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 lik...
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A History of Ideas
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the work of key philosophers and their theories.
Episodes
20 of 60 episodesPhilosopher 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 popular...
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 follo...
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 Harr...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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, a...
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...
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. Sin...
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 L...
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...
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 rea...
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 fan...
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...
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 depen...
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 backgroun...