Ideaswith Nahlah Ayed

The Broadway musical is an art form both beloved and maligned. Whether you love it or hate it, the Broadway musical has the power to tap into the zeitgeist, capturing and propelling social change. Princeton musical theatre scholar Stacy Wolf takes host Nahlah Ayed on a tour of the hidden power of musicals from the 1950s to today.

It's only when disputants are so 'pig-headed' as to not accept a sensible process of mediation that the duel takes place, according to York University PhD student and master fencer, Aaron Miedema. He's researching over 300 cases of duels from the 16th and 17th century. Turns out there are lessons for us from 500 years ago which may prove useful in today's climate of public blaming and shaming.

Prison abolitionists say prison is a failed social policy. The cost of running prisons is climbing upward but it does nothing to address the root causes of crime or the harm those crimes do to society. Ultimately what it does is address the expected consequences of inequality and marginalization. So, maybe, the time has come to get rid of prisons altogether. If so, how do we move forward?

French philosopher Denis Diderot was one of a small group of 18th-century thinkers who began to explore a radical new way of thinking about the totality of human knowledge. In his magisterial Encyclopédie, he proposed a new way of organizing everything we know and experience. In part 2 of his series, producer Philip Coulter takes a walk around Diderot's Paris.

As the discourse of diversity has become increasingly complex and heated, The Sunday Edition has grappled with questions of how we define ourselves as a country and what, if anything, we all have in common. This month on the Enright Files, conversations about the changing face of Canada and what it means for the social fabric of the country. 

Highlights include: philosophical anthropologist Lorraine Daston on reclaiming nature as a moral guidepost (Dec. 5); a rare feature interview with former UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein (Dec 12-13); examining prison abolition — has prison outlived its purpose? (Dec 18); the spirituality of the saxophone (Dec. 19); and author Stephen Law takes us through the philosophical quagmire of the holidays (Dec. 23).

In Part 2 of The Unconventional Diplomat, former UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein continues a fascinating tour through the backrooms of global diplomacy. He explains why he refused to go on bended “knee in supplication” before the UN Security Council and shares his advice on how to be a good citizen.

In a well-known 2016 speech in diplomatic circles, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein called out powerful world leaders. But he laments a “fearfulness” currently within the UN. IDEAS producer Mary Lynk sits down for a rare feature interview to reveal the story behind the moment when breaking conventional rules was imperative.

Dany Laferrière is one of the most celebrated writers in Canadian literary history. He has over 27 books to his name, and a raft of awards and honours — including the Order of Canada, and the Prix Medicis. In 2013, he was elected to the prestigious Académie Française in Paris — where he now lives. Radio-Canada contributor Danny Braun met up with Laferrière to talk about the his latest book, Self-Portrait of Paris with Cat.

French philosopher Denis Diderot was one of a small group of 18th-century thinkers who began to explore a radical new way of thinking about the totality of human knowledge. In his magisterial Encyclopédie, he proposed a new way of organizing everything we know and experience. In part one of a two-part series, producer Philip Coulter goes on a walk around Diderot's Paris with philosophy professor and historian, Sophie Audidière. Part 2 airs Monday, June 17.

After finally ousting the Shah, and just mere weeks after Ayatollah Khomeini took power, Iranian women marched to show their fury at the revolution, which now seemed to be turning against them. On the 40th anniversary of their protests, CBC Radio producer Donya Ziaee spoke to three Iranian women who were there — on the streets of Tehran, fighting to to turn the tide of history.

Thanks to his politically centrist views, his praise for patriotism, and his disdain for talk of 'objective truth,' philosopher Richard Rorty succeeded in enraging progressives and conservatives alike. But his friends and fans believe the rage is largely misplaced. The real Rorty was a subtle, empathetic, moral thinker whose ideas could be the most useful contribution U.S. philosophy has to offer today's polarized and fractured democracies.

Throughout the centuries, politicians, theologians and philosophers have pointed to nature as a way to guide our actions and beliefs. The equivalence between "unnatural" and "bad" seems to be as durable as ever. But philosophical anthropologist Lorraine Daston doesn't think using "nature" as a guide is necessarily all bad.

The grip conservative evangelicalism has on American social and political life is hard to overestimate. Committed Christian and author Jemar Tisby was joined by historians of religion John Fea and Molly Worthen to help answer the question: what exactly is the relationship between conservative evangelicalism and America today?

In 1905, when Albert Einstein worked as a patent office clerk, he published a series of academic papers that revolutionized physics and our thinking about space and time, mass and energy. His ideas were a great leap forward. Panellists at the Stratford Festival discuss how Einstein revolutionized how we live our lives today.

Seen from today, the novelist Joseph Conrad's early 20th century views on the world, particularly on race, can be offensive. Yet his observations were deeply prescient of modern times. V.S. Naipaul, who was also a harsh critic, once wrote how Conrad managed — 100 years ago — to "meditate on my world, a world I recognize today." Harvard historian Maya Jasanoff tackles that question in her acclaimed biography of Joseph Conrad.

David Nabarro, a longtime advisor to the UN on sustainable development, says climate change is forcing us to rethink how our food systems work — and figure out the best way to get people the food they need without further degrading the environment.