Past Present Future

Episodes

• An Ageing World: The Problem of GerontocracyIn today’s episode for our series about living in ageing societies, David talks to historian and legal scholar Samuel Moyn about the problem of gerontocracy, aka the rule of the old. Why do older generations now have so much wealth and so much power? Why is this particularly true in the United States? Is the real problem elderly politicians or elderly voters? Do the young stand a chance any more? Out tomorrow on PPF+: part two of this conversation in which David and Sam try to move from diagnosis to cure. How can older people be encouraged to stop hoarding wealth and power? Is socialised care the solution? And is that ever going to happen in a place like America? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening – and to help support everything we do – subscribe to PPF+ no https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Gerontocracy in America by Samuel Moyn is out now https://bit.ly/4ymCEss You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time in An Ageing World: Simone De Beauvoir on Old Age Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• An Ageing World: The Meaning of DeathIn today’s episode of our series about the significance of longer human lives David talks to the doctor and writer Richard Coker about the meaning of the event that comes for all of us in the end: death. Are we finding it harder to talk about and face up to mortality? How do doctors think about death, having seen so much of it? Is the line between life and death getting harder to draw? What is the price we pay for putting off death as long as we can? Richard Coker’s Timor Mortis: How We Live With Death is available wherever you get your books https://bit.ly/4yTUeE4 Available now: a pair of new educational courses to accompany two of our series – The Great Essays and The Lives of the Philosophers. These courses are free for anyone who wants to use them and offer recall tests, extensive reading guides, discussion topics and essay questions for further reading, writing and exploration around the subjects of our podcasts. For use in schools, colleges or just in your spare time. To explore these courses simply go to https://ppfideas.com/courses You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time on An Ageing World: The Problem of Gerontocracy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• An Ageing World: Lifespan vs HealthspanTo start our new series about what it means to live in a world of ageing populations, David talks to geneticist Adam Rutherford about the benefits and pitfalls of increasing longevity. Are GLP-1s – drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro – miracle cures that will extend human lifespans? What happens if longer lives do not coincide with better health? How far can life extension be pushed? And who wants to live forever anyway? Available now: a pair of new educational courses to accompany two of our series – The Great Essays and The Lives of the Philosophers. These courses are free for anyone who wants to use them and offer recall tests, extensive reading guides, discussion topics and essay questions for further reading, writing and exploration around the subjects of our podcasts. For use in schools, colleges or just in your spare time. To explore these courses simply go to https://ppfideas.com/courses Out now on PPF+: ‘Podcast University’, a bonus episode to accompany the launch of our new educational courses in which David lays out the thinking behind them and his own ideas about the relationship between what he used to do as a university teacher and what we do now on PPF. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening – and to help support and keep freely available our educational work – subscribe to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time in An Ageing World: The Meaning of Death They can't harm you, if they can't find you! Use code ppf at the link below and get 60% off annual plans: https://incogni.com/ppf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• The Lives of the Philosophers: Iris MurdochToday is the final episode in our series about the relationship between twentieth-century biography and philosophy. David talks to Nikhil Krishnan about the life and thought of Iris Murdoch, a deeply philosophical novelist and a fully committed philosopher. How was Murdoch influenced by the ideas of Plato? Why did she believe that metaphysics could serve as a guide to morals? What lessons did her novels try to teach about the nature of love and the sovereignty of the good? Was hers a good life? **Available now: a pair of new educational courses to accompany two of our series – The Great Essays and The Lives of the Philosophers. These courses are free for anyone who wants to use them and offer recall tests, extensive reading guides, discussion topics and essay questions for further reading, writing and study around the subjects of our podcasts. For use in schools, colleges or just in your spare time. To explore these courses simply go to https://ppfideas.com/courses Out tomorrow on PPF+: ‘Podcast University’, a bonus episode to accompany the launch of our new educational courses in which David lays out the thinking behind them and his own ideas about the relationship between what he used to do as a university teacher and what we do now on PPF. