Programme Details

The death has been announced at the age of 81 of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, the sculptor who has been such a towering presence in British art since the 1950's. Born to Italian parents in Leith near Edinburgh in 1924, Paolozzi was one of the founders of the British pop art movement. His most famous works include a series of mosaics on the walls of Tottenham Court Road Tube station in London and for his series of hallmark mechanical sculptures, including the giant statue of Sir Isaac Newton in the piazza of the British Library. Night Waves marks his death with his biographer Philip Dodd and Paolozzi's friend of many years, the writer JG Ballard.

A record number of students are choosing to study philosophy at university. Despite the poor image of our youth culture and the general assumptions about the dumbing down of our society, it seems that applications for philosophy degrees have soared by over 20% over the past three years. In Night Waves Paul Allen asks why philosophy is suddenly so attractive and how far might its influence reach? How exactly is our understanding of such contemporary issues as fox hunting, medical ethics and "just wars" aided by an appreciation of philosophy? Paul Allen is joined in the Night Waves studio by Edward Craig, editor of the new Shorter Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy and by Miranda Fricker who teaches philosophy at Birkbeck College.

Also on the programme, one of Britain's most respected poets, Jackie Kay, talks about her latest collection Life Mask with its issues of "love, loss and mistaken and secret identity".

Night Waves , live at the later time of 9.45pm here on BBC Radio 3.


Presenter: Paul Allen
Producer: Anthony Denselow