Portrait of Lord Melvyn Bragg, host of In Our Time

Materialists

Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialism, mind and consciousness are by-products or epiphenomena of material processes (such as the biochemistry of the human brain and nervous system), without which they cannot exist.

2 episodes

Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:

PhilosophyOntologistsSocial philosophersPhilosophers of mindTheorists on Western civilizationPhilosophers of historyWriters about activism and social changeMetaphysiciansPhilosophers of culturePhilosophers of religionPhilosophers of scienceEpistemologistsCritics of the Catholic ChurchWriters about religion and scienceAtheist philosophersGerman male non-fiction writersPhilosophers of educationPhilosophers of law19th-century German philosophersPhilosophers of economicsPhilosophers of mathematics17th-century English male writersGerman political philosophersNatural law ethicists19th-century atheistsCritics of work and the work ethicEmpiricistsPhilosophers of language17th-century English writersAlumni of St John's College, CambridgeAnti-consumeristsCritics of religionsPhilosophers of technology17th-century writers in LatinAnti-nationalistsBritish critics of religionsBritish philosophers of educationHumboldt University of Berlin alumniJewish socialistsMarxist theoristsPolitical realistsRhetoric theoristsWriters about globalization17th-century English philosophersCritics of JudaismEnglish physicistsEnglish political philosophersGerman Marxist writers19th-century German historiansBurials at Highgate CemeteryGerman revolutionariesPamphleteersSocialist feministsStateless peopleAnti-imperialistsBritish critics of ChristianityCritics of political economyEconomic historians, German sociologistsEnglish theologiansFellows of the Royal Society of ArtsGerman anti-capitalists, Jewish communists, German socialist feministsGerman writers on atheismMembers of the International Workingmen's AssociationPhilosophical anthropologyThomas HobbesUniversity of Bonn alumniUniversity of Jena alumni
  1. Hobbes

    Melvyn Bragg discusses Thomas Hobbes, the great 17th century philosopher who famously said that ungoverned man lived a life that was ‘solitary, poor, brutish and short’.

    1 December 2005

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    Featuring: Quentin Skinner, David Wootton, Annabel Brett

     
  2. Marx

    Melvyn Bragg discusses Karl Marx who once said that while other philosophers wanted to interpret the world, he wanted to change it. And he changed the world with his Communist Manifesto.

    14 July 2005

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    Featuring: A. C. Grayling, Francis Wheen, Gareth Stedman Jones