As Professor Raimond Gaita himself asserts, he is a controversial philosopher. “A philosopher who reviewed my book A Common Humanity once said that Gaita doesn’t stand on the battleground of the theories defending this theory or that theory.
He invites us to step off the battlefield and see the assumptions that constitute the battlefield which the people on the battlefield don’t even notice they’re making,” explains Professor Gaita.
It was within this context that Year 11 and 12 Philosophy students were treated to a seminar with Professor Gaita earlier this year. A moral philosopher, Professor Gaita challenged the boys to think through several complex moral questions including those surrounding what constitutes a ‘good life’.
Year 12 student Bevan Chu says: “Professor Gaita’s engagement with philosophy goes well beyond the classroom and, for Year 12 students, when we are shaping our futures, he has presented us with ideas about how we should conduct ourselves from a moral perspective.”
Year 11 student, Kevin Yang, explained that Professor Gaita also supported their classroom learning by demonstrating that there are limitations to all philosophical theories. “We have been studying what we consider to be pleasure in class. Professor Gaita showed that for us to truly understand this, we need to consider and evaluate all of the relevant theories, rather than just having the misconception that we can hold onto one stance and not have any consequences stemming from that,” he says.
“In fact, he showed that it is really important that we consider all philosophical theories when we are approaching moral questions in our everyday lives, as well as when we are studying them at school.”
“Professor Gaita clearly lives and breathes a life with a mind that’s constantly working on making sense of the world he lives in, not just for his own good but quite clearly for the good of other people too,” says Mr Justin Glenn (OM 1993), Head of Philosophy and Religious Studies. “Having an insight into what it looks like to live a life that is so thoughtful, reflective and interested is pretty remarkable. For me, the value of Professor Gaita’s visit lies in that place, as well as the impact he has had on our classroom studies.
Professor Gaita appeared to enjoy his visit, just as much as the boys enjoyed interacting with him. “I have many invitations to speak at schools, but I only accept those for which I have a special reason to go,” he says. “I initially came to the school last year because of a personal connection, but I have come back again because I was impressed last year, as I was this year, by the students’ attentiveness and their questions. There was a maturity in their questions which you just don’t expect from boys that age.”
Professor Gaita also spent time with Year 9 students discussing his book, Romulus, My Father, with them during an earlier visit to the School this year.
ABOUT PROFESSOR RAIMOND GAITA
Professor Raimond Gaita is a Professorial Fellow in the Melbourne Law School and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne and Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy at King’s College London.
