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Using ancient philosophy to cope with your modern problems

4/17/202650 min

Philosopher Meghan Sullivan says during tough times, ancient wisdom can serve as a guide. From politics to religion to AI, she poses big questions to help you find out what the good life means today.

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First 90 seconds
  1. Speaker 00:00

    What happens when our political party becomes the prism through which we see every other aspect of our identities?

  2. Speaker 1· Soundbite0:05

    What we're living through, I think, is really the two parties taking opposite sides on whether we wanna keep making this type of social progress or whether we wanna go back in time.

  3. Speaker 00:15

    Listen to NPR's Code Switch podcast in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

  4. Manoush Zomorodi· Host0:20

    This is the TED Radio Hour. Each week, groundbreaking TED Talks- Our job now is to dream big ... delivered at TED Conferences- To bring about the future we want to see ... around the world.

  5. Megan Sullivan· Guest0:35

    To understand who we are.

  6. Manoush Zomorodi· Host0:36

    From those talks, we bring you speakers and ideas that will surprise you- You just don't know what you're gonna find ... challenge you- We truly have to ask ourselves, like, why is it noteworthy? ... and even change you. I literally feel like I'm a different person. [laughs] Yes. Do you feel that way? Ideas worth spreading from TED and NPR. I'm Manoush Zomorodi. Today on the show, what do you and Greek philosophers have in common? And how can ancient ideas help us manage our modern woes?

  7. Megan Sullivan· Guest1:11

    Certainly the last, you know, decade or so in our lives have been times of great upheaval. We've dealt with the COVID epidemic. We now deal with wars around the world. We've dealt with huge changes in technology, which have upended our ways of life.

  8. Manoush Zomorodi· Host1:25

    This is Notre Dame philosophy professor Megan Sullivan.

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