Arts & Ideas
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Arts & Ideas
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.
Episodi recenti
2002 episodi
The status of Science
Science is one of the major sources of authority in society today. Scientists develop technologies to make our lives easier and more comfortable. They...
The Good Life
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 Sophie Scott...
Finding my tribe
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 rituals. Wha...
Friendship
The French philosopher Michel Foucault though friendship could be one of the most subversive relationships around. Our friends can be the most importa...
Censorship, editing and self-censorship
Shahidha Bari looks at censorship, editing and self-censorship with guests including historian of China, Rana Mitter, Jemimah Steinfeld of Index on Ce...
Christian faith, politics and culture
Anne McElvoy and guests explore the intersections between Christian faith and political decision-making and look at some recent dramas which explore t...
Language
Journalists Peter Hitchens and Oliver Kamm, radio presenter and comedian Ellis James, languages expert Ross Perlin, Diana Sutton director of The Bell...
Failure
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." The words of Samuel Beckett from a 1983 short story Worstward Ho inspire a F...
Podcasting difficult histories
Personal Identity is at the heart of contemporary culture. Political philosophies are built around it and family history is a hobby undertaken by hund...
Common Sense
What do we mean by 'common sense'?
In 1925 the philosopher GE Moore wrote a Defence of Common Sense which argued against philosophical idealism,...
Power: A User's Guide
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 possibiliti...
WOLVES
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 can explain...
Political Visions
What is the role of vision in politics? Must politicians have a vision of what kind of society they’re working towards, ultimately? What kind of role...
Peace
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 years? Do 'war...
Community
Post local elections and pre VE day anniversary events across the UK, Shahidha Bari explores ideas about community. Mike Savage, Professor of Sociolog...
Decadence
Some people think we live in an age of decline. Matthew Sweet investigates, with guests including political journalist Tim Stanley, art critic Louisa...
The Middle Classes
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss the impact of the shifting geo political and economic trends on the British class system with specialist guests.
Isolation
As Radio 4 marks the 5th anniversary of the first COVID lockdown, Free Thinking investigates one of the defining experiences of that period for many p...
Evidence
Matthew Sweet and his guests discuss our shifting relationship with evidence from the law, to science, academic study and the paranormal. He's joined...
Uncertainty
Anne McElvoy and guests discuss the issue of uncertainty from scientific discovery and the space race to the shifting geopolitical landscape and how i...
A pinch of salt
Free Thinking looks at today's world with "a pinch of salt" tonight. From stories in the bible to desalination plants, preserving food to salt taxes:...
Malcolm X, life changes and flexible thinking
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss changing course in life, flexible thinking and keeping an open mind with writer and curator Ekow Eshun, philosopher S...
All we need is love
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 term relat...
Repetition
Matthew Sweet with art critic TJ Clark, who has written about the importance of repeated viewing for appreciating a work of art; philosopher and film...
Decision Making
Matthew Sweet and guests talk about about the tools and processes of decision making today and through history.
Justine Greening is a former Sec...
Diaries
“A diary is not only a text: it is a behaviour, a way of life, of which the text is a by-product", says the French theorist Philipe Lejeune. From anci...
Knowing When To Stop
What tactics are justified in political campaigning from suffragettes to climate action? When is an art work finished? Do the moderation of Aristotle...
Beer, Crisps and the British pub
What makes the life, character and imagery of the British pub? Anne McElvoy talks to Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin, author Natalie Whittle whose book "...
Luck, predictability and superstition
Shahidha Bari and guests discuss luck, fortune and superstition. How much truth is there in the idea of making your own luck and why does supersition...
How we think about evil
Matthew Sweet is joined by guests including Dr Jack Symes, philosopher at Durham University; Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge, Interdisciplinary Chair of...
Gifts and Gratitude
When 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...
Diplomacy from Ancient Greece to Trump
Anne 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...
Cosy 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 comforta...
Milton and our modern world
Political upheaval, the role of the press and free speech, attitudes towards divorce: the poet John Milton thought and wrote about all of these issues...
Ghosts, death and ecstatic states
With Day of the Dead, Halloween and All Souls Day being marked in different countries around the world - Shahidha Bari's guests discuss the belief in...
Are we all American now?
Does the reach of the USA and its cultural influence mean "we're all American now?" Anne McElvoy and her guests discuss the similarities and differenc...
Insiders & Outsiders
The philosopher Leo Strauss claimed that many of the great texts of Western philosophy can be read in two ways. There's the message intended for every...
Childhood and innocence
Can we still be idealistic about childhood? How do we square the impact of war, stories of sexual abuse, the impact of time spent on screens with the...
Reading & Empathy
"I never read novels" is something you hear people say. What is the point of reading - be it histories or fiction? Does it help us empathize with the...
The eternal dynamic of Rivalry, Fredric Jameson, the newly reopened Warburg Institute
Sibling rifts, leadership battles in politics and history, philosophical schools of thoughts and their key players all come into our discussion of the...