historian Justin Champion on Francis Bacon's anxieties about the fallibility of technological innovators. The 17th century polymath Francis Bacon blew...
Writer Tom Chatfield: Has technology rewired our brains?
Is technology making us less human? Writer, Tom Chatfield is an enthusiastic downloader of the latest apps, an early adopter of anything small and shi...
How Has Technology Changed Us?
A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.
Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss...
Giles Fraser on Wittgenstein and Blade Runner
Giles Fraser thinks being human isn't a matter of biology or some unique attribute like language. It's not to do with what we are but about how we tre...
Barry Smith on Noam Chomsky and Human Language
Barry Smith argues that language is our most important uniquely human attribute. It doesn't just help us communicate, it helps us to think. He makes t...
Catharine Edwards on Seneca and facing death.
Catharine Edwards wants to introduce you to the Roman Philosopher Seneca. But he's dying. Towards the end of his life Seneca became interested in the...
Simon Schaffer on humans, apes and Carl Linnaeus
Simon Schaffer is interested in the human species in general and one member of it in particular. Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist and zoologist wh...
What Makes Us Human?
A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.
Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to...