The 19th century philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most brilliant and dangerous minds of the 19th century. His uncompromising and often brutal ideas smashed the comfortable presuppositions and assumptions of religion, morality and science. His was a world not just bereft of God, but almost of humanity - breath-taking in both its post-religious starkness and its originality. In this episode, host Bettany Hughes goes in search of the beliefs...

In contrast to empiricist and rationalist traditions, existentialism proposes an order-less world, vaguely hostile, where people choose their character and goals, have an obligation only to be "authentic," and may only observe the truth (reality) in moments of anxiety. In this program, world-renowned author and professor Bryan Magee and University of California, Berkeley, philosopher Herbert Dreyfus trace the roots of existentialism from Edmund Husserl's...