In Our Time features Anil Gomes on the Ethics of Philippa Foot

The flagship BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time will feature Trinity Fellow in Philosophy Anil Gomes discussing the philosopher Philippa Foot and her conception of morality.

Airing on 16 May, the discussion focuses on Foot’s ethical philosophy and her rejection of the claim that values could only be subjective, as well as her work in applied ethics, including her famous Trolley Problem.

Professor Gomes says: ‘Philippa Foot wrote some of the most powerful and interesting work in moral philosophy in the last century. She took seriously the idea that we are human animals and tried to account for objective standards of goodness within a natural framework. She always claimed that she was a slow thinker, with a good nose for philosophical problems rather than cleverness. Her penetrating work serves as a reminder of the value of slow, careful thinking and the need of institutions such as Oxford to support that task.’

In Our Time has been broadcasting for over 20 years and is one of BBC Radio 4’s most successful discussion programmes.