Melvyn Bragg and guests chart 500 years of Western philosophy through its most influential ideas and theorists

'Listen to this and you'll never regret it' The Independent

First aired in 1998, In Our Time has become one of Radio 4's most beloved and enduring shows, regularly attracting an audience of over 2 million. Each week, Melvyn Bragg and his panel of guest experts take part in an erudite, stimulating discussion on subjects ranging from the Peasants' Revolt to plate tectonics, taking the listener on a fascinating tour through a wonderland of ideas.

Collected in this special thematic anthology are 25 episodes showcasing notable individuals from Renaissance times to the present day who have transformed the way we think about the world. Included are philosophers such as Descartes, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein and Karl Marx, authors Albert Camus, Iris Murdoch, Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvoir, psychoanalyst Carl Jung and many other celebrated thinkers. Also featured are programmes on key philosophical themes, traditions and theories, among them existentialism, empiricism and feminism.

Both an essential resource for philosophy students and a treasure trove for knowledge-seekers, this wonderfully curated collection of thought-provoking programmes will captivate longtime fans of the flagship BBC show, and surprise and delight those who are coming to it for the first time.

Production credits
Presented by Melvyn Bragg
Produced by Natalia Fernandez, Thomas Morris, Simon Tillotson and Victoria Brignell

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates:

Part I: Modern Philosophical Traditions

The Continental-Analytic Split 10 November 2011

Part II: Rationalism and Empiricism

Consciousness 25 November 1999
Empiricism 10 June 2004
Cogito Ergo Sum 28 April 2011
Spinoza 3 May 2007
Bishop Berkeley 20 March 2014
David Hume 6 October 2011

Part III: Existentialism

Existentialism 28 June 2001
Schopenhauer 29 October 2009
Kierkegaard 20 March 2008
Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality 12 January 2017
Camus 3 January 2008

Part IV: Logic, Language and Science

Ordinary Language Philosophy 7 November 2013
Jung 2 December 2004
Bertrand Russell 6 December 2012
Wittgenstein 4 December 2003
Bergson and Time 9 May 2019
Popper 8 February 2007

Part V: Moral Philosophy

Virtue 28 February 2002
Kant's Categorical Imperative 21 September 2017
Mill 18 May 2006
Simone Weil 15 November 2012
Iris Murdoch 21 October 2021

Part VI: Political Philosophy

The Social Contract 7 February 2008
Machiavelli and the Italian City States 9 December 2004
Hobbes 1 December