Lecture Series on “Natural Law” – Is Natural Law Universal? An Inter-Religious Exploration
Lecture Series on "Natural Law" - Is Natural Law Universal? An Inter-Religious Exploration
04
Feb
The Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy will hold a Public Lecture titled “Is Natural Law Universal? An Inter-Religious Exploration” on the 4th February 2021.
Covid-19 impacts our life and world dramatically. Scientists claim, that this situation might have been caused – among other factors – by a wrong treatment of nature by humans. Did nature put its brakes on to correct human behavior? Can we humans discover in nature how to act correctly? Does nature help us to get to know what to do? Philosophically speaking, should actions follow our being (agere sequitur esse), and is ethics fundamentally hooked up with reality and ontology? (bonum et verum convertuntur). Does the “ought” follow from the “is”, and should human life and societies comply with how things are?
After overcoming the mechanistic reductionism of the “natural fallacy”, which denies “value judgments” originating from “is” or facts, this Lecture Series attempts to trace back question of “natural goodness” (Philippa Foot), morals and good actions “in accord with reason” (S. Thomas Aquinas, S.Th. I-II.21.1.; ST I-II, 90.1). The philosophical and catholic tradition calls this the morality of the “natural law”. The lectures shed light on development and relevance of Natural Law from different philosophical and theological angles.
About the Talk & Speaker:
In his latest encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti (2020), Pope Francis observes that humanity is on a path of shared progress without a common roadmap (29). He also states that religions ought to serve the cause of fraternity in our world (271). This lecture explores the prospects for natural law theory to serve as a philosophical framework for world religions to unite in providing a moral compass for our globalised world.
Edmond Eh is Head of the Department of Philosophy. He teaches systematic philosophy in the Bachelor of Christian Studies programme and comparative philosophy in the Master of Philosophy programme at the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy. He researches in comparative philosophy, especially the Aristotelian and Confucian traditions.
Details:
Date: 4th February 2021
Time: 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Location: Don Bosco Auditorium, USJ Ilha Verde Campus
Organised by: Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy, University of Saint Joseph
*This Public Lecture will be conducted in English
