The Divinest Part of Us
This year's lecturer is Neurobiologist Colin Blakemore. A Professor of Physiology at the University of Cambridge and Director of Medical Studies at Downing College, he is the youngest person to give the Reith lectures. He explores the concepts of the brain in his Reith series entitled 'Mechanics of the Mind' and evaluates how our brains have shaped our behaviour and our society. In this lecture entitled 'The Divinest Part of Us', Professor Colin Blakemore discusses how the theory of the mind mirrors man's social development; from Plato's genetically-controlled meritocracy of the mind, to Franz Joseph Gall's view of character showing through the shape of the human skull. Professor Blakemore delves into the idea of miraculous mind and explains how the scientific world has not always thought that highly of the brain.