TrueSciPhi

Podcast Profile: Talking Politics: HISTORY OF IDEAS

Site • RSS • Apple Podcasts
27 episodes
2020 to 2021
Median: 46 minutes
Collections: Philosophy • SciPhi-Adjacent

Description (podcaster-provided):

A new series of talks by David Runciman, in which he explores some of the most important thinkers and prominent ideas lying behind modern politics – from Hobbes to Gandhi, from democracy to patriarchy, from revolution to lock down. Plus, he talks about the crises – revolutions, wars, depressions, pandemics – that generated these new ways of political thinking. From the team that brought you Talking Politics: a history of ideas to help make sense of what’s happening today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):

➤ Modern political philosophy via key thinkers • democracy, state, liberty, justice • revolution, capitalism, markets • feminism, patriarchy, sexual politics • slavery, colonialism, oppression • morality, hypocrisy • leadership, violence • utopia, technology, machines • crises shaping ideas

This podcast is a narrated guide to major works in the history of political thought and the problems they were written to address. Across the series, David Runciman uses influential books and essays as entry points into enduring questions about modern politics: what the state is and why it claims authority; what democracy amounts to in practice; how freedom, equality, and justice should be understood; and when political power becomes oppressive or legitimate. The discussions regularly connect abstract concepts—sovereignty, representation, rights, the market, leadership, revolution, and utopia—to the pressures that shaped them, including civil war, world war, economic upheaval, technological change, slavery, colonial violence, and movements for independence.

A recurring focus is the tension between competing accounts of political order. Liberal and democratic ideals are set alongside more skeptical or minimalist views that emphasize elite competition, conflict, and the limits of popular rule. The show also tracks arguments about the role of markets and planning, the promise and risk of state power, and the moral costs of political action, including debates over whether violence can be justified for political ends and what responsibility means for leaders operating within modern institutions.

Another major theme is how political ideas respond to experiences of domination and exclusion. Feminist and anti-colonial perspectives examine patriarchy, sexual politics, and the psychological and social impact of colonialism, alongside reflections on slavery and abolition. The series also explores how concepts like “the other,” hypocrisy, cruelty, and morality shape political life, and what it means to prioritize certain harms over others when judging political behavior.

Episodes often include references for further reading and occasionally step back to answer listener questions about the choices of thinkers and the broader aims of the project, reinforcing the podcast’s role as an accessible map of key debates behind contemporary political arguments.

Episodes: