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How the World Thinks

Julian Baggini, Ann Wroe, Amit Chaudhuri and Paulette Randall discuss the stories and philosophies that influence the world with Andrew Marr

The director Paulette Randall brings to the stage the ultimate tale of sacrifice in the pursuit of power: Doctor Faustus. She tells Andrew Marr how, in coveting fame, power and knowledge, he sells his soul to the devil. This bargain with the devil is one of the most iconic cultural motifs in the Western tradition.

The poet and writer Ann Wroe looks to another founding story of Christianity, that of St Francis of Assisi. Born into luxury he forsakes it all after hearing the voice of God commanding him to rebuild the Church and live in poverty. Wroe writes his life story in verse and see echoes of it all around her today.

The philosopher Julian Baggini sees such ancient stories as helping to explore and explain how people think in the West. But in his new book, How the World Thinks, he admits his own failures to learn about the stories and early philosophies which have come out of the East. Without them, he argues, you cannot understand the development of distinct cultures around the world.

The novelist and essayist Amit Chaudhuri has looked far and wide for his influences, from Nobel laureate Tagore and filmmaker Satyajit Ray to Cervantes鈥檚 Don Quixote. In The Origins of Dislike he explores the way writers understand their work both in antithesis to, and affinity with, past writers and movements from around the world.

Producer: Katy Hickman

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42 minutes

Last on

Mon 26 Nov 2018 21:30
主播大秀 Radio 4

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Paulette Randall

Paulette Randall is a director. Her theatre credits include Fences, starring Sir Lenny Henry, and Blues for Mr Charlie. Her screen credits include Casualty, The Crouches and Holby City. Paulette was associate director of the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony and was awarded an MBE for services to drama in 2015.

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, Directed by Paulette Randall is at the Globe鈥檚 Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, 1 December 2018 鈥� 2 February 2019

Ann Wroe

Ann Wroe is the Briefings and Obituaries editor of The Economist. She is the author of six previous works of non-fiction, including Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man, which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Award and the W.H. Smith Award.

Francis 鈥� A Life in Songs is published by Jonathan Cape

Julian Baggini

Julian Baggini is a philosopher and author of 聽over ten books, including Freedom Regained (2016), The Ego Trick (2012) and the bestselling The Pig that Wants to be Eaten (2005). He is co-founder of The Philosophers鈥� Magazine.

How the World Thinks: A Global History of Philosophy is published by Granta Books

Amit Chaudhuri

Amit Chaudhuri is a literary critic and author of seven novels, most recently Friend of My Youth (2017). Awards for his fiction include the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the Betty Trask Prize, the Encore Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, and the Indian government鈥檚 Sahitya Akademi Award. Chaudhuri is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia.

The Origins of Dislike is published by Oxford University Press

Broadcasts

  • Mon 26 Nov 2018 09:00
    主播大秀 Radio 4
  • Mon 26 Nov 2018 21:30
    主播大秀 Radio 4

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