Historian Justin Champion on Francis Bacon

Historian Justin Champion on 17th-century polymath Francis Bacon.

• 11 mins

Surgeon Gabriel Weston on medical technology

Surgeon Gabriel Weston sees how medical technology has changed us.

• 11 mins

Archaeologist Matt Pope on tools and human evolution

Archaeologist Matt pope looks at the role of technology in early human evolution.

• 11 mins

How Do I Live a Good Life?

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how to live a good life.

• 11 mins

Philosopher Jules Evans on Aristotle and Flourishing

Philosopher Jules Evans asks Gus O'Donnell how to measure the good life.

• 11 mins

Justin Champion on Max Weber and the Protestant Ethic

Justin Champion looks at the roots of our culture's belief in the moral power of hard work

• 11 mins

Naomi Appleton on the Buddha's Four Noble Truths

Naomi Appleton explores the Buddha's Four Noble Truths.

• 11 mins

Ayn Rand and Selfishness

Neuropsychologist Paul Broks looks at the idea of leading a good life by being selfish.

• 11 mins

What Is Justice?

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ideas about justice.

• 11 mins

Barrister Harry Potter on Deterrence

In this edition of a series of programmes on justice, Harry Potter examines deterrence.

• 11 mins

Philosopher Angie Hobbs on the Veil of Ignorance

Angie Hobbs, Leif Wenar and David Runciman debate and explore the ideas of John Rawls.

• 11 mins

Thomas Hobbes and Civil Disobedience

Criminologist David Wilson looks at Thomas Hobbes and his 'social contract' theory.

• 11 mins

Historian Alice Taylor on Habeas Corpus

Historian Alice Taylor on the slippery justice of extrajudicial detention.

• 11 mins

What Does It Mean to Be Me?

Barry Smith, Paul Broks, AL Kennedy and Jules Evans discuss the self.

• 11 mins

Paul Broks on John Locke and Personal Identity

Paul Broks asks how we can be sure we are the same person that we were yesterday.

• 11 mins

Writer AL Kennedy on Sartre and the Individual

Writer AL Kennedy explores existentialist ideas about the individual.

• 11 mins

Philosopher Jules Evans on Jung and the Mind

Jules Evans explores Jung and the shadow inside all of us.

• 11 mins

Philosopher Barry Smith on Descartes and Consciousness

Philosopher Barry Smith explores ideas about consciousness.

• 11 mins

How Should We Live Together?

Melvyn Bragg and guests debate how we should live together.

• 11 mins

Historian Justin Champion on Toleration

Professor Justin Champion examines Locke's Letter on Toleration.

• 11 mins

Economist Kate Barker on the Free Market

Is a free market the best foundation for a fair, dynamic society?

• 11 mins

Philosopher Angie Hobbs on Plato's Philosopher Kings

Angie Hobbs asks if the ideal state would be run by philosophers not politicians.

• 11 mins

Philosopher Timothy Secret on Ancestor Worship

Timothy Secret on Confucius. To live well together we must first consider the dead.

• 11 mins

What Is Love?

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas around love.

• 11 mins

Classicist Edith Hall on Aristophanes in Plato

Classicist Edith Hall on Aristophanes's explanation of love.

• 11 mins

Theologian Giles Fraser on Altruism

Giles Fraser discusses gene theory versus altruism with Tom Stoppard and Armand Leroi.

• 11 mins

Psychotherapist Mark Vernon on Freud

What is love? Psychotherapist Mark Vernon looks at Freud's ideas on the Greek god Eros.

• 11 mins

Writer Lisa Appignanesi on the Love of Children

How should we love our children? Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau had some great ideas.

• 11 mins

How Can I Know Anything at All?

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how we can know anything at all.

• 11 mins

Lawyer Harry Potter on Eyewitness Testimony

Barrister Harry Potter on whether we can believe our eyes.

• 11 mins