Past Present Future

For the first episode in our new series about the hold of bad ideas David talks to the geneticist and science broadcaster Adam Rutherford about eugenics: from its origins in the 19th century through its heyday in the 20th century to its continuing legacy today. Is eugenics bad science, bad morality, bad politics – or all three? What are the fears that keep drawing people back to trying to control the consequences of human reproduction? And is a new age of consumerist eugenics upon us?For ad-free listening and bonus episodes – including more bad ideas – subscribe to PPF+ www.ppfideas.comNext time on The History of Bad Ideas: Helen Thompson on the Gold Standard

In our final episode David and Lea discuss liberation movements, from post-colonial liberation to women’s liberation, gay liberation and animal liberation. What, if anything, do these movements have in common? Is liberation about equality or is it about difference? And who needs liberating next – children?You can hear our bonus episodes for this series by signing up to PPF+ www.ppfideas.com In the first bonus episode – available now – David and Lea answer listeners’ questions about AI, technology, online surveillance and brains-in-a-vat: what happens to freedom if we’re living in a computer simulation?Coming next our brand new series: The History of Bad Ideas, beginning with Adam Rutherford on eugenics.

In the penultimate episode in this series David and Lea discuss two twentieth-century philosophies of freedom and the human psyche. What can existentialism teach us about the nature of free choice under conditions of despair? Is there any escape from bad faith? And what can individuals – or even entire societies – learn about their freedom from being put on the couch?Sign up to PPF+ to get two bonus episodes to accompany this and all future series along with ad-free listening: www.ppfideas.comComing next on the History of Freedom: Liberation Movements

In our series about different ideas of freedom David and Lea have reached anarchism and nihilism. What is the positive vision of human freedom behind the anarchist rejection of the established order? What can nineteenth-century anarchists teach us about freedom in the twenty-first century? And if nihilists are against everything, what are they for?Sign up to PPF+ to get ad-free listening and two bonus episodes a month – just go to ppfideas.comComing up next: David and Lea discuss existentialism and psychoanalysis.

In the latest episode of our series about different ideas of freedom David and Lea explore what makes the free market free – and where it fails. How does buying and selling stuff advance human freedom? What does the free market free us from? And is it really possible to be free in a world dominated by credit and debt? Sign up now for PPF+ to get bonus episodes and ad-free listening www.ppfideas.comNext on the History of Freedom: Anarchism and Nihilism

In this episode in our series about ideas of freedom David and Lea explore Immanuel Kant’s vision of rational freedom and perpetual peace. Why was Kant so sure that human reason would produce enlightened progress? Was he right? What are the obstacles likely to derail the advance of peace, then and now? How well do his arguments about free speech and free expression hold up in the age of the internet?Sign up now for PPF+ to get bonus episodes and ad-free listening www.ppfideas.comComing up next on the History of Freedom: How Free is the Free Market?

History of Freedom w/ Lea Ypi: Machiavelli and Political LibertyFor the third episode in our series about ideas of freedom David and Lea discuss Machiavelli, republicanism and what it means to live in a free state. What are the institutions that can protect people from domination and exploitation? How can political elites be held to account? Where are human beings most likely to find themselves at the mercy of others – and what can be done to help them escape?Sign up now for PPF+ to get bonus episodes and ad-free listening www.ppfideas.comComing up next on the History of Freedom: Kant, Enlightenment and Peace

In episode two of our new series David and Lea explore some ancient ideas of freedom and ask what they mean today. What can Socrates teach us about the nature of free inquiry and the pitfalls of democratic freedom? Is Stoicism a guide to emancipation from desire or an exercise in selfishness? And how did Christianity upend the notion of freedom by annexing it to ideas of salvation and love? A conversation about dissent, self-knowledge and faith.Sign up now for PPF+ to get ad-free listening and bonus episodes to accompany this and all future series. Just follow the top link https://linktr.ee/ppfideasComing next on the History of Freedom: Machiavelli, republicanism and what it means to live in a free state, then and now.

In the first episode of our new series about the history of freedom, David and Lea discuss what the idea means to them and why it matters so much. What did freedom mean to Lea growing up in communist Albania? Is it possible to know true freedom without also having experienced oppression? And how is being free different from being lucky?Subscribe now to PPF+ to get bonus episodes and ad-free listening for this and all future series. Just go to www.ppfideas.com.Coming up next on the History of Freedom: The Ancients – Socrates, Seneca & Jesus.