Should we free ourselves of objects and clutter? | Paul Dolan, Mary-Ann Ochota and Steve Taylor

Philosophy For Our Times

Should we all engage in a radical cull? Listen to find out.

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We are attached to things. Our dwellings are packed with items we rarely throw out. Things have traditionally given us comfort but they also give us status. The wealthy often collect things for no other purpose than to own them. But in an age when the great majority of us have too much, when cupboards are full of clothes we do not wear, shelves with books we do not read, is it not time to end this obsession? Might the status of the future come from being free of objects and clutter, focusing instead on experience and the natural world? Or are things our only link with the past, and a necessary part of who we are?

Behavioural scientist Paul Dolan, senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University Steve Taylor and British broadcaster and anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota debate the status of things. Eliane Glaser hosts.

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