How much of your personal liberty would be prepared to give up in exchange for drains that work and trains that run on time? The idea of the social contract has been with us for many centuries now. It embodies the idea that society is a trade-off between liberties and benefits. This week, we discuss the contract and its shortcomings with one of the greatest moral and political philosophers of the age, Martha C. Nussbaum. LESS

Have you ever found that you didn't want something until you noticed that somebody else wanted it? Were you picked on at school, or were you one of the pickers on? Welcome to the world of the French thinker Rene Girard, who claims that desire needs to be learned and that, once learned, it leads to the finding of scapegoats. And what do we do with scapegoats? We sacrifice them. LESS

There's not much money in philosophy, but then there's not much philosophy in money, either. In classical times and the Middle Ages, philosophers were often interested in money (in thinking about it, that is) but since then they've tended to ignore the subject. This week, we meet an Australian philosopher who has turned his attention to the neglected subject of cash and its role in our practical and moral lives. LESS

John Anderson, the famous and inflential professor of philosophy at the University of Sydney from 1927 to 1958, taught on a wide range of topics, from the ancients to the moderns. This week, we find out what he had to say about the Greeks and about political philosophy. LESS