Night School

We take a short trip to the 11th Century to visit the work of St. Anselm, theologian and author of what is known as “the onthological argument for the existence of God”. Using reason rather than faith, Anselm invites to engage in a thought experiment that, he believes, proves that God exists. He has his day in a court.

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Theatre is more than a window on the world. Its emergence in Greek society was a point of reflection for one of the most influential minds in the European intellectual tradition, Aristotle. Brazilian theorist and practitioner of theatre, Augusto Boal critique of Aristotle’s Poetics leads to development a radical text – The Theatre of the Oppressed - a touch stone for political theatre.

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Friedrich Nietzche was 56 when he died in 1900. A philosopher, cultural critic, poet and composer, he has had a profound affect on Western and modern thought. This week we discuss his notion of “the eternal return of the same”.

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One of the 20th Century's most compelling minds, Jean-Paul Sartre, took on the question of what it means to be free. He coined the term, "bad faith", in exploring what it means to be free, what it means to choose not to be free and why we are, by the very nature of the human condition, destined to live in "despair" and anxiety which is, paradoxically, liberating.

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This week, we explore the work of German sociologist Georg Simmel and his essay "Metropolis and Mental Life". His thesis is that urban life encourages a form of personal freedom never experienced in human history.

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“The banality of evil” was coined by the philosopher Hannah Arendt and sparked controversy for demanding from us an attentiveness to the ways in which we react to instances of ‘evil’. Following her observations of the trial of a Nazi  general Adolf Eichmann, Arendt developed an analysis how we misunderstand the nature of evil.

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The late pre-eminent political philosopher, Isaiah Berlin, believed that liberty was best understood as autonomy and the absence of interference. In this episode we look at his influential essay, “Two Concepts of Liberty” and try to discern lessons for Malaysians.

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