Existentialism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss existentialism. Imagine being back inside the bustling cafes on the Left Bank of Paris in the 1930s, cigarette smoke, strong coffee and the buzz of continental voices philosophising about human responsibility and freedom. This kind of talk gave utterance to Existentialism. A twentieth century philosophy of everyday life concerned with the individual, and his or her place within the world. In novels, plays and philosophy, Existentialists try to work out the nature of our existence. As Roquentin says in Sartre’s novel ‘Nausea’, “To exist is simply to be there; what exists appears, lets itself be encountered, but you can never deduce it”.But where did these ideas come from? What do they really mean? And how have they impacted on our lives?
Guests
- Dr A. C. Grayling
4 episodes
Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London - Christina Howells
5 episodes
Professor of French at the University of Oxford, fellow of Wadham College -
Simon Critchley No other episodes
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex and author of A Companion to Continental Philosophy
Related episodes
-
Sartre
7 Oct, 2004 840 French and related literatures -
Kierkegaard
20 Mar, 2008 190 Modern Western Philosophy -
Phenomenology
22 Jan, 2015 190 Modern Western Philosophy -
Nihilism
16 Nov, 2000 190 Modern Western Philosophy -
Camus
3 Jan, 2008 840 French and related literatures -
Bohemianism
9 Oct, 2003 700 Arts -
Montaigne
25 Apr, 2013 800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism -
Cogito Ergo Sum
28 Apr, 2011 190 Modern Western Philosophy -
Wittgenstein
4 Dec, 2003 190 Modern Western Philosophy -
Free Will
10 Mar, 2011 100 Philosophy -
Empiricism
10 Jun, 2004 190 Modern Western Philosophy -
Schopenhauer
29 Oct, 2009 190 Modern Western Philosophy -
The Philosophy of Solitude
19 Jun, 2014 120 Epistemology -
Bergson and Time
9 May, 2019 110 Metaphysics -
The Individual
21 Oct, 1999 100 Philosophy -
The Examined Life
9 May, 2002 100 Philosophy -
Cynicism
20 Oct, 2005 180 Ancient, medieval, and Eastern philosophy -
Relativism
19 Jan, 2006 100 Philosophy -
The Continental-Analytic Split
10 Nov, 2011 100 Philosophy -
Modern Culture
21 Jan, 1999 800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
Programme ID: p00547h8
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00547h8
Auto-category: 100 (Philosophy and psychology)