Philosophy and Religious Studies News

Lower Eighth Philosophy Conference on ‘The Good Life’

Last Thursday, 2 March, a group of Lower Eighth pupils attended a joint philosophy conference with Highgate School and the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham.

Pupils from all schools were invited to give and respond to papers. Chongyang Cao responded to a paper on normative realism and Isiah Sarne responded to a paper on the potential of utilitarianism to ground the good life. Max Bishop, Jonah Collett and Varen Gowda delivered a paper entitled ‘The Good Life: The Importance of Virtue and Happiness’ and Enyu Hu spoke on ‘What is the Confucian Conception of the Good Life and How Does it Contrast with the Aristotelian Tradition?’

The attendees were then treated to a keynote speech from Kings College London’s Professor M M McCabe who challenged them to think about notions of identity and the good life and used her work in prisons to push the pupils’ thinking on just what a good life might or might not look like.

Fifth Form Religious Studies Trip

On Monday, 6 March, the Fifth Form pupils studying Religious Studies took a trip around London to visit both the London Buddhist Centre and St Paul’s Cathedral.

The former involved hearing about the fundamental parts of Buddhism as a whole, as well as the beliefs and practices of The Triratna Buddhist Community who run the centre. Pupils were also invited to take part in a secular mindfulness meditation. At St Paul’s, pupils were given a tour of the cathedral and heard about some of its key features and history before having an open Q+A with one of the cathedral’s priests. To round off the day, the pupils climbed to see the amazing views from the cathedral’s dome.

Young Philosophers Conference

Jonah Collett and Chongyang Cao (Lower Eighth) delivered excellent presentations on Religion and Humanism at the Merchant Taylors’ School Young Philosophers Conference on 24 February.