Helen’s History of Ideas

David Runciman and Helen Thompson

9 July 2020

David talks with Helen to get her take on the history of ideas – both what’s there and what’s missing. Why start with Hobbes?  What can we learn from the Federalist Papers? Where’s Nietzsche? Plus they talk about whether understanding where political ideas come from is liberating or limiting, and ask how many of them were just rationalisations for power.

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