Free Thinking

Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives - looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.

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All available episodes (1469 total)

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Free Thinking at the Hay Festival: Responsibility

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BBC Radio 4

Upcoming episodes (4 new)

Supporting Content

New Research
New Thinking from UK Unis/Being Human Festival: history, books, language, philosophy.
- New Thinking: Tackling Modern Slavery
- Depicting Disability
The Way We Live Now
From moral questions to the quirks and pleasures of life.
- John Rawls's A Theory of Justice
- Breathe
Philosophy
Free Thinking ponders.
- Panpsychism - Is everything conscious?
- Foucault: The History of Sexuality 4
Women in the world
Free thinking explores women's lives and issues.
- Why we read and the idea of the woman writer
- Women Behaving Badly?
Landmarks
Key films, books, TV, plays, art: 1001 Nights - 2001 A Space Odyssey, Jane Austen - Jaws
- The Daleks
- Hannah Arendt's exploration of totalitarianism
Exploring Black History
From C20 fiction to new insights from research into political activism + colonial history
- The influence of the British Black Art movement
- Claude McKay and the Harlem Renaissance
Green Thinking
New thinking on the environment
- Landmark: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
- Deep Time and the Earth
Identity Discussions
Free Thinking explores the way people define themselves
Free Thinking - The Future
Peter Singer, Cordelia Fine, Garry Kasparov, AI and Algorithmns, Tim O’Reilly.
- AI and creativity: what makes us human?
- Is the Law keeping up with our changing world?
Free Thinking explores religious belief
Ziauddin Sardar, Richard Dawkins, Karen Armstrong, Rabbi Sacks, Marilynne Robinson
- Religion and ordinary lives
- Jewish identity in 2020
Free Thinking explores Shakespeare
Leading scholars, insights from actors and directors and new research into the Bard.
- Shakespeare for the people
- When Shakespeare Travelled With Me
Radio 3 explores South and East Asian Culture
From the Tale of Genji to Godzilla, Gandhi to Arundhati Roy, ink art to Confucius
- My Neighbour Totoro
- The Cultural Revolution
Free Thinking – Prose, Poetry and Drama
Writing from around the world: fact, fiction, key authors, classics, contemporary voices.
- How We Read
- Odesa Stories
Art, Architecture, Photography and Museums
From Dada to reflecting the body, Frieze Museum Director Debates to Black British art
- Women's Art
- Who Needs Critics ?
Free Thinking on War
Spying, peace negotiating & the power balance around the world, films, books, paintings
- War in Fact and Fiction
- The Imperial War Museum Remembrance Discussion 2021
In Depth Conversations
Teju Cole, Zadie Smith, Umberto Eco, Peter Singer, David Grossman, Edna O'Brien
- Jordan B Peterson
- Naomi Wolf
All about film, on Radio 3
A collection of Radio 3 programmes focussing on film.
Belonging, Home, Borders & National Identity
Discussions/interviews: Slavoj Zizek, Xinran, Ivan Klima, Claudia Rankine, Pankaj Mishra
10 Years of New Generation Thinkers
From Tudor art to animal rights: insights from the AHRC & BBC's scheme for academics.
American Culture
Free Thinking explores America. Guests Claudia Rankine, Marilynne Robinson, Peter Bourne
Modernism
What does it mean for books, music, architecture, philosophy, and art around the world?
Harry Belafonte talks to Matthew Sweet
The American performer and activist (1927-2023) talks politics, rebellion and containment
1920s and modernist culture, philosophy and history
Futurism, Dadaism, South African writing, Indian architecture, German philosophy
- Modernism Around the World
The Arts & Ideas Podcast
You can download all the past episodes of Radio 3's Free Thinking
Hans Magnus Enzensberger (11 November 1929 – 24 November 2022)
The German poet and translator talking with Anne McElvoy in 2015
Glenda Jackson and Filming Sunday Bloody Sunday
With the death of Glenda Jackson announced here's a conversation she recorded last year
Beryl Vertue
In June Matthew Sweet talked with the Sherlock producer who has now died aged 90
Antony Sher in conversation in 2015
The actor discusses his South African childhood and playing Willy Loman, Lear + Falstaff
100 novels that shaped our world
Free Thinking explores the BBC's 100 novels that shaped our world.
The 2020 Wolfson History Prize: David Abulafia, Hallie Rubenhold, Prashant Kidambi
Hear the 2020 winning historian David Abulafia in this episode
Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019
Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV
Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional
Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV
- Watch a selection of videos, for the story of human emotions: complex, powerful, and sometimes unexpected
- Short Films from the 2019 Festival
Find out about the emotions of the past
Dr Chaney from the Centre for the History of the Emotions on the emotions of the past.
- Click here to read about 7 emotions that no longer exist.
- Visit the Emotions Lab at Queen Mary University of London's Centre for the History of the Emotions
Click to listen the historians shortlisted for the 2019 Wolfson History Prize
Congratulations to 2019 winner Mary Fulbrook.
5 New Generation Thinkers discuss what history tells us about ideas of masculinity, recorded at the York Festival of Ideas.
The Essays will be broadcast on Radio 3 17-21 June
- Masculinity: Episode 1 of 5 -The well-groomed Georgian
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many
We examine the fast-changing relationship between the individual & the crowd
- Watch a selection of videos, from a better understanding of death to arts on prescription...
Hear the New Generation Thinkers' Essays exploring forgotten figures from history
Recorded at the York Festival of Ideas (2018)
New Generation Thinkers 2018: hear their ideas
From the urge to fight and Mrs Noah to Uncanny objects and mountain photography...
- Apply to become a 2019 New Generation Thinker
Listen to essays from New Generation Thinkers
From breastfeeding to fasting, resisting tyranny to murder & dining with a nightmare...
New Generation Thinkers 2017: hear their ideas
From satire and the circus, to gangs and 'speaking truth to power'
New Generation Thinkers 2016: Hear their ideas
From aubergines to frostbite via finger-counting.
New Generation Thinkers 2016. Watch short films.
The mariner’s astrolabe; faith in food; Sherlock Holmes; the phone & a cold war relic...
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival
Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life
Night Waves archive
Listen to past editions from the extensive Night Waves archive.
- Explore the archive
Crowd psychology: six reasons why mobs don't always rule
Stephen Reicher reveals that crowd psychology is more nuanced than people think.
Should we stop having children?
With global population on the rise, could having kids be your biggest moral mistake?
Harry Belafonte talks to Matthew Sweet
The American performer and activist (1927-2023) talks politics, rebellion and containment
Barry Humphries talks to Matthew Sweet
The Australian performer discusses his love of music and handling Dame Edna
Hans Magnus Enzensberger (11 November 1929 – 24 November 2022)
The German poet and translator talking with Anne McElvoy in 2015
Meet the New Generation Thinkers 2022
Laurence Scott introduces new research behind these sounds 31.03.22 10pm BBC Radio 3
See all clips
Portrait of the Artist: Käthe Kollwitz
Matthew Sweet Explores London Through Its Archives.
Street Furniture Design
Superwoman: ‘Work, build and don't whine'
See all galleries

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