Ethics and Morality in the 21st Century

When: 5th of June

Venue: North Carlton Railway Neighbourhood House, 20 Solly Ave.

Co-ordinators: Jasmine-Kim Westendorf, Aurelien Mondon,
Gerhard Hoffstaedter

week 1

5th of June 2010

Universal Differences?

(Jasmine-Kim Westendorf, Aurelien Mondon, Gerhard Hoffstaedter)

Ours is a world in which ‘truth’ shares equal footing with ‘opinion’, where ‘equality’ is at odds with liberty, where ‘difference’ is held up as sacrosanct and ‘plurality’ is strictly – often brutally – enforced. As such, can we still speak of such a thing as ‘universality’ today? Focusing on the most famous contemporary invocation of universality, the discourse of ‘universal human rights’, we will debate the meaning as well as the merits of the concept of universality, and consider the role it has to play in contemporary politics.

Participants:
Miriam Bankovski: Lecturer in Political Theory
Alex Ling: Lecturer, University of Melbourne
Ruby Murray: Writer/Researcher in Gender and the Environment
Deb Chapman: Community Development Activist/Lecturer, VU

Gerhard Hoffstaedter ‘Universal Differences’

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Alex Ling ‘Universal Differences pt 2′

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Miriam Bankovski ‘Universal Differences pt 3′

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Ruby Murray ‘Universal Differences pt 4′

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Deb Chapman ‘Universal Differences pt 5′

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week 1

5th of June 2010

Religious Truth Claims

(Jasmine-Kim Westendorf, Aurelien Mondon, Gerhard Hoffstaedter)

Belief and faith continue to thrive, however, belief in science and the supernatural differ in that the former is open and encourages verification and scepticism, whereas the latter tends to shrug from it.

We will debate truth claims that religions are based upon and how open religious communities are to challenges to these truth claims. Can there be a dialogue between atheists, believers and fundamentalists? If so, how can truth claims be debated in a conducive manner without causing offence or being too politically correct?

Participants:
John Perkins: Economist and Secular Party Founding Member
Gregory McCormick: Lecturer, Melbourne College of Divinity
Magda Karagiannakis: Barrister/Lecturer, La Trobe University
Gerhard Hoffstaedter: Research Fellow, La Trobe University

Gerhard Hoffstaedter ‘Religious Truth Claims’

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John Perkins ‘Religious Truth Claims pt 2′

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Gregory McCormick ‘Religious Truth Claims pt 3′

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Gerhard Hoffstaedter ‘Religious Truth Claims pt 4′

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We apologise for the fact that, due to the number of speakers, the quality of the recordings is not optimal.