We’re living through a mental health crisis. In Europe, use of antidepressant has more than doubled in the past twenty years, and one in five children are now living with a recognised mental health condition. These numbers are striking, and the suffering they reflect personal, and clouded in mystery. But have we always been like this? Or has something shifted – in our politics, our culture, or perhaps in our understanding of what it means to be a person? Is the rise in mental health disorders a product of modern life, or are we simply more willing to talk about them? And what happens when system, designed to help us, ends up making us feel more broken, more stuck, and more alone?

In this episode, we’ll discussing these questions with Rose Cartwright – best-known as the author of Pure, a raw and radical memoir about living with OCD, which went on to become a popular Channel 4 television drama. Today, Rose is a screenwriter on the Netflix show 3 Body Problem, and her latest book, The Maps We Carry, takes a deep dive into the territory of trauma, healing, and the limits of the medical model.

As shall see, Rose’s work explores how our distress is shaped by the stories we tell – and the stories we’re told – about our minds. She asks whether we need new narratives, new frameworks, and even new states of consciousness to understand and transform our inner lives. Drawing on her own experiences – talking therapies, medications, psychedelic journeys, and the spaces in between – Rose invites us to imagine a more expansive approach to mental health. What does that expansive model look like? And is it really necessary? Well – lie back on the couch, take a deep breath… and let’s find out.

Links

Rose Cartwright, Website.

Rose Cartwright, The Maps We Carry.

Rose Cartwright, Pure.

Pure – TV Show.

3 Body Problem – TV Show.

Food is one of the most universal and essential parts of human life. From gourmet steaks to the everyday, humble, packet of crisps, food consumption is everywhere. But what do we actually know about how our food is grown? How is it processed? And how does it ends up on our supermarket shelves or in our restaurants and takeaways? While we may look back and think traditional food customs are more often in harmony with the natural environment, most of us today rely on a complex global food web of production, distribution, consumption and disposal. But how does it work, and what can philosophy say about food?

Joining our discussion on food philosophy today is philosopher Julian Baggini. Baggini is an expert in popular philosophy with Sunday Times best-selling books such as How the World Thinks, How to Think Like a Philosopher and The Pig That Wants to be Eaten. He has served as the academic director of the Royal Institute of philosophy and is a member of the Food Ethics Council. He has written for The Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, the Financial Times, and Prospect Magazine, as well as a plethora of academic journals and think tanks.

In his wide-ranging and definitive new book, How the World Eats, Baggini argues that the need for a better understanding of how we feed ourselves has never been more urgent. Baggini delves into the best and worst food practises around the world in a huge array of different societies, past and present-exploring cutting edge technologies, the ethics and health of ultra processed food and the effectiveness of our food governance. His goal: to extract a food philosophy of essential principles, on which to build a food system fit for the 21st century and beyond. What is that food philosophy? Let's tuck in, and find out.

Links

Julian Baggini, Website

Julian Baggini, How the World Eats: A Global Food Philosophy

Food is one of the most universal and essential parts of human life. From gourmet steaks to the everyday, humble, packet of crisps, food consumption is everywhere. But what do we actually know about how our food is grown? How is it processed? And how does it ends up on our supermarket shelves or in our restaurants and takeaways? While we may look back and think traditional food customs are more often in harmony with the natural environment, most of us today rely on a complex global food web of production, distribution, consumption and disposal. But how does it work, and what can philosophy say about food?

Joining our discussion on food philosophy today is philosopher Julian Baggini. Baggini is an expert in popular philosophy with Sunday Times best-selling books such as How the World Thinks, How to Think Like a Philosopher and The Pig That Wants to be Eaten. He has served as the academic director of the Royal Institute of philosophy and is a member of the Food Ethics Council. He has written for The Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, the Financial Times, and Prospect Magazine, as well as a plethora of academic journals and think tanks.

In his wide-ranging and definitive new book, How the World Eats, Baggini argues that the need for a better understanding of how we feed ourselves has never been more urgent. Baggini delves into the best and worst food practises around the world in a huge array of different societies, past and present-exploring cutting edge technologies, the ethics and health of ultra processed food and the effectiveness of our food governance. His goal: to extract a food philosophy of essential principles, on which to build a food system fit for the 21st century and beyond. What is that food philosophy? Let's tuck in, and find out.

Links

Julian Baggini, Website

Julian Baggini, How the World Eats: A Global Food Philosophy