Matthew Sweet is joined by guests including Dr Jack Symes, philosopher at Durham University; Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge, Interdisciplinary Chair of Humanities & Human Rights at the University of Birmingham; novelist Ruth Ware; Dr Oliver Scott Curry, Chief Science Officer at Kindness.org and Research Affiliate in the Anthropology Department at the University of Oxford; and campaigner Zrinka Bralo, Director of Migrants Organize.Topics include the classical philosophical problem of evil, the psychology of evil, Hannah Arendt's concept of the banality of evil, and the question of why the Devil gets the best lines in literature.
Plus, we look at t6he work and legacy of social psychologist Philip Zimbardo, who devised the controversial Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971, and who died in October 2024.Producer: Luke Mulhall
Kultur & GesellschaftTalk
Arts & Ideas Folgen
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives – looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Broadcast as Free Thinking, Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Folgen von Arts & Ideas
2000 Folgen
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Folge vom 06.12.2024How we think about evil
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Folge vom 29.11.2024Gifts and GratitudeWhen you give a gift, do you expect anything in return? And if so, does that mean it was really about you all along? Could reciprocity form the basis of society? Or are we under no obligation to share what is essentially ours? Shahidha Bari investigates gifts and philanthropy, gratitude and greediness, with Elizabeth Oldfield – Former director of Theos, the thinktank of religion and culture, and the host of The Sacred podcast. Rhodri Davies – founder and Director of the thinktank Why Philanthropy Matters and researcher at the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent. Gerald Moore - Professor at Durham University And political philosopher Sophie Scott Brown Plus, New Generation Thinker Lauren Working on how Thanksgiving looks for an American historian in the UK and a history of turkeys as symbols. Producer: Luke Mulhall
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Folge vom 22.11.2024Diplomacy from Ancient Greece to TrumpAnne McElvoy and guests discuss the art of diplomacy from Ancient Greece to the Tudors and today's shifting international security as well as how its portrayed on screen in dramas like the BBC's Wolf Hall and the Netflix series The Diplomat. Her guests include: Former EU and US Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald . Bronwen Maddox from the think tank Chatham House. Historian Dr Clare Jackson who is the author of Devil Land England Under Seige 1588-1688. Dr Holly Furneaux, Professor at Cardiff University talks about her research into "enemy intimacy" which is part of a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London called War and the Mind.
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Folge vom 15.11.2024Cosy comfort reading or Nietzsche?A cosy cottage with warming fireplaces, comfort food, crime dramas on tv: Matthew Sweet and guests discuss art, literature and drama that are comfortable to engage with and how difficulty, a dedication to campaigning or the reading of Nietzsche might disrupt this. Does a theatre critic tell audiences they are in for a thought provoking show? And what role does it play in social and politial thinking today? Our guests include: Deborah Sugg Ryan, writer and broadcaster and Professor Emerita of Design History at the University of Portsmouth. Sir Alexander McCall Smith prolific author of the best selling Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Bioethicist and Fellow of the British Academy Tom Shakespeare Theatre Critic Susannah Clapp. Philosopher and Nietzsche expert Hugo Drochon.Producer: Lisa Jenkinson