Philosophy is alive and well at Rutherford College!

The 2019 Semester Two Year 10 Philosophy class has started with a bang.  In only the first four weeks we have delved deeply into “what is a human?”, considered whether “if humans could become immortal, would it be a good thing?” and discussed issues around “should we legalise marijuana in NZ?”.  Other questions that students have proposed include “Do my past actions define me as a person?”, “What is the purpose of life?” and “How do you recognise passion and ambition?”.

In between class discussions, students have been learning about different types of logic and reasoning, and how to distinguish whether an argument is valid or flawed.  As we go further in the course, students will learn to distinguish objective facts from subjective opinions, and evaluate whether what they hear is “fake” or real news.  We will consider the nature of reality and whether or not we see the world the same as other people.  We will then turn to ethics, to consider whether animals have rights or not, and the morality of using and treating animals in different ways.

It’s been a great start to the course, and we’ve got so much more to look forward to!