Spreading Suspicion

The Reith Lectures

BBC

Society & Culture, Science

4.2 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2002

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This year's Reith Lecturer is Onora O'Neill. She became Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, in l992 and has chaired the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Human Genetics Advisory Commission. She is currently chair of the Nuffield Foundation and she has been President of the Aristotelian Society, and a member of the Animal Procedures (Scientific) Committee. In 1999 she was made a life peer as Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve, and sits as a crossbencher. She has written widely on political philosophy and ethics, international justice, bioethics and the philosophy of Immanuel Kant.

In the first of her Reith Lectures, philosopher Onora O'Neill examines the nature of trust, its role in society, and asks if there is real evidence of a crisis of trust. Confucius told his disciple Tsze-kung that three things are needed for government: weapons, food and trust. If a ruler can't hold on to all three, he should give up the weapons first and the food next and trust should be guarded to the end. Confucius' philosophy, Baroness O'Neill argues, is still convincing and she argues why.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is a podcast from the archives of the BBC Reith Lectures. This lecture in the series A Question of Trust, given by Onura O'Neill, was originally broadcast in the year 2002.
0:15.2	Good evening and welcome to the Royal Institution in London for the first of the Reith Lectures 2002.
0:21.7	This year, our lecturer is the distinguished moral philosopher, Anora O'Neill.
0:26.3	Baroness O'Neill, the principal of Newnham College, Cambridge.
0:30.2	Tonight, and for the following four weeks, she'll be explaining her theories on the issue of trust.
0:36.6	Trust is an essential part of the democratic process. We have to
0:40.1	have it if we're to live happily and confidently. In recent times, however, our trust seems to
0:45.6	have taken a bit of a battering. The collapse of Enron, the failures of equitable life, the spread
0:50.8	of foot and mouth disease, the case of the Bristol heart babies, problems with our railways, and any number of stories about political sleighs fill our newspapers and undermine our trust in our institutions and in our officials.
1:06.1	Or do they? Are we less trusting as a result? Or is it simply that we rely too heavily on newspapers,
1:13.4	and dare I say it, on broadcasters who fail to present a complete picture of the issues involved?
1:19.2	Are we suffering less a crisis of trust, more a crisis of public communication? Well, in the audience
1:26.3	here are many people whose lives and work depend on
1:29.4	trusting relationships and some who've suffered a loss of trust as a result of their experiences.
1:35.2	They'll be debating the issues raised later on. The series of lectures is entitled
1:40.5	A Question of Trust, Question Mark. Ladies and gentlemen, with the first of the
1:45.7	Reith Lectures for 2002, which she's called Spreading Suspicion, please welcome Onora O'Neill.
2:00.2	Confucius told his disciple, Tzei K Kung, that three things are needed for government, weapons, food, and trust.
2:09.1	If a ruler can't hold on to all three, he should give up the weapons first and the food next.
2:14.4	Trust should be guarded to the end. Without trust, we cannot stand. Confucius thought,
2:20.8	I think, still convinces. Weapons didn't help the Taliban when their foot soldiers lost trust
2:26.6	and deserted. Food shortages need not topple governments when they and their rationing systems are
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.