Concepts in ethics
Virtue ethics (also aretaic ethics, from Greek ἀρετή [aretḗ]) is an approach to ethics that treats the concept of moral virtue as central. Virtue ethics is usually contrasted with two other major approaches in normative ethics, consequentialism and deontology, which make the goodness of outcomes of an action (consequentialism) and the concept of moral duty (deontology) central.
8 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Duty
Melvyn Bragg discusses duty; the concept that others have a claim over our actions has been at the heart of the history of civilised society.
13 November 2003
Featuring: Angie Hobbs, Annabel Brett, A. C. Grayling
Evil
Melvyn Bragg discusses the notion of evil in western philosophy.
3 May 2001
Featuring: Jones Erwin, Stephen Mulhall, Margaret Atkins
Free Will(500th programme)
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the problem of free will - the extent to which we are able to choose our actions.
10 March 2011
Featuring: Simon Blackburn, Helen Beebee, Galen Strawson
Friendship
Melvyn Bragg discusses the concept of friendship, considered in antiquity as being an essential constituent of both a good society and a good life.
2 March 2006
Featuring: Angie Hobbs, Mark Vernon, John Mullan
Good and Evil
Melvyn Bragg examines what the discoveries of Darwin and our knowledge of the true physiological nature and history of man has done for us in terms understanding our concepts of good and evil.
1 April 1999
Featuring: Leszek Kołakowski, Galen Strawson
Happiness
Melvyn Bragg discusses whether 'happiness' means living a life of pleasure or of virtue. How much does this ancient philosophical debate still define what it means to be happy today?
24 January 2002
Featuring: Angie Hobbs, Simon Blackburn, A. C. Grayling
The Unintended Consequences of Mathematics
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the unintended consequences of mathematical discoveries, from alternating current to predicting the path of asteroids.
11 February 2010
Featuring: John D. Barrow, Colva Roney-Dougal, Marcus du Sautoy
Virtue
Melvyn Bragg discusses a history of the concept of virtue from the ancient Greeks to modern ideas, and examines why we need it and what ideals of behaviour provide a universal framework for it.
28 February 2002
Featuring: Galen Strawson, Miranda Fricker, Roger Crisp