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The best of BBC Radio 3's flagship arts and ideas programme Free Thinking - featuring in-depth interviews and debates with artists, scientists and public figures.
From taking the middle ground to the mid-life crisis, Middle England to middle managers, to being a middle child - is occupying a position i...
How do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history? Joining Matthew Sweet in Radio 4's round table discussion programme a...
How do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history? Joining Matthew Sweet are: The former soldier and politician Tobias E...
From spiritual cleanliness to purity spirals: Matthew Sweet is joined by guests including David Aaronovitch; Catherine Coldstream, author of...
From Spinoza's thinking and the approach of different religions to the Dickens' character Uriah Heep and the "humble brag" - in Radio 4's la...
Oracy - the ability to express oneself fluently - has been included in plans to modernise the national curriculum, with a new focus on equip...
'It's all in the best possible taste'. But what does it mean to have good taste? And does pursuing good taste lead to favouring style over s...
In a special programme looking ahead to International Women’s Day on March 8th, Shahidha Bari looks at how women express themselves in langu...
Is authority a justly unfashionable quality that we should consign to the past? Or does it still have a place in political and business lead...
How have attitudes to punishment changed over time, and what ideas about the rationale for punishment are circulating today? In Radio 4's ro...
From an impoverished neighbourhood in South London, Charlie Chaplin became one of the most significant figures in the development of cinema....
'The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must'. So claimed the powerful Athenians, according to the Ancient Greek historian...
What do we mean when we talk about productivity? Anne McElvoy and guests discuss labour in the context of both work and motherhood: what the...
From undercover field operatives to online anonymity, via lives led in the closet and large scale infidelity, Matthew Sweet discusses the wh...
What does the phrase 'Victorian values' conjure today? Matthew Sweet and guests explore what we have inherited from that formative era in re...
Are we addicted to novelty? What are the cultural settings that allow innovation to flourish? And are novelty and innovation things we've al...
Are you planning your summer holiday? The first Saturday in January is called Sunshine Saturday because typically more holidays are booked o...
Is idleness ever a virtue? In a world that seems to privilege utility and productivity above all else, Matthew Sweet considers whether we ca...
Do individuals or broader forces shape history? In the 2025 Reith lectures on BBC Radio 4, Rutger Bregman argues that small groups of indivi...
Why marry? Jane Austen began her novel Pride and Prejudice with the observation "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man i...
Rocks have shaped the fates of civilizations and the study of geology has transformed our intellectual landscape. In the 19th century develo...
What function do ceremonies like Armistice Day perform? How do we balance desires for reconciliation with feelings about revenge? How we rem...
"Doom-prepping" tech billionaires have been in the headlines recently and whether it’s ecological crisis or a breakdown in law and order, fe...
From economics to dreams: Anne McElvoy and guests consider the value of irrationality. How often is emotion, instinct and unsound thinking b...
From military ceremonies to folk customs - can traditions really provide an answer to nationalism and boost local pride? Former MP Penny Mor...
Science is one of the major sources of authority in society today. Scientists develop technologies to make our lives easier and more comfort...
What does living a good life involve? Michael Rosen's new book is called Good Days and offers suggestions to brighten our daily lives. Dr So...
In party conference season, we look at what bonds party members and what it means to create a new network with its own shared beliefs and ri...
The French philosopher Michel Foucault though friendship could be one of the most subversive relationships around. Our friends can be the mo...
Shahidha Bari looks at censorship, editing and self-censorship with guests including historian of China, Rana Mitter, Jemimah Steinfeld of I...
Anne McElvoy and guests explore the intersections between Christian faith and political decision-making and look at some recent dramas which...
Journalists Peter Hitchens and Oliver Kamm, radio presenter and comedian Ellis James, languages expert Ross Perlin, Diana Sutton director of...
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." The words of Samuel Beckett from a 1983 short story Worstward Ho i...
Personal Identity is at the heart of contemporary culture. Political philosophies are built around it and family history is a hobby undertak...
What do we mean by 'common sense'? In 1925 the philosopher GE Moore wrote a Defence of Common Sense which argued against philosophical ideal...
Political power can take many forms, from the top-down model of the Roman Empire, to operating in the democratic politics of today, to the p...
Wolves were once hunted and persecuted to the point of near extinction but are now enjoying a come back across Europe, if not the UK. What c...
What is the role of vision in politics? Must politicians have a vision of what kind of society they’re working towards, ultimately? What kin...
On the 8th May 1945, the Allies declared victory over Nazi Germany. How has war and the threat of war shaped society in the intervening year...
Post local elections and pre VE day anniversary events across the UK, Shahidha Bari explores ideas about community. Mike Savage, Professor o...
Some people think we live in an age of decline. Matthew Sweet investigates, with guests including political journalist Tim Stanley, art crit...
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss the impact of the shifting geo political and economic trends on the British class system with specialist gu...
As Radio 4 marks the 5th anniversary of the first COVID lockdown, Free Thinking investigates one of the defining experiences of that period...
Matthew Sweet and his guests discuss our shifting relationship with evidence from the law, to science, academic study and the paranormal. He...
Anne McElvoy and guests discuss the issue of uncertainty from scientific discovery and the space race to the shifting geopolitical landscape...
Free Thinking looks at today's world with "a pinch of salt" tonight. From stories in the bible to desalination plants, preserving food to sa...
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss changing course in life, flexible thinking and keeping an open mind with writer and curator Ekow Eshun, phi...
From classical thinking to the romcom films in cinema today: Why do we yearn to find our "other half" but struggle with the reality of long...
Matthew Sweet with art critic TJ Clark, who has written about the importance of repeated viewing for appreciating a work of art; philosopher...
Matthew Sweet and guests talk about about the tools and processes of decision making today and through history. Justine Greening is a former...