Talking Politics: HISTORY OF IDEAS

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History of Ideas Q and A

Saturday, May 8, 2021 • Duration 39:48

A special episode in which David answers some of the audience's questions about the second series of History of Ideas. From how he chooses which writers and works to talk about, to whether Boris Johnson is the ultimate Benthamite and whether the idea of a pleasure machine isn't - in fact - totally rational. We really enjoyed making these podcasts for people to enjoy during lockdown. To support History of Ideas and Talking Politics, you can become a member by clicking here. For £3 a month, you can enjoy Talking Politics without adverts in the middle of the discussions. Thank you for listening!

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Shklar on Hypocrisy

Tuesday, April 20, 2021 • Duration 46:11

Judith Shklar’s Ordinary Vices (1984) made the case that the worst of all the vices is cruelty. But that meant we needed to be more tolerant of some other common human failings, including snobbery, betrayal and hypocrisy. David explores what she had to say about some of the other authors in this series – including Bentham and Nietzsche – and asks what price we should be willing to pay for putting cruelty first among the vices.

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Douglass on Slavery

Tuesday, February 16, 2021 • Duration 46:46

My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) by the former slave Frederick Douglass was the second of his three autobiographies and the one that contained his most radical ideas. In this episode David explores how Douglass used his life story not only to expose the horror of slavery but to champion a new approach to abolishing it. The name for this approach: politics.

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Bentham on Pleasure

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 • Duration 47:35

Jeremy Bentham’s Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation is a definitive early statement of the basis of utilitarianism: how do we achieve the greatest happiness of the greatest number? David looks at Bentham’s rationale for this approach and the many criticisms it has faced. Bentham has often been accused of reducing politics to mechanical calculation and missing what really matters. But given the time in which he was writing, wasn’t the prioritisation of pleasure the most radical idea of all?

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Rousseau on Inequality

Season 2

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • Duration 47:55

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality (also known as the Second Discourse) tells the story of all human history to answer one simple question: how did we end up in such an unequal world? David explores the steps Rousseau traces in the fall of humankind and asks whether this is a radical alternative to the vision offered by Hobbes or just a variant on it. Is Rousseau really such a nice philosopher?

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Q & A with David

Friday, July 3, 2020 • Duration 48:55

We got lots and lots of excellent questions from listeners about the themes and ideas in this series of talks. In this extra episode

David will do his best to answer some of them, from Hobbes to Weber, and from Gandhi to feminism. Plus he talks about what's missing from this series and where we might start next time.

Go to https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/history-of-ideas for the full collection of reading lists.

Quentin Skinner on the state:

(Video) Quentin Skinner, ‘What is the state? The question that will not go away’

Orwell on Gandhi:

https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/reflections-on-gandhi/

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Fukuyama on History

Monday, May 25, 2020 • Duration 46:36

Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History (1992) became associated with the triumph of liberal democracy at the end of the twentieth century. But was Fukuyama really a triumphalist? David explores what Fukuyama had to say about the strengths and weaknesses of liberal democracy and asks whether his analysis still holds true today. What have we learned about the modern state from its history? And can it, and we, really change now?

Recommended version to purchase:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/133/13399/the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man/9780241960240.html

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MacKinnon on Patriarchy

Friday, May 22, 2020 • Duration 44:52

Catharine MacKinnon’s Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (1989) challenges two dominant ways of thinking about politics: liberalism, which wants to protect us from the power of the state, and Marxism, which wants to liberate us through the power of the state. What if neither is good enough to emancipate women? Mackinnon explains why patriarchal power permeates all forms of modern politics. David

discusses what she thinks we can do about it.

Recommended version to purchase:

Catharine A. MacKinnon, Toward a feminist theory of the state (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989).

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Fanon on Colonialism

Monday, May 18, 2020 • Duration 41:03

Frantz Fanon was a psychiatrist who both experienced and analysed the impact of colonial violence. In The Wretched of the Earth (1961) he developed an account of politics that sought to channel violent resistance to colonialism as a force for change. It is a deliberately shocking book. David explores what Fanon’s argument says about the possibility of moving beyond the power of the modern state.

Free online version of the text:

http://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretched-of-the-Earth-1965.pdf

Recommended version to purchase:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/573/57385/the-wretched-of-the-earth/9780141186542.html

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Arendt on Action

Friday, May 15, 2020 • Duration 44:18

Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition (1958) is a remarkably prophetic book. At its heart is an analysis of the relationship between labour, work and action, set against a time of rapid technological change. Arendt worried about the power of computers, believed in the capacity of people to reinvent themselves through politics and despaired of the influence of Thomas Hobbes. Was she right?

Recommended version to purchase:

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo29137972.html

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Talking Politics: HISTORY OF IDEAS – Details, episodes & analysis

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Talking Politics: HISTORY OF IDEAS – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other99+

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

Amazon12

The Guardian4