Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss morality by taking a long hard look at the idea of guilt. The 18th century politician and philosopher Edmund Burke was once moved to comment: “Guilt was never a rational thing; it distorts all the faculties of the human mind, it perverts them, it leaves a man no longer in the free use of his reason, it puts him into confusion.”Guilt is a legal category but also a psychological state and a moral idea. Over the centuries theologians, philosophers and psychologists have tried to determine how it relates to morality, reason and the workings of the mind? The answers seem to cut deeply into our understanding of what it is to be human.With Stephen Mulhall, Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at New College, Oxford; Miranda Fricker, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London; Oliver Davies, Professor of Christian Doctrine at King’s College London
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
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| 0:47.2 | Hello the 18th century politician and philosopher Edmund Burke was once moved to |
| 0:52.2 | comment guilt was never a rational thing and philosopher Edmund Burke was once moved to comment, |
| 0:53.0 | guilt was never a rational thing, |
| 0:55.0 | it distorts all the faculties of the human mind, |
| 0:58.0 | it perverts them. |
| 0:59.0 | It leaves a man no longer in the free use of his reason, |
| 1:02.0 | it puts him into confusion. |
| 1:04.0 | Burke was touching upon a question that has animated theologians and philosophers for centuries. |
| 1:09.0 | Is the feeling of guilt, a vital part of our moral lives, or can it do more harm than good? Is it innate or learned? |
| 1:15.2 | And how does guilt relate to reason? The answers seem to cut deeply into our understanding |
| 1:20.1 | of what it is to be human. We'll be looking at guilt on a moral and psychological phenomenon |
| 1:25.6 | and not as a legal category. With me to discuss the concept of guilt and examine its relationship |
| 1:30.0 | to morality, I'm Miranda Fricker, Senior Lecture in Philosophy at Birkbeck University of London. Stephen Mulhall, fellow |
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