Great Ideas

A series about the ideas that shape the world we live in, recorded in collaboration with New Zealand universities.

Hosted by Megan Whelan

A dark blue background with a golden ratio and many different shapes with a large white title in capital letters saying "Great Ideas".

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All episodes:

Rebellion and Revolution

Season 1 / Episode 1
Would the founding fathers have approved of Donald Trump? Probably not, says the panel in episode one of Great Ideas, a new RNZ podcast series in collaboration with Victoria University.
Sketch by Jacques-Louis David of the National Assembly taking the Tennis Court Oath

Every Language Is a World

Season 1 / Episode 2
Megan Whelan looks at how language shapes - and is shaped by - our understanding of the world, with Dr Sasha Calhoun, Professor Paul Warren and Associate Professor Stephen Epstein.
bright false teeth

Art, Fashion, and Literature

Season 1 / Episode 3
Megan Whelan look at how revolutions shape - and are shaped by - fashion, literature and the visual arts, with Dr David Maskill, Dr Margaret Medlyn and Dr James Meffan.
The Death of Marat (La Mort de Marat or Marat Assassiné) by Jacques-Louis David

The Reformation

Season 1 / Episode 4
The Reformation has had a major influence on thought and ideas far and above its religious beginnings. Megan Whelan talks with Dr Geoff Troughton, Professor Kathryn Walls and Dr Derek Woodard-Lehman.
Martin Luther

Democracy and Its Discontents

Season 1 / Episode 5
"Government of of the people, by the people, and for the people" - so goes Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. But does that describe 21st century democracy?
crowd with hands in the air

Darwin's Origin of the Species

Season 1 / Episode 6
Charles Darwin's theories did not really 'come out of the blue'- there were others working with the same ideas and theories. Megan Whelan leads a discussion with Dr Rebecca Priestly, Associate Professor Joe Zuccarello and Professor Joe Bulbulia.
Charles Darwin