Intelligence

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a question that has stalked the twentieth century: Intelligence. Since the first IQ tests were invented in 1905, the question of what makes Homo Sapiens stupid and what makes him clever has involved human kind in sterilisation, racism and misery. How do we define intelligence, how do we measure it; what are its origins and how do we uncover it? But are we any closer to understanding what this elusive quality of intelligence is? The debate still rages as to whether we are born with it or whether intelligence is something we develop as we grow, and evidence for either camp seems to pile up almost daily.

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Guests

• Dr Ken Richardson No other episodes
  Educational psychologist, former Senior Lecturer, Open University
• Professor Michael Ruse No other episodes
  Philosopher of Biology, University of Guelph, Ontario

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Programme ID: p00545l3

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00545l3

Auto-category: 153.9 (Intelligence and intelligence testing)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello, today we're looking at a question that in the words of one of our contributors has stalked the 20th century.