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PODCAST

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy.

Friedel Weinert (Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Bradford)

These podcasts are devoted to selected topics in Political Philosophy, and the History and Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences. In the Introduction I explain that my starting point is philosophical problems, rather than, say, the history of great thinkers. Each episode of Political Philosophy deals one topical issue: The issue of Power; the notion of (Republican) Liberty and the problem of Social Justice and the contrast between Open and Closed Societies Episodes in History and Philosophy

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

00:18:21

Episode 31: What is Stoicism? (Marcus Aurelius)

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/11/22

In this Episode I look at the philosophy of Stoicism, through the eyes of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD). As with so many things, Stoicism goes back to the Greeks; its impact reached into the Roman period. It is much more than composure in the face of adversity. It is a practical philosophy, a way of life: how to lead a wise life. Wisdom embraces justice, rationality and control over one's emotions. It also has political implications: the Stoic cares for the community of which

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00:13:25

Episode 30: Schopenhauer on Pessimism

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/10/26

The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) is famous, amongst other things, for his negative outlook on life and human nature. His pessimism was partly due to his experience of human misery and his revolt against slavery; it was also partly due to his philosophy of the Will. He saw the Will as the blind driving force of human actions and behaviour. As humans have no control over the Will, their actions are not free. Schopenhauer, who was a brilliant prose writer, argues that our

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00:23:53

Episode 29: Alexander von Humboldt & the Order of Nature

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/10/05

In this Episode, I introduce the life and work of a forgotten hero of science: Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). In his own time he was such a famous explorer and discoverer that many of his contemporaries were influenced by his thinking, most notably Charles Darwin. And even though he is no longer as well known as Darwin today , many places, species, mountains and rivers are still named after him. He took a global approach to Nature, treating Nature as an interrelated whole, in which everything

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00:43:47

Episode 28: Darwin & his Precursors

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/09/09

This episode looks at three pre-Darwinian accounts of the development of organic nature: the Great Chain of Being, Design arguments (Paley) and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's 'transformatism'. All of these accounts assume, in one way or another, that the explanation of organic life requires the postulation of purpose and design in nature. This assumption is in striking contrast with mechanical explanations in astronomy and physics. The idea of 'evolution' was well accepted before Darwin. But Darwin's

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00:31:52

Episode 27: Scepticism - Why We Doubt

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/08/08

In this episode I introduce a brief history of scepticism, that is the doubt whether we can have any certain knowledge of the external world. I start with the Greek philosopher Sextus Empiricus who lived in the second century AD. His arguments were taken up and developed by the French Renaissance writer Michel Montaigne (1533-1592). Two French philosophers - Marin Mersenne (1588-1648) and his friend Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) - rejected this rather defeatist version of scepticism and proposed a

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00:15:47

Episode 26: William of Ockham and his Razor

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/07/07

This episode introduces the life and influential ideas of William of Ockham (1287-1347). He was a controversial figure in his own time and is famous for his principle, known as Ockham's razor. It is a principle of economy, adopted by many philosophers and scientists, including Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking. Its modern version recommends to use as few principles as possible to explain a maximum of facts. Ockham himself advised not to make unnecessary assumptions and not to postulate that

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00:32:46

Episode 25: How dark were the Middle Ages?

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/07/07

There is the rather common view that the Middle Ages were an age of darkness, ignorance and religious intolerance. But how true is this image? This episode introduces the Middle Ages (1000 AD-1543) as a period of intellectual vitality. It gave rise natural philosophy, which is the precursor of modern science. It accomplished two things. The first task was to make the Bible and Christian religion compatible with the authoritative teachings of Aristotle. This compromise was achieved by two remarkable

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00:31:48

Episode 24: What We Learn from Our Mistakes

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/05/12

This episode discusses scientific mistakes and blunders which have occurred in the history of science. Mistakes may be based on false information or mistaken assumptions, in which case they are honest mistakes. But if they are based on deliberate misinformation and incompetence, they are downright blunders. We can and should learn from mistakes but blunders are bad news because they have disastrous consequences. If mistakes are based on the wrong assumptions, they are usually be corrected,

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00:33:15

Episode 23: Popper's Critical Rationalism

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/04/21

Popper's Critical Rationalism consists of two parts: 1) a critical attitude towards science; 2) a critical attitude towards politics. The critical attitude towards science meant that he regarded all scientific knowledge as fallible. No certainty exists in science. All scientific theories are subject to severe tests and are constantly facing the evidence. This is his famous method of falsifiability: all scientific knowledge is fallible. When he applies to it politics, it turns into the

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00:31:39

Episode 22(b): The Enlightenment. Part II: France and...

