A pupil of Plato and one-time tutor of Alexander the Great, Aristotle’s writings lie at the foundation of modern philosophy – even though all that remains of his works is just a fraction of his lecture notes. In this interview from 1987, the British broadcaster and populariser of philosophy Bryan Magee speaks with the US philosopher Martha Nussbaum, then an emerging Aristotle scholar at Brown University, about some of Aristotle’s most famous ideas and his enduring influence, including how many of his views have been misinterpreted or misunderstood. In particular, the wide-ranging discussion touches on why Aristotle believed that we could never reach beyond the scope of our own experience, his dissent to Plato’s theory of forms, the groundwork he laid for contemporary science, and why he believed there was more to morality and ethics than simple outcomes of pain or happiness.
video
Stories and literature
What makes John Keats’s ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ so enduringly powerful?
10 minutes
video
Philosophy of mind
Do we have good reasons to believe in beliefs? A radical philosophy of mind says no
5 minutes
video
Philosophy of religion
How a devout Catholic philosopher approaches the problem of evil
8 minutes
video
Love and friendship
When drawing your muse hundreds of times becomes an exercise in love
7 minutes
video
Thinkers and theories
Is simulation theory a way to shirk responsibility for the world we’ve created?
13 minutes
video
Philosophy of mind
We may never settle the ‘free will’ debate, but tapping into it is still worthwhile
32 minutes
video
Philosophy of mind
An enigmatic ‘story of consciousness’ told through 19th-century engravings
7 minutes
video
Meaning and the good life
Why Aristotle believed that philosophy was humanity’s highest purpose
9 minutes
video
Art
Tracing Goya’s ‘dark’ journey from Spanish court painter to macabre visionary
51 minutes