John Keane
Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney
6 episodes
Covers topics in categories such as:
Edmund Burke
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the work of the philosopher, politician and writer Edmund Burke, whose views on revolution in America and France were hugely influential.
3 June 2010
Also featuring: Karen O'Brien, Richard Bourke
Philosophy18th-century Irish philosophers18th-century Irish writersPhilosophers of cultureIrish Freemasons, Irish libertarians, Irish people of English descentBritish MPs 1774–1780Rectors of the University of GlasgowBritish MPs 1784–1790, British MPs 1790–1796Virtue ethicistsPhilosophers of religionCritics of deismEnglish libertariansHistorians of the French RevolutionAlumni of Trinity College Dublin18th-century philosophersEnglish people of Irish descentPhilosophers of education18th-century English philosophersPhilosophers of art18th-century English male writersStreathamitesPolitical philosophersClassical liberalismPhilosophers of historyBritish MPs 1780–1784, Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituenciesWriters from Dublin (city)18th-century English writersBritish political philosophersIrish AnglicansConservatismPhilosophers of economicsSocial philosophersNatural law ethicists18th-century Anglo-Irish people, 18th-century Irish male writersAnglican philosophers18th centuryEconomicsFranceIrelandThe Statue of Liberty
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Statue of Liberty, given by France to America as a token of revolutionary kinship.
14 February 2008
Also featuring: Robert Gildea, Kathleen Burk
Anarchism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Anarchism and why its political ideas became synonymous with chaos and disorder.
7 December 2006
Also featuring: Ruth Kinna, Peter Marshall
Freedom
Melvyn Bragg discusses what it is to be free, how freedom became such a powerful value and whether there is such a thing as natural freedom or if it is always culturally defined.
4 July 2002
Also featuring: Bernard Williams, Annabel Brett
The American Ideal
Melvyn Bragg examines what underwrites the idealism of America that has driven its enormous cultural, economic and diplomatic influence across the globe. Was it ever ideal and is it ideal any longer?
1 June 2000
Also featuring: Christopher Hitchens, Susan Sontag
Just War
Melvyn Bragg examines where the idea of a just war originated and whether after over 100 years of almost unimaginably violent conflict, the term has any meaning at all.
3 June 1999
Also featuring: Niall Ferguson