Good and Evil

In Our Time: Philosophy

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 1999

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss whether religion can still be seen as a way of interpreting and judging good and evil in modern western civilisation and examines what the discoveries of Darwin and our knowledge of the true physiological nature and history of man has done for us in terms understanding our concepts of good and evil. As we entered the 20th century Nietzsche announced that God is dead. Was his hatred of Christianity a natural consequence of his belief in the unlimited possibility of mankind’s self creation? If we have enough basic self confidence in our own selves, do we need God?Leszek Kolakowski and Galen Strawson map the current terrain of morality as perceived through philosophy, politics and Darwin and Christ.With Leszek Kolakowski, author and Professor of Philosophy, Oxford University; Galen Strawson, author and Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, Jesus College, Oxford.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for down learning the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.uk.
0:09.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:12.0	Hello, the nature of good and evil is a subject which has continued to tease and trouble
0:16.7	the greatest minds in the 20th century, whether in medicine, philosophy, politics or the arts.
0:21.1	In the century that has seen one of the greatest atrocities known to mankind,
0:24.3	the Holocaust and with continual wars in the former Yugoslavia, the question as to what is good and
0:29.0	evil is as resonant as ever.
0:31.4	Is good and evil in our genes as medicine is currently seeking or are they a product of society.
0:35.6	Where is responsibility for good and evil lie and is a belief in God essential to any argument
0:40.4	about good and evil?
0:41.6	Joining me is Leszek Kolakovsky. Born in Poland he was a
0:45.0	prominent Marxist there in the 50s and was exiled in the 60s. Since then he's
0:49.0	lectured widely at Yale, the University,
0:53.0	where he's professor of philosophy.
0:54.6	He's the author of over 30 books, including main currents on Marxism.
0:58.6	In his latest book, Freedom, Fame, Lying and Betrayal,
1:01.7	essays in everyday life, He wrote in one essay,
1:04.8	If God is dead, nothing remains but an indifferent void which engulfs and annihilates us.
1:10.0	I'm also joined by Galen Strossen, one of the new generation of philosophers and one of this
1:14.7	country's rising stars in the field.
1:16.8	A committed atheist who marries Darwin with his philosophy is a fellow and tutor in philosophy
1:21.2	at Jesus College Oxford and the author of books on free will, causation and the philosophy of mind.
	...

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