Something Understood

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BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Religion & Ethics

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life, taking a spiritual theme and exploring it through music, prose and poetry

BBC Radio 4 LW

Something Understood: Learning to be Human

Learning to Be Human

Learning to be Human

BBC Radio 4 - Something Understood, Learning to be Human

'Gorillas taught me to be human.' John McCarthy explores unusual paths to humanity.

'Gorillas taught me to be human.' An autistic woman's remarkable story offers insights into how we can hold onto our humanity in an alienating world. With John McCarthy.

What if being human is an act of will? Like many people on the autism spectrum, Dawn Prince-Hughes says she felt like an alien in human society, unable to understand its rules. Until, that is, she found an unusual teacher - a gorilla. By copying him, she 'learnt to be human', and moved from being a stripper to an anthropology professor.

In this programme, John McCarthy explores alternative paths to humanity and what they reveal to us about ourselves. 

With words from Albert Camus, Margaret Atwood, Mary Shelley and Edvard Munch, and music from Keeril Makan, Beethoven and Emmanuel Jal.

Producer: Jo Fidgeon
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Something Understood

Learning to be Human

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