“The way things are, doesn’t mean that’s the way things should be,” said Paulu Joubert (22), Masters student in Philosophy. The newly-revived Socratic Society hosted an event at Pulp cinema last night, where a critical discussion on Mother Teresa and, oddly, Social Darwinism, was held.
Outwardly, these two topics seem completely unrelated, which was exactly the point.
The focus of the discussion was “critical thinking” and the “consequences of uncritical beliefs”. Titled Saints and Science: The Moral Implications of Uncritical Beliefs, the discussion called into question the reputation of Mother Teresa and the implications of believing the science behind Social Darwinism.
These polar subjects were chosen to display the same point: the dangers of uncritical thinking, from two different contexts, namely religion and science.
Ivan Bock (23), Masters student in Philosophy and chairperson of the Socratic Society, spoke first and opened by saying that the perceived actions of Mother Teresa and her legacy does not match her actions in reality.
“This can be seen as an attack on religious views, but this is not that,” said Bock.
He used a number of examples to make his case: where the myth of the religious icon exceeds the reality, with his point being that society has blindly accepted her as a saint among humans, without ever actually reviewing her work and her supposed altruistic attitudes.
“So-called ‘miracles’ attributed to Mother Teresa have been disproven and dispelled, and yet people still blindly believe them,” said Bock.
Ivan Bock critically engages with the reputation of Mother Teresa, highlighting the importance of critical thinking. PHOTO: Lauren Dold
Joubert then highlighted the dangers of uncritical thinking in terms of Social Darwinism, an ideology with supposed roots in science that has led to some of the most dangerous racial ideals of the past and current century.
Social Darwinism “legitimated racial hierarchy,” Joubert said. Biological findings were being translated into ideological justification. This of course led to colonialism, racial categorisation and eugenics.
These ideals were based on Darwinian evolutionary theory which has legitimate scientific findings, but were taken out of context and used to justify racial separatism and many biologically flawed theories about race.
After the two Masters students presented their cases, the floor was opened for discussion and debate, where the audience was invited to critically engage with the content.
Students discuss the examples presented by the Socratic Society panelists. They were later given the opportunity to engage with the content and ask questions. PHOTO: Lauren Dold
Panelists Ivan Bock (23), and Paulu Joubert (22), and facilitator Fabio Tollon (23), all Masters students in Philosophy, responding to questions asked by the audience. PHOTO: Lauren Dold
A precedent was set at the society’s first event, where the person who asks the best, or most stimulating question receives a prize consisting of bottles of wine and chocolate hampers.
Engaging with philosophy is a “welcome break from thinking analytically and mathematically all the time,” said Christan Barnard (23), Industrial Engineering student and winner of last night’s best-question prize.
Barnard was introduced to philosophy in the Engineering faculty, where ‘Philosophy and Ethics’ is a compulsory subject. It involves investigating the philosophy of technology and other topics pertaining to the degree.
Barnard joked that the subject was introduced with the intention of making them “better humans”.
Barnard says Bock’s lectures at the Engineering faculty peaked his interest, so when he was invited by Bock to attend this discussion, he was more than willing to do so.
This was the second event held by the Socratic Society, the first being their revival ceremony in March.
The Socratic Society’s next event promises to be an interesting one – it will involve robots.