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PODCAST

Ideas

IDEAS is a place for people who like to think. If you value deep conversation and unexpectedreveals, this show is for you. From the roots and rise of authoritarianism to near-death experiences to the history of toilets, no topic is off-limits.Hosted by Nahlah Ayed, we’re home to immersive documentaries and fascinating interviews with some of the most consequential thinkers of our time.With an award-winning team, our podcast has proud roots in its 60-year history with CBC Radio, exploring the IDEAS

society & culture

All Episodes

00:54:08

Autonomy is vital to MAID law and the right to die:...

Ideas ·

2025/07/21

Bioethicist Arthur Schafer has thought a lot about life and death. He has helped shape policy on medically assisted death (MAID) in Canada. The philosophy professor argues that an ideal end-of-life legislation would be respectful of individual choice and the wishes of individuals to die according to their own values. "The best ethical argument is that patient autonomy is a fundamental value," Schafer told IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed. He discusses the role of philosophy in addressing complex ethical

en-ca

00:54:08

Will the real Martin Luther please stand up?

Ideas ·

2025/07/18

Who exactly was Martin Luther? Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther translated the New Testament so that ordinary Germans could understand it. This sparked a theological, social and political revolution that we're still living in. So who was he: a freedom fighter? An antisemite? IDEAS explores the legend and legacy of Martin Luther. *This episode originally aired on April 14, 2024.

en-ca

00:54:08

Meet the original 'Father of Economics' — it's not...

Ideas ·

2025/07/17

Adam Smith may be known as 'The Father of Economics,' but 400 years before him, Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun was putting forward economic theories that are now taken for granted. IDEAS explores Ibn Khaldun's famous book, Muqaddimah and the lessons it has for us on the philosophy of history, economics, biology, sociology, and political theory. *This episode originally aired on June 24, 2021.

en-ca

00:54:06

How anxiety over today's democracy is political

Ideas ·

2025/07/16

English philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that life would be "nasty, brutish and short" without a strong government. IDEAS explores how a new take on Hobbes that includes his writing on the topic of anxiety offers a surprising perspective on the recent American election and democracy. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 13, 2025.

en-ca

00:54:08

A lesson on how not to engage in polarized discussions

Ideas ·

2025/07/14

The great divide in politics is all around us. Sometimes the best way to engage in a difference of opinion is to 'pass it by.' Political theorist Shalini Satkunanandan suggests we take that lesson from Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. Yeah, that guy — the one most known for his wrestling with nihilism. Satkunanandan argues that the constant need to engage and correct, refute or criticize "is making partisan divides even more pronounced." She views Nietzsche's method as a valuable way to navigate

en-ca

00:54:40

What you may have missed in this famous painter's...

Ideas ·

2025/07/03

For years, people have made the journey to Algonquin Park to see the landscapes that inspired Tom Thomson's famous paintings. IDEAS producer Sean Foley was one of them, exploring the great Canadian artist's muse while also examining Indigenous artists' perspectives of the same landscapes that Thomson and the Group of Seven may have overlooked. *This is the second episode in a two-part exploration of the Canadian painter. It originally aired on Dec. 18, 2018.

en-ca

00:54:39

The mysterious death of a great Canadian painter

Ideas ·

2025/07/02

Tom Thomson is one of the most mythologized Canadian painters of his time — and ours. Over 100 years ago, the artist died suddenly on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park, when he was at the peak of his powers. IDEAS producer Sean Foley delves into what we think we know about Tom Thomson and examines the tales that have evolved over the past century.*This episode originally aired Nov. 9, 2018.Guests in this episode:Gregory Klages, historian and author of The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from

en-ca

00:54:08

Why Canadian patriotism right now isn't blind...

Ideas ·

2025/07/01

The outrage over threats by the U.S. to become a 51st state indicates Canadian nationalism is very much alive. IDEAS shares this 1992 award-winning documentary, which includes music compositions inspired by Glenn Gould. Composer Christos Hatzis discusses the meaning and enduring relevance of The Idea of Canada, saying, "Canada allows you to be patriotic and not to be nationalist."Credits:Composer Christos HatzisProducerSteve WadhamsAudio engineers Laurence Stevenson and Rod Crocker.

en-ca

00:54:08

Voices of a silenced history: inside Bulgaria's Gulag

Ideas ·

2025/06/27

During the Communist era in Bulgaria, anyone who opposed the government could be arrested, sent to the Gulag. For 20 years, Lilia Topouzova has been collecting the stories of those who survived. She recreated a Bulgarian room where her conversations with survivors can be heard, a space about the absence of memory and what that does to a people.

en-ca

00:54:08

We’re drawn to the beauty of the ocean. An artist...

