US - History 9 Interview Project 2019: Podcasts

"Philosopher John Gray and Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee are among those joining Benjamen Walker to consider the legacy of Smith's much-abused phrase"

What is the state and how should it be organised?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a prolific writer in a number of genres. His insights into moral psychology, and particularly what he had to say about human needs for approval from others, have continuing resonance. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Chris Bertram discusses this aspect of his work with Nigel Warburton.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great 17th century political philosopher Thomas Hobbes who argued: "During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man".

Melvyn Bragg and guests John Mullan, Karen O'Brien and Barbara Taylor discuss the life and ideas of the pioneering British Enlightenment thinker Mary Wollstonecraft.

"Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the search for immunisation."

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Adam Smith's celebrated economic treatise The Wealth of Nations. Smith was one of Scotland's greatest thinkers, a moral philosopher and pioneer of economic theory whose 1776 masterpiece has come to define classical economics. Based on his careful consideration of the transformation wrought on the British economy by the Industrial Revolution, and how it contrasted with marketplaces elsewhere in the world, the book outlined a theory of wealth and how it is accumulated that has arguably had more influence on economic theory than any other.

"Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Voltaire's novel Candide. First published in 1759, the novel follows the adventures of a young man, Candide, and his mentor, the philosopher Pangloss."

"Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss one of the most famous statements in philosophy: "Cogito ergo sum".In his Discourse on the Method, published in 1637, the French polymath Rene Descartes wrote a sentence which remains familiar today even to many people who have never heard of him. "I think", he wrote, "therefore I exist"."

"A panel of physicists, science historians and playwright Lucas Hnath discuss Newton following a performance of Hnath's play about Newton, called Isaac's Eye, at the Ensemble Studio Theater in New York City on February 20th. The play runs through March 10, 2013"

"French women weren’t allowed to study mathematics in the late 18th century, but that didn’t stop Sophie Germain from pursuing a passion for numbers."

“Self-interest leads to honing your skills, the better to trade with,” says P.J. O’Rourke, author of a new book about Smith’s oft-quoted, but let’s face it, rarely read tome, O’Rourke’s called, fittingly enough, “On the Wealth of Nations.”

Professor Glenda Sluga, International History, Faculty of Arts at the University of Sydney

Dr Victor Boantza, Unit for the History and Philosophy of Science, Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney

"Smallpox has been around longer than recorded history. It killed royalty, shifted the tides of battles, and was so terrifying that many religions have gods, saints and martyrs associated with it. And Edward Jenner gets the credit for changing all that."

"You may know the apple/gravity story, but Isaac Newton's life was so much more than that. Not only did he contribute huge concepts to physics, mathematics and astronomy, he also busted counterfeiters."