Control and Initiative: Their Respective Spheres
Bertrand Russell considers what matters should be controlled by the state in a progressive society, and what should be left to private initiative, in his fifth Reith lecture.
The inaugural Reith Lecturer is the philosopher, mathematician, and social reformer Bertrand Russell. One of the founders of analytic philosophy and a Nobel Laureate, he is the author of Principia Mathematica, and the bestselling History of Western Philosophy, written in 1946. His Reith lecture series is entitled 'Authority and the Individual'.
In his penultimate Reith lecture, entitled 'Control and Initiative: Their Respective Spheres', Bertrand Russell considers which matters should be controlled by the state in a healthy and progressive society, and what should be left to private initiative. He argues that in our complex world, there cannot be fruitful initiative without government, but nor can there be government without initiative.
Last on
Broadcast
- Sun 23 Jan 1949 09:00大象传媒 Radio 4
Featured in...
Archive 1948-1975—The Reith Lectures
Annual radio lectures on significant issues, delivered by leading figures from the field.
New to the Reith Lectures? Here鈥檚 where to start
Four lectures recommended by the series producer.
Podcast
-
The Reith Lectures
Significant international thinkers deliver the 大象传媒's flagship annual lecture series