Arts & Ideas Folgen

With the success of the far right Alternative for Deutschland party in the German elections, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris making their pitches to American voters to be their leader and the Conservatives in this country voting for their: we look at Carl Schmitt, the German political theorist of democracy, crisis and dictatorship, to see if he can help us make sense of the present moment.Anne McElvoy's guests are: Gisela Stuart, Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston, is a British German politician. A former Labour politician she now sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords David Runciman is former Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge and now hosts Past Present Future: The History of Ideas Podcast. His most recent book is called The History of Ideas : Equality, Justice and Revolution Tom Simpson is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford Katya Adler is the BBC's Europe EditorPlus Charles Tripp, emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern politics at SOAS is chair of the judges for the 2024 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding Books on the shortlist announced this week are: Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues by Ross Perlin Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future by Ed Conway The Tame and the Wild: People and Animals after 1492 by Marcy Norton Divided, Racism, Medicine and why we Need to DeColonise Healthcare by Annabel Sowemimo Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories by Amitav Ghosh The Secret Lives of Numbers: A Global History of Mathematics and its Unsung Trailblazers by Kate Kitagawa and Timothy RevellThe winner of the prize of £25,000 will be announced on October 22nd 2024. And Free Thinking will be looking at some of the other non fiction book prize shortlists over episodes this AutumnProducer: Luke MulhallYou can find past episodes of Free Thinking available on BBC Sounds and as the BBC Arts & Ideas podcast

Travel, reading, cinema and psychedelic drugs are all means people have used to try to escape. But do they ever really lead us where we want them to? With the election looming, Glastonbury in full swing and lists of beach read suggestions starting to appear -Matthew Sweet discusses the difference between escape and escapism withNoreen Masud, Lecturer in Twentieth Century Literature at the University of Bristol and author of the memoir A Flat PlaceKirsty Sinclair Dootson, Lecturer in Film and Media at University College London, author of The Rainbow's GravityJonathan White, Professor of Politics and Deputy Head of the European Institute at the London School of Economics and author of In The Long Run: The Future as a Political IdeaJules Evans, writer, historian of ideas and practical philosopher whose books include The Art of Losing Control, and Philosophy for Life and other dangerous situations.Plus, Maximillian de Gaynesford, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading, on the philosophical significance of dreams and dreaming from Descartes and Freud to Norman Malcolm.Jules, Noreen and Kirsty are all New Generation Thinkers on a scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to share academic research on radio.Producer: Luke Mulhall

As the sun sets on the longest day of the year, Matthew Sweet talks to an eclectic group of guests about the illusion of time, the summer solstice and the philosophy of comedy. They are: Materials scientist & engineer; Director of the UCL Institute of Making; Author of Stuff Matters and other book Mark Miodownik. Philosopher Emily Herring who is about to publish the first English biography of the french philosopher Henri Bergson who was famous for his theory of time as well as his views on the meaning of comedy. Emily's book Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People is out in October. Comedian Rob Newman who made his name with the Mary Whitehouse Experience in the 90s and has presented two series on BBC Radio 4 including Rob Newman's Half-full Philosophy Hour. Also Professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College London Fay Dowker who is an expert in Causal Set Theory and Quantum Relativity. And Author K A Laity will talk about the Women in Magick Conference being held in Birmingham this weekend. Producer: Lisa Jenkinson