The annual Bentham Lecture was held on Tuesday 20 November, hosted by the British Humanist Association, the Humanist Philosophers’ Group, and UCL Philosophy Department. Delivered by Baroness Onora O’Neill, Emeritus Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, the lecture titled ‘Perverting Trust’ explored the concept of trust and accountability in public life.
Baroness O’Neill chaired the Nuffield Foundation from 1998-2010 and has been a member of the House of Lords since 1999. She has served on Select Committees on Stem Cell Research, BBC Charter Review, Genomic Medicine, Nanotechnology and Food and Behavioural Change. Her books include Faces of Hunger: An Essay on Poverty, Development and Justice (1986), Constructions of Reason: Explorations of Kant’s Practical Philosophy (1989), Towards Justice and Virtue (1996) and Bounds of Justice (2000), Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics (2002), A Question of Trust (the 2002 Reith Lectures) and Rethinking Informed Consent in Bioethics (jointly with Neil Manson, 2007).Focussing on the structures of trust and trustworthiness, Baroness O’Neill explored the cost of misplaced trust and mistrust, and asked whether accountability and transparency serves to undermine trust in society.
The 2012 Bentham Lecture was both thought-provoking and highly relevant, questioning trustworthiness and moral accountability of those in public life.
About the Humanist Philosophers’ Group
The Humanist Philosophers’ Group was established in 2000 and since then has published pamphlets, press releases, articles in newspapers and journals, and letters to the press and government departments supporting humanist principles. The Humanist Philosophers Group organise public lectures and aims to support the BHA in its campaigning work and to explore some of the complexities in the humanist alternative to religious belief.
About the Bentham Lecture
The Bentham Lecture is part of the BHA’s annual lecture programme, which also includes the Voltaire, Holyoake and Darwin lectures. For information about future BHA events, visit humanists.uk/meet-up/events.