en-us Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:13:05 -0400 For the radical thinkers of the Enlightenment, he was the first man to have lived and died as a true atheist. For others, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, he provides perhaps the most profound conception of God to be found in Western philosophy. He was bold enough to defy the thinking of his time, yet too modest to accept the fame of public office, despite numerous offers, and he died, along with Socrates and Seneca, one of the three great deaths in philosophy. His name is Baruch Spinoza, a Dutch Jewish philosopher from the 17th century, who can claim influence on both the Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century and great minds of the 19th, notably Hegel, and his ideas were so radical that they could only be fully published after his death. But what were the ideas that caused such controversy in Spinoza’s lifetime, how did they influence the generations after, and can Spinoza really be seen as the first philosopher of the rational Enlightenment? Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:02:03 -0400 http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/downloadtrial/radio4/inourtime/inourtime_20070503-0900_40_pc.mp3 612013 http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/iot_20080306-1245.mp3 Melvyn Bragg explores the life and achievements of Ada Lovelace, daughter of Byron and prophet of the computer age. With him to discuss the "enchantress of numbers" are Patricia Fara, Fellow of Clare College and an Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University; Doron Swade, Visiting Professor in the History of Computing at Portsmouth University and John Fuegi, Research Fellow in Media and Gender Studies at the Universities of Stanford and Maryland. Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:44:34 -0400 http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/iot_20080306-1245.mp3 1074034 http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/iot_20071227-1200.mp3 Melvyn Bragg explores the meaning and origins of the Nicene Creed, a statement of essential faith spoken for over 1600 years in Christian Churches. He is joined by Martin Palmer,director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture; Caroline Humfress, Reader in History at Birkbeck College, University of London and Andrew Louth, Professor of Patristic and Byzantine Studies at the University of Durham. Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:40:26 -0400 http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/iot_20071227-1200.mp3 961076 http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/iot_20080313-1130.mp3 Melvyn Bragg delves into the rich and complex world of Greek mythology. He is joined by Nick Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Classics at Royal Holloway, University of London; Richard Buxton, Professor of Greek Language and Literature at the University of Bristol and Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge University. Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:38:57 -0400 http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/iot_20080313-1130.mp3 1082541