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Is there such a thing as evil?

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead asks if there's such a thing as evil?

In her third Reith Lecture, Dr Gwen Adshead asks if there is such a thing as evil? In a career spanning nearly 40 years the forensic psychiatrist has heard many of her patients ask: 鈥淚 have done evil things but does that make me evil?鈥

Ideas about what evil is a complex interplay between the social and the individual. Dr Adshead says that we have often confused 'evil' with mental illness. She argues that in certain circumstances we all have capacity for 'evil' and says we need to find ways to cultivate societal and individual 'goodness'. The programme is recorded at the V&A in Dundee, Scotland, in front of an audience and includes a Q and A after Dr Adshead's lecture.

Release date:

50 minutes

On radio

Saturday 19:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Saturday 19:06GMT
  • Next Sunday 09:06GMT
  • Next Sunday 12:06GMT

The Reith Lectures on Radio 4

Archive recordings from the 成人快手's flagship annual lecture series going back to 1948