Past Present Future

In today’s episode exploring how twentieth-century philosophy and biography intersect David talks to philosopher and biographer Kate Kirkpatrick about Jean-Paul Sartre, a thinker whose life has been as closely scrutinised as his ideas. What made Sartre an existentialist? How was he shaped by his wartime experiences? Was he, as his critics claimed, a useful idiot for fashionable causes? Why has his reputation suffered since his death and where does it stand now? Out tomorrow on PPF+: a bonus episode to accompany this series in which David talks to Kate Kirkpatrick about the life and thought of Simone de Beauvoir, existentialist, feminist, memoirist and controversialist. What made Beauvoir the person she became? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Kate Kirkpatrick is the author of Becoming Beauvoir: A Life https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/becoming-beauvoir-9781350047174/ You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: Now & Then with Robert Saunders – Gladstone vs Disraeli Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In our series about how twentieth-century philosophy and biography intersect, David talks to philosopher Alex Carter about the life of Albert Camus, novelist, playwright, journalist, celebrity and public intellectual. What makes Camus a philosopher as well? How was he shaped by his Algerian background? Does it make sense to call him an absurdist? How did he try to reconcile the very different parts of his extraordinary life? You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time in The Lives of the Philosophers: J. L. Austin They can't harm you, if they can't find you! Use code ppf at the link below  and get 60% off annual plans: ⁠https://incogni.com/ppf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we begin a new series exploring twentieth-century philosophy through the lives of the people behind the ideas. First up David talks to philosopher Nikhil Krishnan about A. J. Ayer, the man who helped inspire the rise and fall of logical positivism. What did Ayer discover about the nature of truth when he went to Vienna on his honeymoon? How did he manage to popularise such a technical approach to his subject? What was left of philosophy when he had finished with it? And what does Ayer’s taste for football, sex and celebrity tell us about his attitude to the life of the mind? You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time in The Lives of the Philosophers: Simone Weil Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We come to the end of this series of bad ideas with a conversation with neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan about the problems of living in an age of diagnosis, when all medical conditions need a label and new labels appear all the time. What happens when the classification criteria for conditions like autism and ADHD get broader and broader? Are doctors or patients driving this? When does predictive testing do more harm than good? Why does advocacy for sufferers get in the way of good health? Is de-diagnosis achievable? The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O’Sullivan is available now https://bit.ly/3U1ZwOu Out tomorrow on PPF+: a bad ideas bonus episode in which geneticist and science writer Adam Rutherford explains what’s wrong with genealogy: why does wanting to know where we come from lead us down so many blind alleys? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: Forensics on Trial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s bad idea is also one that is very hard to pin down: David talks to writer and literary scholar Ian Ellison about the concept of decadence, which went from explaining the fall of ancient Rome to becoming a label modern artists wanted to claim for themselves. What makes a society decadent? Is it always a bad thing? When does decadence explain what’s happening and when does it distract from what’s happening? Was Weimar Germany the best of decadence or the worst of it? And how decadent are we today? Out now on PPF+: a bonus episode to accompany this series in which David talks to political historian David Klemperer about the idea of social credit, which promised to save the world in the 1920s and 1930s and ended up doing nothing of the sort. A fascinating story of cranks, conspiracy theorists and crypto-fascists with curious echoes in Silicon Valley today. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time in The History of Bad Ideas: Short-Form Video Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s bad idea is one the United States has been stuck with for a long time: David talks to historian of America Adam Smith about the damage done by the idea of the electoral college. Why was it thought necessary by the Founders to have special electors between the voters and their choice of president? What made it a dead letter almost as soon as it was created? How has it served to distort or discredit electoral outcomes? When, if ever, will it be replaced and if so by what? Out now on PPF+: part two of David’s conversation with Nikhil Krishnan about the political pitfalls of utilitarianism: from what it means for democracy to how it was used to justify colonialism. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time in The History of Bad Ideas: The Romantic Hero Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s bad idea is a pervasive political myth: the notion that what really matters at election time is political leadership. David talks to political scientist Jane Green about why leaders are less important than they – and we – tend to think. What does shape how people choose to vote? Why do we consistently overstate what leaders can do? Did Blair or Johnson or Starmer really ‘win’ their elections? Can Andy Burnham buck the trend? You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time in The History of Bad Ideas: Utilitarianism Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices