Philosophy
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Thinkers and theories
Forgotten existentialist
Sartre gets much of the credit for existentialism. Karl Jaspers not only preceded him, but offered a way out of despair
Deborah Casewell
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History of ideas
The first Romantics
How a close group of brilliant friends, in a tiny German university town, laid the foundations of modern consciousness
Andrea Wulf
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History of ideas
The herd in the head
It is enormously empowering – even intoxicating – to lose yourself to a crowd. That is why we need contrarians
Costica Bradatan
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Metaphysics
We are interwoven beings
A dragon needs the clouds and the wind in order to fly. What happens when we too relinquish individualistic reasoning?
Mercedes Valmisa
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Thinkers and theories
Bernard Williams on Descartes’s audacious endeavour to prove knowledge is possible
43 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
The generous philosopher
Bruno Latour showed us how to think with the things of the world, respecting their right to exist and act on their own terms
Stephen Muecke
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Comparative philosophy
Medieval but not Christian
It’s shocking that histories of medieval philosophy celebrate only Christian thinkers, ignoring Islamic and Jewish thought
Yitzhak Y Melamed
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History of science
A singular scientist
James Lovelock was a visionary whose greatest ideas were made possible by his unshakeable independence
Roger Highfield
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Religion
Blue-eyed Buddhist
The story of a working-class radical from Ireland who became a celebrated monk and challenged the British Empire in Asia
Laurence Cox
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Thinkers and theories
Democracy or apocalypse
Eric Voegelin and Hans Kelsen fled the Nazis. In the US, they clashed over the nature of modernity and government
David Dyzenhaus
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Religion
Sisters in dharma
In Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation, Parwati Soepangat pioneered a Buddhist feminist theology with deep roots
Jack Meng-Tat Chia
video
History of ideas
Peter Singer charts the path from Hegelian philosophy to Marxist revolution
43 minutes
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History
History by numbers
Is history a matter of individual agency and action, or of finding and quantifying underpinning structures and patterns?
Claire Lemercier & Claire Zalc
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Virtues and vices
The delights of mischief
Mischievousness requires humour, wit and a playful humaneness: qualities that make for a particular kind of virtue
Alex Moran
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Thinkers and theories
Why read Fichte today?
Inspired by Kant, Fichte launched a radical philosophical system based on subjectivity and aspiring to freedom for all
Gabriel Gottlieb
video
Thinkers and theories
Metaphysics and beyond – Martha Nussbaum on Aristotle’s indelible ideas
43 minutes
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Ageing and death
Old not Other
Here’s a puzzle: why do we neglect and disdain the one vulnerable group we all eventually will join? Beauvoir had an answer
Kate Kirkpatrick & Sonia Kruks
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Stories and literature
Solaris and beyond – Stanisław Lem’s antidotes to the bores of American sci-fi
7 minutes
video
Philosophy of language
For Ludwig Wittgenstein, language is a game, but not a frivolous one
43 minutes
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History of ideas
Beyond dust and grime
Zhuangzi thought Confucians were like frogs trapped in a well, unable to perceive the limitlessness of the sea
Tao Jiang
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Self-improvement
The art of listening
To listen well is not only a kindness to others but also, as the psychologist Carl Rogers made clear, a gift to ourselves
M M Owen
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Thinkers and theories
More than muses and martyrs
In the long 19th century, many women philosophers were marginalised or ignored. We need to rediscover them
Kristin Gjesdal & Dalia Nassar
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Stories and literature
Aristotle goes to Hollywood
Today, the ancient Greek storyteller would be winning Oscars. To learn how, turn to the Poetics, his masterwork on writing
Philip Freeman
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Thinkers and theories
Philosopher of the apocalypse
From the ashes of the Second World War, Günther Anders forecast a new catastrophe: technology would overwhelm its creators
Audrey Borowski