AC Grayling on the history of philosophy
HistoryExtra podcast
HistoryExtra
4.3 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2019
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | There's a Peugeot SUV for everyone and every need. |
| 0:04.3 | Sport for choice. |
| 0:05.2 | I like it. |
| 0:06.3 | From the Compact 2008, the stylish 3008 to the Rumi New 5,08. |
| 0:11.5 | Weekend adventures, here we come. |
| 0:13.3 | Now available on 0% APR with a minimum 20% deposit. |
| 0:17.1 | Sounds like 100% match. |
| 0:18.8 | Book a test drive on perjo.co.K. Offer ends 30 of September |
| 0:23.1 | 2025. Personal contract purchase subject status and availability. T's and Z's 18 plus |
| 0:27.5 | excludes plug-in hybrids, Delantis Financial Services. Hello and welcome to the History Extra podcast from BBC History Magazine, Britain's best-selling |
| 0:45.2 | history magazine. |
| 1:01.3 | I'm Ellie Corthorne. For today's podcast, I spoke with the philosopher A.C. Grayling. We met at London's New College of Humanities, where Professor Grayling is master, to discuss his new book, The History of Philosophy, which covers the story of intellectual inquiry from the pre-Socratic thinkers to the |
| 1:12.1 | present day. So what are some of the biggest conundrums that philosophers have grappled with down |
| 1:17.4 | the ages? Well, you know, you can reduce philosophy to two great questions. One of them is, |
| 1:24.6 | what exists, what is reality, what is the world? And the other one is, |
| 1:29.4 | what matters in the world? What's the value in the world? Now, these two questions are obviously |
| 1:34.3 | too big to be answered just by themselves, so you have to break them down. And it's in the breaking |
| 1:38.6 | down of these questions that you get the more particular questions. The one about reality, |
| 1:43.3 | well, how would you know what reality is? Well, what is knowledge and how do you get it? What about truth? What is truth? What is the best way to reason and to inquire and so on? And the other question, the question about what matters, is the question about value. What's a real value in the world? What's right? What's wrong? What's the good? |
| 2:03.1 | What is the best kind of life for people? So these are the two great questions of philosophy, |
| 2:07.8 | and they have driven the whole history of thought since our very earliest ancestors. |
| 2:14.0 | So how have the interests of philosophers evolved over the years? Well, first I should say |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from HistoryExtra, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of HistoryExtra and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.