Reith Revisited: Michael Sandel on Bertrand Russell

The Reith Lectures

BBC

Society & Culture, Science, Government, Technology

4.2 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2017

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

Sarah Montague and Michael Sandel look back at the inaugural Reith Lectures given in 1948 and 1949 by the philosopher Bertrand Russell.

In Reith Revisited, Radio 4 assesses the contributions of great minds of the past to public debate, in a dialogue across the decades with contemporary thinkers. In 1948, households across Britain gathered before the wireless as the pre-eminent public intellectual of the age, the philosopher Bertrand Russell delivered a set of lectures in honour of the BBC's founder, Lord Reith. Since then, the Reith Lectures on the Home Service and subsequently Radio 4 have become a major national occasion for intellectual debate. In this series Radio 4 revisits five of the speakers from the first ten years of the Reith Lectures.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Nicola Cocklin.
0:02.8	Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them.
0:06.6	My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right.
0:10.6	In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people
0:16.0	who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world.
0:19.8	Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela,
0:22.5	Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey, history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.4	Thanks for downloading this edition of Reith Revisited, part of the special programming
0:35.3	celebrating BBC Radio 4's 50th birthday.
0:39.2	In this episode, Sarah Montague and Professor Michael Sandel
0:42.5	look back at the inaugural wreath lectures
0:45.2	given in 1948 and 1949 by the philosopher Bertrand Russell.
0:51.5	Russia, the Atom and the West by George F. Kenner.
0:56.0	This series is given by Dr. Nicholas Pedsman.
0:58.6	Authority and the individual.
1:00.5	And the speaker is the eminent philosopher Bertrand Russell.
1:04.9	We present the Reef Lectures, an annual series of broadcasts named in honour of the BBC's first director general.
1:15.9	The philosopher, mathematician and social reformer Bertrand Russell was perhaps the preeminent
1:21.8	intellectual of 1940s Britain. He was an obvious choice to launch a series of lectures given annually in honour of the BBC's
1:29.1	founder, Lord Reith. Russell's theme was authority and the individual. Over five lectures,
1:36.4	he outlined his belief that although human society had made huge progress, we still need to
1:41.9	find a way to control the instincts we've inherited from our savage ancestors.
	...

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