Free Thinking 2013 - Science and Sensibility
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2013
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today many scientists are engaged in exploring the interaction between logical and intuitive aspects of the mind. New Generation Thinker Gregory Tate, from the University of Surrey, argues that novelists have been examining similar psychological questions for centuries, and he outlines the way the novels of Jane Austen shed light on the balance of power between thought and emotion. Recorded on Sunday 27th October 2013 in front of a live audience at Sage Gateshead as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking festival.
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, it's 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 at some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right? |
| 0:23.4 | It's like the podcast version of telling your kids |
| 0:25.5 | the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. |
| 0:28.9 | Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.1 | This is a special download from the BBC Free Thinking Festival. |
| 0:35.9 | For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.com.ukuk slash radio 3. |
| 0:44.4 | Which can tell us more about the human mind, literature or the science of psychology. |
| 0:56.3 | Today, I'm going to suggest that, |
| 1:02.2 | of the two, literary fiction might perhaps be the better guide to understanding how people think and feel. But first, I'd like you to imagine a psychological case study that focuses on two sisters. |
| 1:09.9 | Raised in the same environment, by the same parents, |
| 1:12.8 | they nonetheless have very different personalities. The younger of the two is emotional, impetuous, |
| 1:19.4 | prone to act on impulse without thinking of consequences. She falls recklessly in love with an |
| 1:24.5 | unsuitable partner, is left distraught when he abandons her, |
| 1:28.3 | and is forced to learn to temper her feelings. Her older sister is restrained, thoughtful, |
| 1:34.7 | careful about making decisions. She suffers several setbacks in her life, but deals rationally |
| 1:40.2 | and patiently with each of them, and in the end, marries a man she loves. |
| 1:45.5 | Happiness, or at least success in romantic relationships, depends here on the answer to one question. |
| 1:52.1 | Can you control your emotions, or do your emotions control you? |
| 1:57.6 | Psychologists might say that this case study supports the dual process theory of psychology, |
| 2:03.0 | which posits that the mind works simultaneously on two different levels. |
| 2:08.3 | In his best-selling 2011 book Thinking Fast and Slow, |
| 2:12.3 | the psychologist Daniel Kahneman labels them System 1 and System 2. |
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