A History of Ideas animations
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A History of Ideas animations
Big questions and theories explained in under 2 minutes from A History of Ideas on BBC Radio 4. Animations voiced by Harry Shearer, Gillian Anderson, Stephen Fry and Aidan Turner. Scripted by Nigel Warburton. This project is made in collaboration with The Open University and the animations were cre...
Recent Episodes
48 episodes
Wittgenstein's Beetle in a Box Analogy
You can't know exactly what it is like to be another person or experience things from their perspective. Wittgenstein had an analogy for this. Narra...
Esse est Percipi - ('To be is to be perceived')
If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Narrated by Aidan Turner.
Should You Believe in Miracles?
Philosopher David Hume thought you should look at the evidence. We've employed a Time Lord to investigate. Narrated by Aidan Turner.
The Oedipus Complex and the Westermarck Effect
The Oedipus Complex explained in under 2 minutes. Narrated by Aidan Turner.
Jean Paul Sartre on Love
For Jean-Paul Sartre, freedom was everything. Real freedom means freedom to change your mind and freedom to fall out of love. Narrated by Aidan Turner...
Is Selfless Love Possible?
Why do people do good deeds? Are they being selfless or is there something else going on? Narrated by Aidan Turner.
The Myth of the Missing Half
In Plato’s dialogue The Symposium, Aristophanes presented a light-hearted creation myth that attempted to explain the human search for love. Narrated...
Confucian Ancestor Worship
The family is at the heart of Confucian philosophy. Narrated by Aidan Turner.
Plato's Philosopher Kings
Plato thought leaders should be specially trained philosophers chosen because they were incorruptible and had a deeper knowledge of reality. Narrated...
Rene Descartes - “I think, therefore I am”
How did Descartes come to the conclusion of certainty when surrounded by uncertainty and doubt? Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Erving Goffman and The Performed Self
Do we have a true self or are we endlessly performing? Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Jean-Paul Sartre and Existential Choice
According to Jean-Paul Sartre, every choice reveals what we think a human being should be.
Habeas Corpus
Habeas Corpus protects individual freedom and ensures that no one is held without charge.Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Civil Disobedience
A just society has fair laws. But most societies aren’t like that. So what can you do? Narrated by Stephen Fry.
The Veil Of Ignorance
John Rawls argued it might be more just to construct a blueprint for a just society from behind a 'veil of ignorance'. Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Lex Talionis and Retribution
An eye for an eye might sound like brutal retribution but its roots were in encouraging a sense of proportion. Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Ayn Rand on Selfishness
Ayn Rand believed we have a duty to be selfish and any other behaviour is irrational. Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths
Does our inescapable suffering stem from our own greed and ignorance? Buddha thought so. Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Max Weber and the Protestant Ethic
How does religion fit with the world of business? Perhaps more closely than you think. Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Aristotle on 'Flourishing'
How to live a good life? Aristotle’s answer was live virtuously: do what a virtuous person would do.
The Antikythera Mechanism
How did a strange lump of bronze and decayed wood discovered in a shipwreck reveal the first ever computer? Narrated by Gillian Anderson.
The Medium Is The Message
Is the form by which you receive a message as significant as the message itself? Gillian Anderson investigates.
The Fourth Revolution
Does the Fourth Revolution signify that it's no longer possible to hold to the view that humans are better at thinking than everything else.
Rewiring the Brain
Do you worry that screen-based devices are rewiring your brain? Perhaps you should, because they certainly are. Gillian Anderson explains.
John Locke on Personal Identity
How do we learn to think and write in language so quickly? Gillian Anderson has a clue.
Noam Chomsky on Language Aquisition
Is language structure hard-wired into our brain? Noam Chomsky thinks so.
Karl Marx on Alienation
Marx believed work is what makes us human, but a factory labourer under capitalism is no more than a cog in a gigantic machine. Gillian Anderson expl...
The Idea of Cultural Tranmission
How cultural transmission across time and space keeps us well ahead of other species. Gillian Anderson explains.
William Paley and the Divine Watchmaker
Do the complexities of the universe prove it had a designer? Gillian Anderson explains why William Paley thought so.
Thomas Aquinas and the First Mover Argument
Gillian Anderson explains St. Thomas Aquinas' First Mover argument for God as the first cause of everything.
The Big Bang
What happened 13.8 billion years ago? The Big Bang. Perhaps. Gillian Anderson explains.
Hindu Creation Stories
According to Hinduism, there is no single creation, but cycles of creation. Get to grips with the basics.
The Is / Ought Problem
Do you draw conclusions from how things are to think about how things should be?
The Life You Can Save
Is there a difference between a child dying in a far off land and a child dying nearby?
The Trolley Problem
Is sacrificing one life to save the lives of many others the best possible outcome?
The Golden Ratio: Possibly the best rectangle in the world
Find out more about the Golden Ratio.