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 created by Cognitive.
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. Narrated by Aidan Turner.
If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Narrated by Aidan Turner.
Science is based on fact. Isn't it? Narrated by Aidan Turner.
Philosopher David Hume thought you should look at the evidence. We've employed a Time Lord to investigate. Narrated by Aidan Turner.
In Plato's dialogue The Symposium, Aristophanes presented a light-hearted creation myth that attempted to explain the human search for love. Narrated by Aidan Turner.
Why do people do good deeds? Are they being selfless or is there something else going on? Narrated by Aidan Turner.
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.
The Oedipus Complex explained in under 2 minutes. Narrated by Aidan Turner.
The family is at the heart of Confucian philosophy. Narrated by Aidan Turner.
Plato thought leaders should be specially trained philosophers chosen because they were incorruptible and had a deeper knowledge of reality. Narrated by Aidan Turner.
Does an invisible hand guide the economy? Narrated by Aidan Turner.
How did Descartes come to the conclusion of certainty when surrounded by uncertainty and doubt? Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Do we have a true self or are we endlessly performing? Narrated by Stephen Fry.
According to Jean-Paul Sartre, every choice reveals what we think a human being should be.
Is it possible to ever 'Know Thyself'? Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Habeas Corpus protects individual freedom and ensures that no one is held without charge.Narrated by Stephen Fry.
A just society has fair laws. But most societies aren't like that. So what can you do? Narrated by Stephen Fry.
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.
An eye for an eye might sound like brutal retribution but its roots were in encouraging a sense of proportion. Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Does our inescapable suffering stem from our own greed and ignorance? Buddha thought so. Narrated by Stephen Fry.
Ayn Rand believed we have a duty to be selfish and any other behaviour is irrational. Narrated by Stephen Fry.
How does religion fit with the world of business? Perhaps more closely than you think. Narrated by Stephen Fry.
How to live a good life? Aristotle's answer was live virtuously: do what a virtuous person would do.
How did a strange lump of bronze and decayed wood discovered in a shipwreck reveal the first ever computer? Narrated by Gillian Anderson.
Is the form by which you receive a message as significant as the message itself? Gillian Anderson investigates.
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.
Do you worry that screen-based devices are rewiring your brain? Perhaps you should, because they certainly are. Gillian Anderson explains.
How do we learn to think and write in language so quickly? Gillian Anderson has a clue.
Is language structure hard-wired into our brain? Noam Chomsky thinks so.
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 explains.
How cultural transmission across time and space keeps us well ahead of other species. Gillian Anderson explains.
Do the complexities of the universe prove it had a designer? Gillian Anderson explains why William Paley thought so.
Gillian Anderson explains St. Thomas Aquinas' First Mover argument for God as the first cause of everything.
What happened 13.8 billion years ago? The Big Bang. Perhaps. Gillian Anderson explains.
According to Hinduism, there is no single creation, but cycles of creation. Get to grips with the basics.
Are our 'conscious decisions' just reports on what is already happening?
We live in a world festering with evil. How could a good God allow this problem of evil?
John Stuart Mill argues the case for being able to live your life the way you want to.
Is giving up some of your freedoms a fair price to pay to live in a secure society?
Some things that move us are beautiful, others are sublime. But what is the difference?
Is lust just one rung on the ladder to a higher appreciation of beauty?
Simone de Beauvoir: Resistance to male stereotypes of beauty can mean greater equality.
Find out more about the Golden Ratio.
Is sacrificing one life to save the lives of many others the best possible outcome?
Is there a difference between a child dying in a far off land and a child dying nearby?
Do you draw conclusions from how things are to think about how things should be?
Is it possible to persuade people to change their beliefs by force? John Locke thought not. Narrated by Aidan Turner.
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