Epicureanism, and the War of 1812, Andrew's listening diet

Now I do try to sit and listen to Radio 4’s In Our Time* with Melvyn Bragg, because it is one of those fascinating programmes where a panel of experts discuss a topic in depth.

I do have to confess I do occasionally cherry pick and tend to go for those with a historical slant.

Yesterday  it was Epicureanism, last week the War of 1812, and the week before Romulus and Remus, while back at the beginning of January, Thomas Malory's "Le Morte Darthur"

So there you have, well worth giving up 45 minutes, and there are there to listen to whenever you want.
Epicureanism, first broadcast: Thursday 07 February 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qf083

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Epicureanism, the system of philosophy based on the teachings of Epicurus and founded in Athens in the fourth century BC. Epicurus outlined a comprehensive philosophical system based on the idea that everything in the Universe is constructed from two phenomena: atoms and void. At the centre of his philosophy is the idea that the goal of human life is pleasure, by which he meant not luxury but the avoidance of pain. His followers were suspicious of marriage and politics but placed great emphasis on friendship. Epicureanism became influential in the Roman world, particularly through Lucretius's great poem De Rerum Natura, which was rediscovered and widely admired in the Renaissance.

With:

Angie Hobbs
Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

David Sedley
Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge

James Warren
Reader in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Pictures; from the BBC notes

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/iot