Angie Hobbs
Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield
26 episodes
Appears in multiple episodes with: Fiona Leigh, James Warren, Edith Hall, Frisbee Sheffield, Paul Cartledge, David Sedley, Peter Adamson, Paul Cartledge, Annabel Brett, A. C. Grayling
Covers topics in categories such as:
Socrates in Prison
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Plato's accounts of the last days of Socrates in which he kept doing philosophy right up to the point of his execution by hemlock.
23 January 2025
Also featuring: Fiona Leigh, James Warren
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle's influential approach to the questions of how to live a good life and what happiness means, originally aimed at the elite in Athens.
02 November 2023
Also featuring: Roger Crisp, Sophia Connell
Plato's Atlantis
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the legend of the lost island of Atlantis, first told by Plato and taken literally by Renaissance Europeans as they began to explore the oceans.
22 September 2022
Also featuring: Edith Hall, Christopher Gill
Plato's Gorgias
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss arguably the most personal of Plato's dialogues in which he examines the values that led to the execution of his mentor Socrates by drinking hemlock
25 November 2021
Also featuring: Frisbee Sheffield, Fiona Leigh
PhilosophyNatural law ethicistsPlatonismAncient Greek slaves and freedmenPhilosophers of deathTheorists on Western civilizationAncient Greek physicistsMoral realistsLogiciansAncient Greek epistemologists, Ancient Greek ethicistsRationalistsEpigrammatists of the Greek AnthologyPupils of SocratesPhilosophers of educationAncient Greek philosophers of mindOntologistsPhilosophers of loveClassical theismAttic Greek writersAncient Greek logiciansAncient Greek political philosophersIdealistsNatural philosophersAncient Greek metaphysiciansAncient Athenian philosophersMarcus Aurelius
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, meditations and reputation of this stoic and philosopher king, who Machiavelli called the last of the 'Five Good Emperors'.
25 February 2021
Also featuring: Simon Goldhill, Catharine Edwards
Plato's Republic
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Plato's most famous dialogue which asks 'what is justice', and 'how does justice relate to happiness?'.
29 June 2017
Also featuring: M.M. McCabe, James Warren
Plato's Symposium
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Plato's Symposium, one of the Greek philosopher's best-known works and an influential text about the nature of love.
3 January 2014
Also featuring: Richard L. Hunter, Frisbee Sheffield
Epicureanism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Epicureanism, the system of philosophy based on the teachings of Epicurus and founded in the 4th century BC.
7 February 2013
Also featuring: David Sedley, James Warren
Neoplatonism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Neoplatonism, a mystical school of thought founded by the third century philosopher Plotinus.
19 April 2012
Also featuring: Peter Adamson, Anne Sheppard
Heraclitus
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek thinker Heraclitus, immortalised by later scholars as the Weeping Philosopher.
8 December 2011
Also featuring: Peter Adamson, James Warren
PhilosophyAncient Greek political philosophersAncient Greeks from the Achaemenid EmpireNatural philosophersPhilosophers of religionAncient Greek epistemologists, Ancient Greek ethicistsAncient Greek metaphysiciansPhilosophers of timeAncient Greek philosophers of mind6th-century BC Greek philosophersOntologistsAncient Greek physicists5th-century BC Greek philosophersAristotle's Poetics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle's Poetics, the first and arguably most influential work of literary theory in history.
27 January 2011
Also featuring: Nick Lowe, Stephen Halliwell
Sparta
Melvyn Bragg and guests Paul Cartledge, Edith Hall and Angie Hobbs discuss Sparta, the militaristic Ancient Greek city-state, and the political ideas it spawned.
19 November 2009
Also featuring: Paul Cartledge, Edith Hall
Aristotle's Politics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most important works of political philosophy ever written - Aristotle’s ‘Politics.
6 November 2008
Also featuring: Paul Cartledge, Annabel Brett
Socrates
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the iconic Greek philosopher Socrates. He is the founder of Western philosophy, he was funny, irritating and rude but left not a single word in his own hand.
27 September 2007
Also featuring: David Sedley, Paul Millett
PhilosophyAncient Greek political philosophersPhilosophers of educationAncient Greek epistemologists, Ancient Greek ethicistsForced suicidesIrony theorists470s BC birthsExecuted philosophersAncient Greek philosophers of mindCritics of religions5th-century BC AtheniansAncient Athenian philosophersSocratesPhilosophers of love5th-century BC Greek philosophersClassical theismFriendship
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
Also featuring: Mark Vernon, John Mullan
Beauty
Melvyn Bragg discusses the qualities of beauty and the history of aesthetics. Is beauty inherent in things, or in the mind of the observer?
19 May 2005
Also featuring: Susan James, Julian Baggini
Stoicism
Melvyn Bragg discusses Stoicism, the third great philosophy of the Ancient World, which had a great influence on the Roman Empire.
3 March 2005
Also featuring: Jonathan Rée, David Sedley
Rhetoric
Melvyn Bragg discusses Rhetoric, the art of speaking which is an expression of inner virtue and also fundamental to ideas about democracy.
28 October 2004
Also featuring: Thomas Healy, Ceri Sullivan
Heroism
Melvyn Bragg discusses what defines a hero, and their place in classical society. Nietzsche, the Romantics, Renaissance idealism and classical tragedy are brought to bear on the age old heroic ideal.
6 May 2004
Also featuring: A. C. Grayling, Paul Cartledge
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
Also featuring: Annabel Brett, A. C. Grayling
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
Also featuring: Simon Blackburn, A. C. Grayling
The Philosophy of Love
Melvyn Bragg discusses the philosophy of love, a search for a completeness in human nature.
29 March 2001
Also featuring: Roger Scruton, Thomas Docherty