Philosophy & Ethics Forum

Hi all, I'm Mrs Odusola and I'm the Head of Department Diversity Champion here at LPGS.

I'm passionate about my subject, meeting new students and seeing them thrive and fulfill their potential.

I LOVE seafood, curry Jellof rice and plantain!

I LOVE traveling spending time with friends and family and chilling out when I get the chance.

Now over to you.....

Week 2: Meaning of social justice: justice within a society for example equality of wealth or privilege.
Meaning of human rights: a standard number of rights given to every person automatically.


The universal declaration of human rights was made so that all humans no matter where in the world had rights to protect them and provide equality for all, therefore making the world a fairer place to live in.
3 examples of what the act seeks to protect: freedom of liberty, freedom to work, freedom to express an opinion.

“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity” – Nelson Mandela

Week 3: Quote comparison:

"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28
"Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak...for it is a disgrace for a woman to speak in the church."

These two quotations quite clearly contradict each other, whilst the first quote speaks of how all are equal (male and female), the second quote specifically demonstrates the blatant sexism that exists in churches today as a result of thousands of years old texts. However it is important to note that these quotes were written at different times and by different people and therefore should not be expected to be the same.

Challenge: List reason for and against this statement - 'The Roman Catholic church discriminates against women by not permitting them to ordination.'

For:
The Roman Catholic Church is showing evident inequality by only allowing men to ordination.
Women are being discriminated in the Catholic Church as they are missing out on job opportunities.
Against
The Roman Catholic Church does allow women to have important roles in the church that men cannot do for example become a nun (although men are monks) this shows that different genders have different roles in the church however each roles are not necessarily unequal and therefore the Roman Catholic Church is not showing discrimination.

Week 4: The case of Stephen Lawrence showcases the incompetence and racism of both the police and members of the general public. The poorly handled investigation was immediately off to a bad start when the only witness to the crime was treated as a suspect and advice from the witness was blatantly ignored. Many mistakes were made throughout the investigation for example the large amount of time it took to search the suspects homes despite them being named by multiple tip offs with many believing they were only searched due to a boost in press coverage from Nelson Mandela. It took eighteen years for just two of the six likely offenders to be imprisoned due to an apparent lack of evidence – which has caused great public outrage as it is quite clear that far more of the men are guilty and if it weren’t for the mistakes made by the police at the time, they would all certainly in jail.

I feel sickened by the way that this case was handled, it seems to me as though these offenders were allowed to go free purposefully (likely as they were white) whilst the family and friends of Stephen Lawrence were left to suffer knowing that the justice deserved would never be delivered.
I have learnt that racism is clearly everywhere and is still a very prominent problem in modern society and people must still be on the lookout for it to ensure instances such as this stop occurring.
I believe that it is not enough to be non-racist but to be anti-racist and any racism that you see in your community should be confronted.



“Racism has no place in British contemporary society” – evaluation

Racism is still a very prominent issue in British contemporary society, examples of it are everywhere; in all aspects of life, from football to law firms racism and discrimination is everywhere. Although it is not as a serious an issue as it once was, it is certainly still around and a large majority of people will agree that it has absolutely no place in British society and therefore must be treated as such.

Many argue that as some religions encourage extreme nationalism (which can often lead to racism), racism is prominent in society because religion is – I believe that this could not be more wrong as all major religions also teach to love each other for example in the bible (Christianity, partially Protestantism is the main religion in Britain) it clearly states “love thy neighbour” to show that God wants all his people to love each other. Other quotes such as St Paul saying “blessed are the peacemakers,” or the story of the Good Samaritan support this message and therefore to me it is clear racism has no place in British contemporary society.

Week 6: Philosophy and ethics week 6

Measuring religious freedom (Ted Talk) - https://youtu.be/cQvDUTOOkiI

1. "I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that they are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them." Romans 16:17
2. "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:2
3. "If it is possible, as far as if is depends on you, live at peace with everyone" Romans 12:18
All these biblical quotes promote peace, whether that be in in the form of patience or by simply keeping away from those who “put obstacles in your way”, all quotes encourage you to “live at peace with everyone”.

Challenge: "People should have the right to say whatever they like about religion.'

I believe that although freedom of speech is a necessity for peace and promotion of human rights, the allowance to both think and state your own opinions about religion are a mandatory requirement for a fair standard of living ( as decided by the United Nations). However although expression of opinion is generally a good thing, if it negative or hateful opinions are being said then freedom of speech is not such a good thing and therefore I believe it should’ve limited and rules should be set in place (as they are) to avoid offensivity