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by BBC Radio 4
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives – looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
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- Yesterday56 min
The example of St Francis
He renounced his fortune and lived amongst animals so does the example of St Francis help us think about issues like the wealth gap and our relationship with the environment and the natural world. October 4th is his feast day and this year the Catholic church is marking the 800th anniversary of his death. For Radio 4's Friday night roundtable discussion programme about ideas past and present Anne McElvoy is joined by: Peter Stanford is an author of articles and books on religion including about pilgrimage, angels, 50 religious ideas you really need to know and most recently Gaudí: God’s Architect.New Generation Thinker Dr Jakub Kowalewski, a Senior Research Fellow at St Mary's University Twickenham, author of A Philosophy of Climate Apocalypticism. He is working on the Guardians of Creation Project investigating paths to sustainable and ecologically sensitive change in the Catholic Church. Carmody Grey, is professor of Integral Ecology at the Laudato Si’ Institute at Radboud University. She also appears as a panelist on some episodes of Radio 4's Moral Maze.Rupert Read is Emeritus Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia and Co-Director of the Climate Majority Project.Daniel Susskind is Professor of Business at Gresham College, a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University and the author of What Should My Children Do? How to Flourish in the Age of AI Producer: Ruth Watts
- 1 weeks ago56 min
Intellectuals
What is the role of intellectuals in public life? Matthew Sweet hosts Radio 4's Friday night round table discussion programme about ideas. His guests are: Emile Chabal, author of a new biography about Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm; Sophie Scott Brown, who’s researching BBC TV programme The Brains Trust, in which historians, philosophers and others answered questions sent in by the audience; critic and columnist Muriel Zagha; former editor of Prospect magazine David Goodhart; and curator and critic Pierre d'Alancaisez. Producer: Luke Mulhall
- Jul 10, 202656 min
The Ethics of Knowledge
Do we have a responsibility to inform ourselves about the state of the world? Is the experience of some people valued more highly than that of others? Matthew Sweet investigates the ethics of knowledge in Radio 4's round table discussion programme. With: Quassim Cassam, philosopher and author of Intellectual Vices Havi Carel, a philosopher who's worked extensively on imbalances of knowledge in healthcare and other areas Ian Kidd, philosopher specializing in the ethics of knowledge Ebony Reid, author of Trapped Lives Marianna Spring, the BBC's misinformation correspondent Producer: Luke MulhallPart of a series of programmes across Radio 4 looking at what drives us apart and how to bring us together – look for Common Ground.
- Jul 3, 202656 min
Trade and traffic
What does trade set in motion beyond the exchange of goods? Anne McElvoy explores the movement of commerce across time as a carrier of habits, ideas, ambitions and influence, as well as of material things. From the early modern world, where trade was entangled with colonial expansion and shaped by unequal, sometimes unexpected encounters, to the supply chains and diplomatic negotiations of the present, this discussion asks how economic exchange has also mediated cultural contact. Alongside rivalry and wealth, how has trade given rise to its own languages of civility, reciprocity and trust?Guests include:Nandini Das is Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture at Oxford University and author of This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart EnglandJeremy Hunt is a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and the author of Can We Be Rich Again?Soumaya Keynes is an economist and columnist at the Financial Times and the author of How to Win a Trade WarProfessor Rana Mitter is ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy SchoolDr Lauren Working is a Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at York University and author of A Golden World: How the Americas Transformed Renaissance EnglandProducer: Ruth Watts
- Jul 3, 202656 min
Trade and Traffic
What does trade set in motion beyond the exchange of goods? Anne McElvoy explores the movement of commerce across time as a carrier of habits, ideas, ambitions and influence, as well as of material things. From the early modern world, where trade was entangled with colonial expansion and shaped by unequal, sometimes unexpected encounters, to the supply chains and diplomatic negotiations of the present, this discussion asks how economic exchange has also mediated cultural contact. Alongside rivalry and wealth, how has trade given rise to its own languages of civility, reciprocity and trust? Guests include: Nandini Das is Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture at Oxford University and author of This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart EnglandJeremy Hunt is a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and the author of Can We Be Rich Again?Soumaya Keynes is an economist and columnist at the Financial Times and the author of How to Win a Trade WarProfessor Rana Mitter is ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy SchoolDr Lauren Working is a Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at York University and author of A Golden World: How the Americas Transformed Renaissance England Producer: Ruth Watts
- Jun 26, 202656 min
The Child's Eye View
Shahidha Bari investigates the child’s-eye view of the world. From navigating AI, to living through war, to the joys of reading, what makes children’s perspectives so distinctive? With writer Katherine Rundell, psychotherapist Josh Cohen, nature writer and novelist Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, historian Emma Butcher, and psychologist Nomisha Kurian.Producer: Luke Mulhall
- Jun 26, 202656 min
The Child's Eye View
Shahidha Bari investigates the child’s-eye view of the world. From navigating AI to living through war and the joys of reading, what makes children’s perspectives so distinctive? With writer Katherine Rundell, psychotherapist Josh Cohen, nature writer and novelist Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, historian Emma Butcher and psychologist Nomisha Kurian. Producer: Luke Mulhall
- Jun 19, 20261h 54m
Eccentrics & Outsiders
How has the figure of the outsider or eccentric has been used to explore English culture, history, politics, and our relationship with nature and the countryside? Matthew Sweet discusses, including a re-reading of Sylvia Townsend Warner's 1926 novel Lolly Willowes, in which a middle aged woman leaves her suburban life behind to become a witch. With philosopher Charles Foster, literary historian Jade Munslow Ong, political philosopher Sophie Scott Brown, and psychotherapist Mark Vernon. Producer: Luke Mulhall
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About Free Thinking
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives – looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
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