Good and Evil

1 Apr, 1999 200 Religion

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.

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Guests

  • Leszek Kolakowski No other episodes
    Professor of Philosophy, Oxford University
  • Galen Strawson 3 episodes
    Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, Jesus College, Oxford

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Programme ID: p00545g0

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00545g0

Auto-category: 200 (Religion)

Hello (First sentence from this episode) Hello. The nature of good and evil is a subject which has continued to tease and trouble the greatest minds in the 20th century, whether in medicine, philosophy, politics or the arts.