A History of Ideas15 Apr 2015

Writer AL Kennedy on Sartre and the Individual

Writer AL Kennedy on Existentialist ideas about the individual. Jean Paul Sartre argued that, for humans, 'existence preceded essence'. This means that there is no blueprint or template from which to work - humans are free to make themselves up as they go along. Being an individual comes from the way you negotiate this freedom and the choices you make in the face of it.

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Episoder(60)

Theologian Giles Fraser on Religious Freedom

Theologian Giles Fraser thinks freedom is overrated. It has become a kind of tyranny or obsession. He is interested in the tradition of religious thinking that understands true liberation sometimes co...

13 Nov 201411min

Lawyer Harry Potter on Individual Freedom and the State

Harry Potter is a criminal barrister and watches people being let off and locked up for a living. He is interested in the ways the state can curtail our liberty. His key thinker is John Stuart Mill, t...

12 Nov 201412min

Philosopher Angie Hobbs on Positive and Negative Freedom

Angie Hobbs wants to tell you about two kinds of freedom - Negative and Positive. This influential philosophical distinction was made in the 20th century by Isaiah Berlin but it's rooted in the ideas ...

11 Nov 201411min

What Does It Mean to Be Free?

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking what does it...

10 Nov 201411min