Bertrand Russell from the archives R4 29/10/11

[vinteuil]

I suppose it's a reflection on the times that it's more difficult to think of any household names (even cultivated households ) among philosophers. The last one I can think of was Bernard Williams .

... well, in the area of Moral Philosophy, we still occasionally hear from Mary Warnock and Mary Midgley on Radio 3...

[aeolium]

The good thing about the Bryan Magee series was that they introduced a non-specialist audience to philosophers they may well not have heard of, and the major ideas of Western philosophy were expounded and discussed. We could do with an updated version of that series, encompassing recent developments in philosophy and widening the scope to include Eastern philosophy. I would like to hear someone knowledgeable talking about the development of Islamic philosophy, difference between Sunni and Shiite versions, etc. Marxism could be revisited in the light of recent events (David Harvey perhaps?) I'm really not familiar with developments in the philosophy of language, or ethics...

[vinteuil]

more lightweight, per-haps, - but I see that Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time on Radio 4, Thursday week (10 November), 9 am, is devoted to the split between the 'Continental' and 'Analytical' Schools of Philosophy...