Ideas

CBC

IDEAS is a deep-dive into contemporary thought and intellectual history. No topic is off-limits. In the age of clickbait and superficial headlines, it's for people who like to think.

  • 54 minutes 8 seconds
    Who Owns Outer Space?

    Space exploration is no longer the domain of countries alone. It’s now rapidly becoming the domain of private interests. Astrophysicist Aaron Boley discusses the impact of this on humanity and astronomy in his 2024 Dan MacLennan Memorial Lecture in Astronomy.

    21 January 2025, 1:10 pm
  • 54 minutes 8 seconds
    Polarizing Times Call for Nietzsche’s Practice of 'Passing By'

    Nineteenth century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche offers us a method that can help us navigate the highly polarizing discourse that’s afflicting democracies today. IDEAS explores lessons on healthy discourse from a man most popularly associated with nihilism. 

    20 January 2025, 1:10 pm
  • 54 minutes 8 seconds
    Searching for Truth: The Honourable Louise Arbour

    Is a criminal trial a search for truth? How do we navigate between the trial process and our lived experience in that elusive search for the truth? Former Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour tackles these questions in her 2024 Horace E. Read lecture.

    17 January 2025, 1:10 pm
  • 54 minutes 8 seconds
    Reith Lectures #2: Is there such a thing as evil?

    In a career spanning over 30 years, Dr. Adshead has heard many of her patients ask: "I have done evil things, but does that mean I am evil? In her second BBC Reith Lecture, Adshead asks if there is such a thing as evil. She argues we all have capacity for 'evil' and says we need to find ways to cultivate societal and individual 'goodness.' *The Reith Lectures originally aired on BBC Radio 4.

    16 January 2025, 1:10 pm
  • 54 minutes 8 seconds
    The Never-Ending Fall of Rome

    Rome fell, because of... divorce. Or was it immigration? Maybe moral decay. IDEAS producer Matthew Lazin-Ryder explores the political history of 'the fall of Rome' — a hole in time where politicians, activists, and intellectuals can dump any modern anxiety they wish. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 11, 2024.

    15 January 2025, 1:10 pm
  • 54 minutes 8 seconds
    A Minor Revolution: Prioritizing Kids' Rights Benefits Us All

    What if there was one thing we could do to significantly impact poverty, crime, and climate change. Law professor Adam Benforado believes there is a solution: prioritizing kids. The author of A Minor Revolution argues that if we centred children when enacting law and public policy, we would all benefit.

    14 January 2025, 1:10 pm
  • 54 minutes 6 seconds
    What 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes would say about American democracy today

    English philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that life would be "nasty, brutish and short" without a strong government. IDEAS explores how a new take on Hobbes offers a surprising perspective on the recent American election.

    13 January 2025, 1:10 pm
  • 54 minutes 8 seconds
    ARC Ensemble: The Forgotten Music of Exiled Composers

    For the last 20 years, members of ARC Ensemble have dedicated themselves to recovering the forgotten works of exiled composers. Recently, the ensemble revived the works of Frederick Block — music that hasn't been performed publicly in nearly a century. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 19, 2023.

    10 January 2025, 1:10 pm
  • 54 minutes 6 seconds
    Reith Lectures #1: Is violence normal?

    This month, IDEAS features the 2024 BBC's Reith Lectures by forensic psychiatrist Gwen Adshead. Her four lectures address pertinent questions she has faced in her career. To start, she asks if violence is a normal part of human life — whether we are all capable and tempted by violence — or whether it is an aberration in just some people. *The Reith Lectures originally aired on BBC Radio 4.

    9 January 2025, 1:10 pm
  • 54 minutes 8 seconds
    Woke Racism and the Language Police | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie & John McWhorter

    Writers Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and John McWhorter share common concerns about language, race and politics in our polarized society. They discuss the chilling of civic discourse for fear of political censure and how wokeness is condescending to Black people at the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival.  

    8 January 2025, 1:10 pm
  • 54 minutes 8 seconds
    This Way to Re-Enchantment, with Philosopher Charles Taylor

    Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor speaks to Nahlah Ayed about his life’s journey, from growing up in Montreal in the 1930s, his 1991 CBC Massey Lectures, and why he turned to Romantic poetry to re-enchant our sense of the meaning of life in his book, Cosmic Connections.

    7 January 2025, 1:10 pm
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