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Episode details

World Service,55 mins

30/05/2010

The Forum

Available for over a year

Distinguished psychologist Dorothy Rowe wants us to think about why we lie. She argues that we lie in order to protect our sense of self. Neuroscientist and novelist, David Eagleman approaches the mind from another direction, probing neural processes in the brain. New research, he says, could affect how criminals are prosecuted. Iraqi academic Kanan Makiya calls for an end to self delusion on a wider scale – saying its time for Arab intellectuals to stop being silent, speak out and go beyond the Arab sense of victimhood. A tumour affects our brain, encouraging it to lie about a culture of violence, to protect our sense of self by Emily Kasriel.

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