Philosophy

April's Prospect Podcast: On gifts and gift-giving

March 27, 2009
Open with care (image courtesy of Alan Chao at flickr)
Open with care (image courtesy of Alan Chao at flickr)

In this month's Prospect podcast, our resident philosopher Nigel Warburton considers the idea that 'the gift is never free'.

Warburton's focus is on the meaning of gifts and gift-giving in international politics and diplomacy, but the idea is no less valid on a smaller scale. This morning, anti-capitalism protesters handed out  free copies of their spoof version of the Financial Times as a 'gift' to city workers at Waterloo Station.

Like the gifts that Warburton describes, this is the kind of free gift that ultimately demands a much larger payment from the recipient. In this case, an acknowledgement of the banking sector's culpability in our current financial crisis. Which could prove very costly indeed.

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