Past Programs
Books - 2004
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Deconstructing Derrida
04/12/2004
This week, in a special edition of the show presented by Alan Saunders, All in the Mind looks at the work of the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, who died in October. Derrida gave us the term 'deconstruction', which a lot of people use but not many seem to understand. So what exactly is deconstruction, and how could using it tell us something about who we are and the world we live in?
Leaving You: A Cultural History of Suicide
21/02/2004
In 1938 historian Lisa Lieberman's grandfather, the son of an Austrian Rabbi, killed himself. It's a mystery that's long haunted her and one which sent her rummaging into the historical archives of self destruction. From Socrates to Sylvia Plath, post-revolutionary France to Auschwitz - suicide has been seen as
both a personal and a political act. But Lieberman provocatively argues that modern medicine has stripped it bare of meaning and reason, and diminished individual responsibility for the decision to die. She joins Natasha Mitchell to share her unease...and historical insights.
Solitary Sex : A Cultural History of Masturbation
11/01/2004
Summer Series - originally broadcast 27 July 2003
Spanking the monkey? Dipping into the honeypot? This week, a cultural history of the world's most common solo sexual practice, masturbation. It's easy to do, and despite claims that we may go blind, is essentially harmless. The ancient world cared little about it, it was of no great concern to early Christian and Jewish teachings on sexuality, and yet at the dawn of the Enlightenment it became the cause of much moral and medical debate. Join us for an exploration of the why's and wherefore's of solitary sex.
