Dr Peter Vardy gives Philosophy talks to both parents and students

News - Oct 18

Earlier this month, Dr Peter Vardy gave Philosophy talks to parents after school hours. Dr Vardy is one of Britain’s best-known Philosophers and we always look forward to his visits to Colyton Grammar School.  

Dr Vardy is internationally well-known in the fields of Philosophy, Ethics and Religious Studies. He was Vice Principal of Heythrop College, University of London and has recently been awarded an honorary Doctorate from the University of Chichester. He has been the keynote speaker at conferences for HMC, IBO and UNHRC and he advises Government, Local Authorities and Academy chains on the teaching of Religious Studies.  

Dr Vardy’s talks focused on human rights and punishments. The lectures were well attended by both parents and students, with the talks being fast paced and giving opportunity for discussion. The first lecture focused on human rights and natural rights; the idea that human rights are given by the state and can be taken away by the state with the treatment of suspected terrorists in America after the September 11th attacks being used as an example. A comparison was made between humans and animals and whether humans should have more rights than animals and the views of Peter Singer, a world-renowned atheist Utilitarian were discussed along with the issue of AI and the possible rights for AI.  

The second lecture compared Britain’s justice system with that of Norway. Dr Vardy looked at how the word ‘justice’ has different connotations depending on the country. The emphasis of the Norwegian justice system is on rehabilitation leading to few prison inmates compared to Britain, and with a punishment system which favours community service and education to reform for lesser offenders, Norway’s reoffending rates are much lower than they are in Britain.  

Both lectures gave the audience a lot to ponder, and both were highly relevant to today’s world.  

The following day, Year 13 engaged in a Philosophy Conference taken by Dr Vardy. His fast paced, interactive lectures kept the students engaged with prominent issues and gave them time to discuss the topics with their peers. He made excellent use of short video clips, highlighting ethical issues that are raised in film and the media, explaining the relevancy of all the issues for the modern world.  

The first lecture covered an introduction to Ethics concentrating on the main ethical theories of Natural Moral Law, Situation Ethics, Kantian Ethics and Utilitarianism. The second lecture gave an overview of medical ethics looking at issues arising regarding abortion, euthanasia, and gene editing (CRISPR). Peter Singer, atheist utilitarian was mentioned several times as one of the most influential 100 people in the world today. He believes that the notion of sanctity of life is medieval, humans are simply developed animals, and that people should stop being specialist. This thinking was applied to medical ethical issues with an examination of the issues raised by its application.  

The third lecture was on environmental ethics with an examination of deep and shallow ecology. This was applied to the views of some Evangelical Christians in America and their influence on Donald Trump regarding shallow ecology. The final lecture was about Truth. Is there absolute Truth which is discoverable? Top Mathematicians claim that Maths is discovered, and could this support the belief that there is Truth that does not need to be discovered? We live in a society very much influenced by relativism and post modernism where there is no absolute truth. These changing ideas on Truth through time are represented through artwork. The students then debated whether there was absolute Truth with many excellent contributions.  

We are incredibly grateful to Dr Vardy for giving up his time to talk on such important topics. His talks were excellent, and we look forward to welcoming him back next year.