In this episode, the first in a two-part series on European philosophy, returning guest Prof Wayne Hudson examines the legacy of German philosophy. He explores the contribution of German giants Kant, Hegel and Schelling and explains the ways in which their thought has been misunderstood in the English-speaking world. He and host Jonathan then embark on a discussion about contemporary science and culture, civilisational decline, the cognitive evolution of the human being and the fate of humanity.

Wayne Hudson is a Research Professor at Charles Sturt University. He is an intellectual historian and a social philosopher who works across the areas of philosophy, history, politics and religion. His research covers religious thought, utopianism and social reform, the Enlightenment and the postsecular. He is recognised as the English language expert on the Jewish German Philosopher Ernst Bloch and is also a leading historian of English deism. He delivered the first lectures on postmodernism at Oxford and taught philosophical anthropology for seven years at the University of Utrecht.

Host of The Political Animals, Jonathan Cole, is an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook.