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 but actually has no consciousness? Even if you are conscious, how can I tell that what I exper

Philosopher Clare Carlisle on Reality and Perception

Aug 6th, 2015 12m 57s

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 believed to occupy the time and brains of philosophers. It relates to the ideas of immaterialism propo

Physicist Tara Shears on Falsification

Aug 5th, 2015 12m 42s

Science is based on fact, right? Cold, unchanging, unarguable facts. Perhaps not, says physicist Tara Shears. Tara is more inclined to follow the principles of the Anglo-Austrian philosopher, Karl Popper. He believed that human knowledge progre

Lawyer Harry Potter on Eyewitness Testimony

Aug 4th, 2015 13m 10s

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 it back to the work of 18th century Philosopher David Hume. Hume, a key figure in the Scottish

How Can I Know Anything at All?

Aug 3rd, 2015 13m 2s

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 discuss a really big question. This week he's asking 'How can I know anything at all?'Helping him ans

Writer Lisa Appignanesi on the Love of Children

Jul 31st, 2015 12m 55s

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 principles or should we consult the childcare gurus of the internet and the bookshelves?Lisa Ap

Psychotherapist Mark Vernon on Freud

Jul 30th, 2015 12m 57s

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, shaping our desires and passionsFreud is often thought of as reducing everything to sex, but in his

Theologian Giles Fraser on Altruism

Jul 29th, 2015 12m 59s

Giles Fraser discusses gene theory versus altruism with playwright Tom Stoppard whose play The Hard Problem explores the extent to which our genes dictate human acts of love and kindness, and Armand Leroi, the evolutionary biologist who says we

Classicist Edith Hall on Aristophanes in Plato

Jul 28th, 2015 13m 4s

In 416BC the Greek playwright Aristophanes went to a drinking party. The guests included many famous Athenians, including Socrates, and all of them delivered a speech about love. Aristophanes' speech, says presenter Edith Hall, is 'quite simply

What Is Love?

Jul 27th, 2015 12m 52s

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 discuss a really big question. This week he's asking 'What is Love?'.Helping him answer it are theolog

Philosopher Timothy Secret on Ancestor Worship

Jul 24th, 2015 13m 5s

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 sometimes paper effigies of goods like washing machines and aeroplanes are burned so that the dead mig

Philosopher Angie Hobbs on Plato's Philosopher Kings

Jul 23rd, 2015 13m 18s

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 philosophers and not by those who seek power for their own ends.Producer: Maggie Ayre.

Economist Kate Barker on the Free Market

Jul 22nd, 2015 12m 58s

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 publication of 'The Wealth of Nations' in 1776 Smith's thoughts on trade and money-making have co

Historian Justin Champion on Toleration

Jul 21st, 2015 13m 14s

Professor Justin Champion examines Locke's theory of Toleration through the inhabitants of Spitalfields past and present. He goes to Brick Lane whose famous mosque was built as a Huguenot Church and became a synagogue before becoming the centre

How Should We Live Together?

Jul 20th, 2015 12m 58s

Philosopher Barry Smith on Descartes and Consciousness

Apr 17th, 2015 12m 58s

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 there was nothing that we could not access or examine in our own minds. In fact Descartes argued

Philosopher Jules Evans on Jung and the Mind

Apr 16th, 2015 13m 9s

Philosopher Jules Evans explores Jung and the shadow inside all of us. With archive contributions from Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud; plus fantasy writer Juliet McKenna and Mark Vernon, author of Carl Jung: How to Believe.

Writer AL Kennedy on Sartre and the Individual

Apr 15th, 2015 13m 8s

Writer AL Kennedy on Existentialist ideas about the individual. Jean Paul Sartre argued that, for humans, 'existence preceded essence'. This means that there is no blueprint or template from which to work - humans are free to make themselves up

Paul Broks on John Locke and Personal Identity

Apr 14th, 2015 13m 7s

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 what we could remember: if we could remember something happening to us, then we were the same per

What Does It Mean to Be Me?

Apr 13th, 2015 12m 52s

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 to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking 'What does it mean to be me?'Helping him answ

Historian Alice Taylor on Habeas Corpus

Apr 10th, 2015 13m 10s

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 does that power serve? And who should it protect?One way in which the justice system can remove

Thomas Hobbes and Civil Disobedience

Apr 9th, 2015 13m 5s

Criminologist David Wilson looks at 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes and his "social contract" theory. Hobbes argued that the only way to secure peace was for everyone to give up their personal freedom and agree to be ruled by a "sovereig

Philosopher Angie Hobbs on the Veil of Ignorance

Apr 8th, 2015 13m 2s

Angie Hobbs with Leif Wenar and David Runciman debate and explore one of the most searching ideas of twentieth century legal thought: John Rawls' assertion of the value of a veil of ignorance.John Rawls was a prolific American philosopher and o

Barrister Harry Potter on Deterrence

Apr 7th, 2015 13m 3s

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 deterrent prison sentences are just. He takes us back to the 1700s, when hundreds of petty of