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/03/23

This episode focuses on the Enlightenment in France and Germany. Whilst it shares the basic Enlightenment ideals, there are national characteristics. In France the Enlightenment was shaped by the experience of the Ancien Regime. It is strong opposition to the power of the Catholic Church and Absolute Monarchy. An outstanding achievement of the French Enlightenment is the publication of the Encyclopedia,which was forbidden in 1759. In Germany, the emphasis is on the meaning of the Enlightenment. What

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00:23:54

Episode 22(a): The Enlightenment. Part I: Britain.

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/03/23

The Enlightenment (1688-1804) emerged in three European countries, in rough chronological order in Britain, then France and it ended Germany. This episode (Part I) starts with a general characterisation of the Enlightenment and then focuses on the Enlightenment in Britain. The Enlightenment owes its momentum to the Scientific Revolution, which brought about a fundamental change in world views. The Enlightenment is an application of scientific principles to the intellectual and social world. In

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00:35:12

Episode 21: Democracy & Populism

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/02/05

In this Episode I address the question of whether populism poses a danger to a democratic, open society. I define populism as charismatic leadership with a particular vision. I make a distinction between a democratic regime - with emphasis on the rule of law, the independence of institutions and freedom - and an open society - with the emphasis on accountability, contestability and critical scrutiny of political affairs, established traditions and figures in authority. I argue that it is important

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00:23:23

Episode 20: On Civil Disobedience

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/01/08

In the last episode on Human Rights, I left open the question of whether Civil Disobedience should count as a fundamental human right. A good example of this debate occurs in the film The Great Debaters (2007). After having defined civil disobedience (following the philosophers John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas), I argue that it should count as a fundamental human right - under specified conditions: it should be a non-violent, public and political act, undertaken by a group in society whose

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00:23:57

Episode 19: On Human Rights

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/01/08

Following on from the last two episodes, which broadly dealt with issues of human freedom and justice, the question of the need for human rights arises naturally. I distinguish civil from human rights. Civil rights exist on the national level and they may differ from country to country. I propose three criteria to differentiate them from human or universal rights, which, as the term suggests, are transnational and transcultural. I explain why I think we need human rights, which I characterise as

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00:52:27

Episode 18: Philosophy & the French Revolution

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/01/08

In this episode I briefly describe the events of the French Revolution and then turn my attention to the life and times of two prominent 'engaged philosophers': Voltaire and the Marquis de Condorcet. Both fought against the injustices of the Ancient Regime, i.e. the time prior to the French Revolution, when France was ruled by absolute monarchs. Through their active defence and rehabilitation of the victims of injustice both Voltaire and Condorcet brought to light the religious intolerance and the

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00:12:11

Episode 17: John Locke & England's Glorious...

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2025/01/08

The next couple of episodes continue Part I on Political Philosophy.The next two episode will discuss the impact philosophical ideas have had on the social and political world. I start in the current episode with the influence John Locke's political philosophy had on the adoption of the English Bill of Rights in the wake of the Glorious Revolution (1688). Locke, the Enlightenment philosopher, is often seen as the Godfather of liberalism. His ideas laid the foundations of liberal democracies

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00:32:10

Episode 16: The Freedom of the Will

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2024/07/10

The question of whether humans enjoy free will (or not) has occupied people for centuries. Science has not yet found a definitive answer but we are all familiar with the phenomenon. When we want something (a mental event), we get up to get it (a physical event). When something happens to us (a physical event), we react with, say, sadness or joy (a mental event). How is this possible? How can physical events influence mental states? And how can mental states lead to physical events? In this Episode I

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00:16:57

Episode 15: What are the Laws of Nature?

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2024/07/10

In previous Episodes, I have made many references to the laws of nature. Laws of nature are the regularities in the natural world, which exist independently of our knowledge of them. But in the textbooks of science you find many equations which encode the natural regularities. These equations are the laws of science. The laws of science are only approximately true because the employment of mathematics involves the use of abstractions and idealizations.The laws of science are subject to

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00:22:47

Episode 14: How Things Are Discovered

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2024/07/10

In this Episode, I discuss some systematic ways in which discoveries are made in science. This follows on from Episode 13 (A, B) which introduced thought and real experiments. In this Episode I look at methods - systematic ways - to go about scientific discoveries. There are three methods: two different forms of induction and deduction. Induction works either by inferring from some to all cases (from 'some ravens are black' to 'all ravens are black') or by the method of elimination

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00:15:26

Episode 13 (B): Thought Experiments, Real Experiments...

In the Beginning, there was ... Philosophy. ·

2024/07/10

Part B of this Episode concentrates on imaginary and real experiments in the modern era. I introduce Foucaults' famous pendulum experiment (1859), which gave a visual demonstration that the Earth turns on its own axis. I propose that thought experiments answer 'what-if' questions about the natural world. They are models of possible worlds. The episode finishes with a discussion of the famous double-slit experiment on the atomic level. It started out as a mere thought experiment before

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35 results

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