Conservatism, Philanthropy, Liberal and socialist futures

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2020

⏱️ 45 minutes

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Summary

Edmund Fawcett's latest book focuses on the historic and contemporary conflicts in Conservatism. He describes how the constant tensions within the Conservative political thought have been exposed and what it might mean for the continuation of the tradition.

Paul Vallely argues that philanthropy is about more than mere altruism. It is always an expression of power, regardless of any desire to make the world a better place. He discusses the contradictions at the heart of philanthropy from the Greeks to modern philanthrocapitalists - and how philanthropy might still do good.

Ian Dunt and Grace Blakeley have written about the challenges facing Liberals and Socialists respectively. They discuss how these big intellectual traditions might survive contact with the current moment.

Conservatism: The Fight for a Tradition by Edmund Fawcett is published by Princeton University Press

Philanthropy: From Aristotle to Zuckerberg by Paul Vallely is published by Bloomsbury

How to be a Liberal: Thinking for Yourself in a Populist World by Ian Dunt is published by Canbury Press

Socialist Futures: The Pandemic and the Post-Corbyn Era edited by Grace Blakeley is published by Verso

The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism by Grace Blakeley is published by Verso

Producer: Ruth Watts

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?
0:23.3	It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.
0:28.8	Listen to Evil Genius on BBC Sounds.
0:32.0	Hello, I'm Anne McHelvoy and I'll be looking at the big current intellectual battles within the big political
0:38.0	ideologies as well as a new history of the long tradition of Western philanthropy in the
0:43.5	Arts and Ideas podcast episode. It's coming up just after this. Before your chosen podcast, my name's
0:50.2	Ian McMillan, keeper of the box of delights that is the verb. If you like poetry and stories
0:56.5	and spoken word and performance and language that falls between the cracks, then the verb is for you.
1:03.9	Downloaders wherever you get your podcasts. In recent years, writes Paul Vallali,
1:08.8	philanthropy has focused largely on doing and not thinking.
1:12.6	In his new book, Philanthropy from Aristotle to Zuckerberg, he argues that modern philanthropists
1:18.6	should step up to the intellectual plate, rather than reshaping philanthropy to fit their business methods.
1:24.6	Later, I'll be asking what modern philanthropy might learn from its
1:28.6	long history. In a subdued and virtual party conference season, we turn our attention to
1:35.1	renewing political ideas. The coronavirus pandemic, Brexit, and a conservative government with an
1:41.0	80-seat majority, just some of the factors that have put socialism
1:44.9	and liberalism under pressure. Grace Blakely and Ian Dunt discuss what the current moment reveals
1:50.8	about these political ideologies and how they might respond to it. But we begin our free-thinking
1:56.5	fringe with a consideration of the intellectual rifts within what is still Britain's most
2:01.7	electorally successful political tradition, conservatism. Edmund Fawcett worked at the
2:07.6	economist for more than three decades, serving as chief correspondent in Washington, Paris and Berlin.
2:13.7	In those years, he saw the rise of Ronald Reagan, the end of the Cold War and the creation of the single European market.
	...

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