Marina, Year 12 student, tells us all about this event:

"Last week, we were invited to a lecture-style conference, led by Dr Peter Vardy (ex-King’s College and Institute of Education lecturer and renowned theologian), inviting the year group to consider the ethics of topics that will play a large role in our adult lives.

The topic was tailored to Latymer’s Sixth Form demographic, focusing on medical, business and sexual ethics, two of which being relevant to the majority of career pathways taken in later life at the school. Dr Vardy opened with an overview of academic bodies of thought on the topic – natural law, Kantian ethics, and utilitarianism – exploring ideas of human nature, human purpose, and human potential in order to set principles for the discussion of latter subjects.

Dr Vardy’s explanation of applied medical ethics covered the principles of autonomy, justice, beneficence nonmaleficence and QUALYs - setting a clear framework in which aspiring Latymer medics can work in future. We considered the proportion and sustainability of NHS funding going to pensioners, and where the line can be drawn on genetic engineering of human fetuses from both a natural law and more utilitarian perspective, using the 1997 film Gattaca as an accessible example of whether or not this can be classified as eugenics. Alternatively, the business section explored regulation of altruism as maintained by business owners, ethical selection of investment and responsibility of stakeholders - who should reap the benefits, and who is to blame for unethical practice - tying these topics into potentially our own future corporate experiences, especially around whistleblowing.

During the lecture, Dr Vardy made consistent reference to topical or emerging issues in the field of ethics, specifically under the more professional headings, with reference to the NHS’ finances and PIP payments, AI’s use as a diagnostic tool, Jeff Bezos’ redirection to support Trump in the Washington Post, Saudi involvement in the sporting industry, Fox news and Reform’s popularity. When moving onto sexual ethics, we were introduced to perspectives on sexual gratification being long and short term from a utilitarian perspective, and the pessimistic hedonism which may come to us with age, and with hurt, as well as what love is – not failing to remind us of divorce rates, and the short life expectancies of our current relationships.

To end the conference, a debate was held on whether or not the truth no longer matters. Unfortunately, the parameters for discussion were kept fairly vague, and we the Year 12 students did appear to shoot blindly in the dark with our points, unsure of whether to examine the meaning of truth (normative, positive, subjective or objective), the state of modern media and/or it’s affiliation with political rhetoric, or cultural values and their disparities. Nonetheless, many poignant statements were made and the ideas broached put no student to shame."