Ideas ·

2025/06/26

"We come from the sea. It's not a memory. It's a feeling. It's in our DNA," Joan Jonas told IDEAS producer Mary Lynk at her home in Nova Scotia. The arts icon, now 88, has been celebrated for her work since the late 1960s. She splits her time between a Soho loft in NYC, and the "magical landscape" of Cape Breton, where she can be by her muse: the ocean. In 2024, she received her crowning recognition in the U.S., when New York's Museum of Modern Art organized a major retrospective of her work. Part

en-ca

00:54:07

Why do people hate?

Ideas ·

2025/06/25

Even in the name of love, we can justify hatred, even murder, of the other. But why do we hate others?Scholars have identified a list of 10 reasons why one group may hate another group. They also have suggestions on how to break the cycle of hate.Guests in this episode are scholars from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR):Prerna Singh, professor of political science, Brown University, U.S.Victoria Esses, professor of psychology, Western University, London, OntarioStephen Reicher,

en-ca

00:54:08

The most famous French-Canadian novel you've never...

Ideas ·

2025/06/24

Maria Chapdelaine: A Tale of French Canada, written by Louis Hémon in 1913, is one of the most widely read works of fiction ever written in French. Yet today, the book remains far less known in English Canada and the English-speaking world. It is the world's highest-selling French book, and has been translated into over 20 languages. The book has inspired four film versions, several plays, an opera, and even a pop song. Contributor Catherine Annau examines the many lives that Maria Chapdelaine has

en-ca

00:54:08

How Jaws made us believe white sharks are real villains

Ideas ·

2025/06/23

Fifty years ago, the movie Jaws put sharks on our radar in a very real way. It broke box office records andtapped into an underlying fear of sharks and the unknown lurking in the ocean. Turns out, sharks were already developing a villainous reputation before Jaws.In this documentary, producer Molly Segal explores the long history people have with the ocean, and our tendency across cultures and times to create 'sea monsters' out of the depths of the ocean.

en-ca

00:54:09

Journalist Connie Walker on uncovering her family's...

Ideas ·

2025/06/20

She’s one of Canada’s most decorated journalists, having won a Pulitzer Prize, a Peabody and a Columbia-Dupont Prize for her podcast series, Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s. Yet Connie Walker had been reluctant to feature stories about her family in her journalism. Until she realized her family's survival in residential schools embodies the defining reality for virtually all Indigenous Peoples in Canada. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 2, 2024.

en-ca

00:54:08

How Latin translation made Western philosophers famous

Ideas ·

2025/06/19

From Greek to Arabic and then to Latin, translators in 8th-century Baghdad eventually brought to Europe the works of Plato, Aristotle, Galen, and others who became central pillars of Western thought. IDEAS explores what is known as the Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement.

en-ca

00:54:09

Inside Canada’s loneliness epidemic

Ideas ·

2025/06/18

Some experts are calling loneliness an epidemic in Canada and throughout much of the world. Social isolation is a public health risk with consequences for individuals, communities and for our social systems. A multi-disciplinary panel, hosted at the University of British Columbia, examine loneliness from perspectives of men's and women's health, interpersonal relations, climate change and public policy.Guests in this episode:Dr. Kiffer Card is an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University’s

en-ca

00:54:09

Perdita Felicien on how to navigate life’s biggest...

Ideas ·

2025/06/17

Champion hurdler Perdita Felicien has climbed to the summits of international glory throughout her track career, and endured the excruciating lows of defeat. Those peak experiences inform the talk she gave at Crows Theatre in Toronto, in which she parses the comparison of sport to life, and life to sport. In her words: "It isn't that sport is life exactly. It's that it reveals life. It's the part of life where we play with purpose. Where effort is visible. Where character is tested. Where failure is

en-ca

00:54:08

The making of an ‘authoritarian personality’

Ideas ·

2025/06/16

A groundbreaking study conducted in the wake of the Second World War by a group of scholars rocked the academic world when it was published in 1950 — but fell out of favour. Now a new generation of scholars is reviving the lessons of The Authoritarian Personality to understand who is drawn in by fascist propaganda.

en-ca

00:54:09

Canadian universities as safe havens for...

Ideas ·

2025/06/13

There is a growing number of researchers who are 'forcibly displaced' worldwide. Thirty-four Canadian universities and colleges are currently hosting scholars who’ve left their jobs and homes to find safety. Scholars-in-exile from dozens of countries gathered at Carleton University in Ottawa to discuss ways to support free thinking and research whenever it is threatened.

en-ca

00:56:19

Black history, vividly told through the colour blue

Ideas ·

2025/06/12

From planting periwinkles on the graves of slaves, to the blues itself, the colour blue has been core to Black Americans’ pursuit of joy in the face of being dehumanized by slavery, argues Harvard professor Imani Perry. In her latest book, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of my People, she unpacks the deep, centuries-long connection between Black people and the colour blue, from the complex history of indigo dye to how the blues became a crowning achievement of Black American culture.

en-ca

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