Augustine, Desire, Doing good
Andrew Marr discusses goodness and pleasure with the historian Robin Lane Fox, philosopher Clare Carlisle, writer Larissa MacFarquhar and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips.
On Start the Week Andrew Marr explores goodness and its uneasy relationship with pleasure. The historian Robin Lane Fox looks to the work of Augustine and what is thought to be the first autobiography detailing the sinful excitement of youth before his anguished and hesitant conversion to Christianity. The philosopher Clare Carlisle explores Augustine's views on the link between desire and habit, while the psychoanalyst Adam Phillips asks why pleasure is more highly prized when it's perceived to be forbidden and guilty. Larissa MacFarquhar looks at the lives of those who have dedicated themselves to others and asks why do-gooders provoke deep suspicion in Western culture.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
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Robin Lane Fox
Robin Lane Fox is Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford and former Reader in Ancient History at Oxford University.
Augustine: Conversions and Confessions is published by Allen Lane.
Clare Carlisle
Clare Carlisle is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Theology at King’s College London.
Adam Phillips
Adam Phillips is a psychoanalyst and writer.
Unforbidden Pleasures is published by Hamish Hamilton.
Larissa MacFarquhar
Larissa MacFarquhar is a staff writer at The New Yorker.
Strangers Drowning: Voyages to the Brink of Moral Extremity is published by Allen Lane.
Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Andrew Marr |
| Interviewed Guest | Robin Lane Fox |
| Interviewed Guest | Clare Carlisle |
| Interviewed Guest | Adam Phillips |
| Interviewed Guest | Larissa MacFarquhar |
| Producer | Katy Hickman |
Broadcasts
- Mon 30 Nov 201509:00BBC Radio 4
- Mon 30 Nov 201521:30BBC Radio 4
Podcast
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Start the Week
Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday
