On March 27th, the Philosophy Club and Students for Liberty co-hosted “The Symposium: On Justice & Liberty” at the Agora Café.
The symposium served as a means for discussing the broad topics surrounding the theme of justice and liberty. Participants were put into discussion groups in order to facilitate the process.
“It was cool and it was nice to see so many people interested in philosophy gathered in one place.” Queens College junior, Sam LaMagna said.
The groups were made up of diverse pools of people ranging from different sexes, educational backgrounds and political philosophies. Their differences helped create table discussion before the event had even started.
Philosophy professors spoke on what liberty and justice meant in terms of equality between human beings, most specifically between the genders. The night began with a discussion centering on whether one’s gender identity could affect their potential for obtaining justice and liberty.
During the facilitation process, groups would explore each topic and after an hour the discussion would open up to the entire room with each group summarizing what they discussed.
Additionally, index cards with questions concerning the themes were used to encourage discussion. Questions passed around the room included: “what liberties do people have?” “When are actions just?”
With a high attendance rate and various types of conversations, Philosophy Club vice president Stephen Politis, deemed the event a success.
“I think it went very well. It’s been our second successful event in a row and I’m very proud of our club for that. I think it’s great to be able to get together for three or four hours and just discuss some pretty essential ideas like the nature of love or justice,” he said.
“These are concepts that we often assume we have a proper grasp on, but when we actually sit down and think about it, it’s not always easy to pinpoint their true essence, if there even is one to be found.”
“The symposium offered an open forum to critically discuss the concepts of liberty and justice in a fruitful manner,” Dannelly Rodriguez, QC senior and president of Student for Liberty said. “We were able to assess each concept not merely politically, socially and economically, but also philosophically.”
Even those displeased with the discussion topic still felt the event was useful.
“The symposium was fun. Cool people went, but the choice of topic wasn’t my favorite,” senior, Leandro Teixeira said.
The Symposium: On Justice and Liberty proved to be a worthwhile experience that facilitated intelligent discussion for all who attended.