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening – and to help support and keep freely available our educational work – subscribe to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus. You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including all PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time the start of a new series – An Ageing World: Increasing Longevity and its Consequences Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• The Lives of the Philosophers: Hannah ArendtIn today’s episode about the intersection between twentieth century philosophy and biography David talks to the historian and literary critic Lyndsey Stonebridge about the life and thought of Hannah Arendt. How did Arendt, who was Jewish, make sense of her passionate relationship with Martin Heidegger, who was a Nazi? How did she experience her double exile, first to France and then to the United States? What made sense of her own identity? What explained the terrible turbulence and traumas of the twentieth century? And what did it all mean for the human condition? Lyndsey Stonebridge’s We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience is available wherever you get your books https://bit.ly/4hgyGLH You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time in the Lives of the Philosophers: Iris Murdoch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• The Lives of the Philosophers: Elizabeth AnscombeToday’s episode in our series about twentieth-century philosophy and biography explores the life and thought of Elizabeth Anscombe (G. E. M. Anscombe), a remarkable and remarkably uncompromising philosopher. David talks to Nikhil Krishnan about Anscombe’s relationship with Wittgenstein, her relationship with Catholicism and her fierce relationship with the truth. Why did she believe that consequentialism was capable of corrupting the young? And why did she insist that Harry Truman was a war criminal? You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time in the Lives of the Philosophers: Hannah Arendt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Gladstone vs Disraeli Part 2 (Burnham vs Badenoch)In the second part of David’s conversation with historian Robert Saunders about the impact of the Bulgarian crisis of 1876 on the course of British politics, they discuss how Gladstone used the controversy to plot his way back to power. What made his campaign in the Midlothian constituency a watershed in the history of parliamentary democracy? How did he overcome Queen Victoria’s resistance to return to the premiership? What was the legacy of his rivalry with Disraeli? And what are the parallels with Andy Burnham’s path to the prime ministership and his possible rivalry with Kemi Badenoch today? You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time in The Lives of the Philosophers: Elizabeth Anscombe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Gladstone vs Disraeli – The Bulgarian HorrorsIn our occasional series with historian Robert Saunders about significant political anniversaries, we remember the appearance of a pamphlet exactly 150 years ago that changed the course of British politics. On 6th September 1876 William Gladstone published The Bulgarian Horrors: The Question of the East, which reignited and reshaped his epic rivalry with Benjamin Disraeli. What made the two men such different kinds of politicians? How did the question of empire split political and public opinion? Who were the winners and losers from this showdown? Was this the dawn of a new age of populism? Out now on PPF+: a bonus episode to accompany our series on the lives of twentieth-century philosophers in which David talks to Kate Kirkpatrick about the life and thought of Simone de Beauvoir, existentialist, feminist, memoirist and controversialist. What made Beauvoir the person she became? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: Now & Then with Robert Saunders – Gladstone vs Disraeli Part 2 (Burnham vs Badenoch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• The Lives of the Philosophers: Jean-Paul SartreIn today’s episode exploring how twentieth-century philosophy and biography intersect David talks to philosopher and biographer Kate Kirkpatrick about Jean-Paul Sartre, a thinker whose life has been as closely scrutinised as his ideas. What made Sartre an existentialist? How was he shaped by his wartime experiences? Was he, as his critics claimed, a useful idiot for fashionable causes? Why has his reputation suffered since his death and where does it stand now? Out tomorrow on PPF+: a bonus episode to accompany this series in which David talks to Kate Kirkpatrick about the life and thought of Simone de Beauvoir, existentialist, feminist, memoirist and controversialist. What made Beauvoir the person she became? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Kate Kirkpatrick is the author of Becoming Beauvoir: A Life https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/becoming-beauvoir-9781350047174/ You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: Now & Then with Robert Saunders – Gladstone vs Disraeli Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• The Lives of the Philosophers: J. L. AustinDavid talks to philosopher and author Nikhil Krishnan about the life and times of a little known but highly influential twentieth-century philosopher: J. L. Austin, who believed that the deepest truths lay in understanding how ordinary language worked. Why was Austin so opposed to the ideas of A. J. Ayer? How were his experiences in planning D-Day in 1944 an extension of his approach to philosophy? What made people so frightened of him? And how did such a conventional man have such an unconventional influence on thinkers from California to Cambridge? You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time in The Lives of the Philosophers: Jean-Paul Sartre Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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