Being

Being is an extremely broad concept encompassing objective and subjective features of reality and existence. Anything that partakes in being is also called a "being", though often this use is limited to entities that have subjectivity (as in the expression "human being"). So broad a notion has inevitably been elusive and controversial in the history of philosophy, beginning in western philosophy with attempts among the pre-Socratics to deploy it intelligibly.

As an example of efforts in recent times, Martin Heidegger (who himself drew on ancient Greek sources) adopted German terms like Dasein to articulate the topic. Several modern approaches build on such continental European exemplars as Heidegger, and apply metaphysical results to the understanding of human psychology and the human condition generally (notably in the Existentialist tradition).

By contrast, in mainstream Analytical philosophy the topic is more confined to abstract investigation, in the work of such influential theorists as W. V. O. Quine, to name one of many. One most fundamental question that continues to exercise philosophers is put by William James: "How comes the world to be here at all instead of the nonentity which might be imagined in its place? ... from nothing to being there is no logical bridge."

On Being

On Being is a public radio conversation and podcast, a Webby Award-winning website, publisher and public event convener. Hosted by Krista Tippett, it examines what it calls the "animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live?"

Radio program and podcast

Format

On Being is an hour-long radio show and podcast, hosted by Krista Tippett.

Tippett has interviewed guests ranging from poets to physicists, doctors to historians, artists to activists. Her guests include the 14th Dalai Lama, Maya Angelou, Mohammed Fairouz, Desmond Tutu, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rosanne Cash, Wangari Maathai, Yo-Yo Ma, Paulo Coehlo, Brian Greene, John Polkinghorne, Jean Vanier, Joanna Macy, Sylvia Earle, and Elie Wiesel.

In 2006, On Being became the first national public radio show to offer unedited interviews alongside the produced radio show in their podcast and on their website.

History

Krista Tippett pitched a series of pilots on religion, meaning, and ethics to Bill Buzenberg, then Vice President for News at Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media, in the late 1990s. The program became a monthly series in 2001 and a weekly national program distributed by American Public Media (APM) in 2003. In 2010, the show's name changed from Speaking of Faith to On Being. In 2013, Tippett left APM to start the non-profit production company, Krista Tippett Public Productions, which she described as "a social enterprise with a radio show at its heart".

God

In monotheism and henotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by theologians commonly includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence.

God is also usually defined as a non-corporeal being without any human biological gender, but his role as a creator has caused some religions to give him the metaphorical name of "Father". Because God is concieved as not being a corporeal being, he cannot (some say should not) be portrayed in a literal visual image; some religious groups use a man to symbolize God because of his role as the "father" of the universe and his deed of creating man's mind in the image of his own.

In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe. Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God or in the oneness of God. In pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God does not exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent". Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God.