Lecture
Institute for Philosophy Opening Academic Year 2024-2025
- Date
- Thursday 5 September 2024
- Time
- Location
-
Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- 0.16
On Thursday, 5 September 2024 the Institute of Philosophy will celebrate the opening of Academic Year 2024-2025. All staff, students, and members of the wider philosophical community are cordially invited to attend the presentations.
| 16:00 | Opening & Welcome |
Susanna Lindberg |
| 16:10 | Speech |
Sofia Gkaits Student representative |
| 16:25 | Lecture | Dobin Choi University Lecturer Korean and Comparative Philosophy "Cultivating a Virtuous Environment for Ourselves" |
| 17:00 |
Drinks & Bites |
Faculty Club |
Cultivating a Virtuous Environment for Ourselves
We currently face a number of global challenges: continuous wars, climate disasters, political strife, socio-economic injustices, racial and ethnic discrimination, and rapidly advancing AI. Moreover, given deep sociopolitical divisions, antagonism and resentment are not only rampant but also intensifying. Living within this narrow, skewed perspective gradually diminishes people’s moral self-worth as bearers of humanity. There is an increasing need to safeguard our dignity and humanity.
In this lecture, I propose that one way to defend our moral self-worth is to cultivate a virtuous human environment where we nourish our characters through reciprocal influence. By exploring Mencius’s and Hume’s thoughts on the nurturing function of a virtuous human environment, I suggest that our sympathetic concerns and active empathy with others in such an environment enhance our moral self-worth, leading to greater happiness, robust moral dignity, and well-founded pride. This elevated recognition of our moral self in a virtuous human environment will enable us to maintain our humanity and protect us from spreading antagonism.