Summary
The French philosopher Michel Foucault though friendship could be one of the most subversive relationships around. Our friends can be the most important people in our lives. But managing friendships can be hard work too. Matthew Sweet is joined by a psychotherapist, a historian, a philosopher, a literary historian, and a film critic to discuss the history, politics, and psychology of friendship.
Tiffany Watt Smith is the author of Bad Friend: A Century of Revolutionary Friendships Susie Orbach's books include Between Women: Love, Envy and Competition in Women's Friendships, co-written with Luise Eichenbaum Stephen Shapiro is Professor of American Literature at the University of Warwick Alexander Douglas is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of St Andrews and author of Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self Phuong Le is a film critic whose writing appears in Sight & Sound, The Guardian and elsewhere
Producer: Luke Mulhall
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Can I just say? |
| 0:01.5 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | It's such a wonderful listen. |
| 0:05.6 | So nice. |
| 0:06.5 | There are loads more like it on BBC sounds. |
| 0:08.8 | Different paces, different heights. |
| 0:10.6 | The roof is buckling. |
| 0:11.9 | Where you can also listen to live sports commentary. |
| 0:14.2 | It's right foot goes for goal. |
| 0:16.7 | And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories. |
| 0:21.6 | The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession. |
| 0:25.2 | And she's had to live with that. |
| 0:26.8 | So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion. |
| 0:29.7 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.7 | Sort of expecting that every week now. |
| 0:35.8 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:39.5 | You're listening to the Arts and Ideas podcast with me, Matthew Sweet. |
| 0:43.5 | It seems like one of our jobs on Freethinking these days is to monitor the collapse of trust |
| 0:48.5 | in institutions. Hello, the age of trade wars, jostling great powers, polarised electorates, closing humanities |
| 0:56.4 | departments. But at free thinking, we want to do more than jump on a chair and scream. |
| 1:01.7 | We want to know how to negotiate this historical moment. And if there are thinkers who can help us out. |
| 1:08.2 | So here's a proposal. If we're living through an era where big alliances |
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