During October and November 2014, Stanley Ho East Asia College (SHEAC) successfully held a series of workshops based on Professor Michael Sandel’s distinguished course on justice at Harvard University. The Justice Workshop Series has become one of the signature programs of SHEAC since College Master Professor Iu Vai Pan initiated it three years ago.
The workshops discussed a series of alternative theories of justice, such as utilitarianism, libertarianism, and communitarianism. Professor Iu, as the main presenter and facilitator, as well as Resident Fellows Dr. Kevin Huang and Dr. Sancia Wan, discussed and explored various topics with students.
The workshop series consisted of four sessions. The first session covered discussions on “the moral side of murder” and “the case for cannibalism”. Students critically discussed with each other whether it is reasonable to sacrifice the minority to save the majority as making a decision for a major group of people regardless of others that form the smaller group. The topic of the second part was whether putting a price tag on life is sensible or not. Participants also reflected upon how to measure pleasure. In the third session, students discussed two main points: “who owns me,” and “taxation and free to choose”. In the final session, Professor Iu led students to think deeply about why we can claim that this land is our land and if consenting adults implies fairness.
This series of workshops was aimed at helping students reflect on things that they encounter in daily life from multiple perspectives and to learn different views. In addition, the College hopes that students learn to reflect on their personal growth and practice, and would be able to give rational reasoning.
For now, this “journey in moral reasoning” was successfully concluded but we will meet again next semester!
By: Psychology Year 1 Student Liu Yingxuan & Communication Year 1 Student Zeng Qianwen
《正義：一場思辨之旅》系列工作坊
2014年10月份至11月份期間，何鴻燊東亞書院舉辦了一場思辨之旅，分為四節，逢週一舉行。這一系列工作坊由院長姚偉彬教授主講，書院導師黃才試博士和溫慧珊博士以及學生們一起討論和探索。
第一節工作坊討論的是謀殺的道德面，即為了挽救多數人而犧牲少數人，以最大化最多數人的幸福為行為原則是否合理。第二部分的主題是生命能否標價，快樂有無高低之分。第三部分討論了我們是否擁有自我，納稅是否對人生自由進行了剝奪等問題。最後一節院長引領學生們對政府在多數人同意下就推行政策的合理性及憑什麼我們說這是我們的土地等問題進行思考。
本系列工作坊旨在引導學生進行思考，讓學生學會用多角度去看待事情，學會傾聽各方的聲音。同時，書院亦希望學生學會自我檢視，進行理性的思辨。
這場思辨之旅暫時圓滿結束，下學期再會！
撰寫：傳播學一年級學生 曾倩雯 及 心理學一年級學生 劉瀅萱