A few listeners have pointed us at Melvyn Bragg's recent podcast on Berkeley (listen to it here). It starts off with the oft-cited anecdote about Samuel Johnson claiming to have refuted Berkeley by kicking a stone: obviously, such a stone that I can kick is not an "idea in my head." As should have been clear from our episode (and my recent post), this is an elementary Continue Reading …
Debating Individual vs. Environmental Forces in History (or, Lord Bragg Loses his Bearing!)
Among my favorite podcasts is the BBC Radio 4 show In Our Time. IOT is usually a genteel forum dedicated to discussing "the history of ideas." Topics and tone range from Oxbridge middlebrow to Oxbridge highbrow, but I always walk away learning something. I almost swerved the car, however, when tempers flared on last week's episode. IOT's host, Lord Melvyn Bragg, just about Continue Reading …
The Thinkers from Down Under
It's time to address over-representation of the English in my podcast reviews. Today I pay homage to the Australians, who come in at 10% of our listener/reader base, second only behind the US. By comparison, the UK is at 6%. Based on this one slim fact, I am prepared to claim that Australia is the most Philosophical country on earth. Exhibit Continue Reading …