Award-winning historian, author, and TV presenter Bettany Hughes will deliver the British Humanist Association (BHA) Voltaire Lecture on 21 April 2016. Hughes’ talk, on ‘Socrates, Confucius, and the Buddha – minds that made the modern world’, will be a thrilling exploration of ancient pre-Christian philosophy and ethics.
Socrates, Confucius, and Gautama Buddha are all considered giants of philosophy. They lived in the fifth and sixth centuries BCE, long before Jesus of Nazareth, whom Christians revere as a god, and in their lives they radically changed the way humanity thought about itself. Rather than look to the heavens and supernatural entities to explain the world around us, these three figures made attempts to use reason and an understanding of the sensory world to come to conclusions about history, nature, and the human condition.
Bettany’s lecture is the latest in a proud tradition of Voltaire Lectures held in London each year. Bonya Ahmed’s emotional 2015 Voltaire Lecture on ‘Fighting machetes with pens’, concerning the Islamist terror faced by freethinkers in Bangladesh, won two standing ovations and worldwide media coverage.
Chief Executive Andrew Copson said, ‘“Do not do to others that which angers you when done to you.” “Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself.” “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” Socrates, Confucians, and Buddhists espoused ‘The Golden Rule’ over 2500 years ago. In this lecture, we’ll be able to hear about the ancient history of humanist and humanistic thinking and how it made our world.
‘It is for good reason that Bettany is so acclaimed and so awarded. She is a wonderful and engaging communicator, and I know that she has some wonderful things in store for the Voltaire Lecture.’
Tickets cost £15 for the general public, and £12 for students and BHA members. You can get yours now at humanists.uk/voltaire2016
Notes
The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity.
Dr Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author, and TV presenter, who has devoted the last 25 years to the vibrant communication of the past. She has written and presented over 40 TV and radio documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, National Geographic, and many others, and her programmes have been seen by more than a quarter of a billion people worldwide.
The Voltaire Lecture explores philosophical thought or human activity as affected by or with particular references to Humanism. It is always chaired by the British Humanist Association president.
Previous Voltaire Lecturers include comedian Robin Ince, cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, Bangladeshi blogger Bonya Ahmed, and theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili.