The Radio 4 Reith Lectures will be delivered by four speakers to mark the BBC’s centenary year.
Each one will explore one of the themes from Franklin D Roosevelt’s famous 1941 Four Freedoms speech: the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear.
The series of lectures will be recorded in London, Glasgow, Wales and Washington DC in late October and November.
They will be broadcast on Radio 4 and the World Service towards the end of the year and they will be available on BBC Sounds.
Mohit Bakaya, Controller of Radio 4, says: “Freedom is one of the defining values of our age. It is the fault line drawn in so many of our contemporary debates about the nature of society and the kind of world we want to live in.
“However, there are different types of freedom and, in this BBC centenary year, I wanted to seek out four perspectives on this complex idea based on FDRs famous Four Freedoms speech – a speech made in 1941 at such a precarious moment for the world.
“I’m delighted that these four brilliant thinkers have agreed to explore freedom as it relates to their area of passion and knowledge.”
The Reith Lectures were inaugurated in 1948 by the BBC to mark the historic contribution made to public service broadcasting by Sir John (later Lord) Reith, the corporation’s first director-general.
The lectures will be chaired by presenter, journalist and author, Anita Anand.
Audiences can apply for free tickets to the recordings from Monday October 3, via the BBC website.