Psychology and Philosophy Lecture Series

Year 12 Philosophy and Psychology students enjoyed a series of lectures from visiting speakers about the role of these subjects in the real world, with speakers talking about the place of Philosophy and Psychology in their jobs.

Click on the bars to read more about each lecture.

By Suleiman, Year 12

'Moral Sainthood'. Mia Shaw, Alumna reading Philosophy at St John's College Cambridge.

Mia Shaw discussed Moral Sainthood, a concept introduced by contemporary moral philosopher, Susan Wolf in her paper, Moral Saints. Wolf’s paper, investigates and analyses the notion of moral sainthood and whether such a person would be desirable or good.

The session was very discussion-based and interactive, allowing for a healthy exchange of ideas and challenging preconceived notions about people who are described as moral saints.

“It was an interesting concept.

'Ethics of Journalism'. Julia George, Journalist.

Julia described her experiences and the ethical implications of her work as a journalist.

She described her experiences as a journalist reporting news stories from across the world. Notably she described her experiences filming a family after a natural disaster and an interview she had with a person with mild dementia. She outlined the ethical implications of both.

This talk was taking place at the same time as the Gary Lineker tweet controversy so questions of freedom of speech and how to be journalist were being raised. Many listeners of the talk left with a new curiosity in the work and ethical code of journalists.

She was extremely interesting - a very good speaker. Her talk was engaging and really thoroughly explored the ethics around news presenting and journalism. Her authenticity offered a refreshing perspective on the difficulties of maintaining professionalism as well as humanitarianism in a job in the public eye.

'Ethical considerations in Psychology'. Rachel Richardson, Psychological Researcher.

Due to past social psychological experiments, Psychology has gained a reputation of using unethical methods of research to gain information and data. Rachel discussed the ethical code and guidance she must follow.

We investigated what constituted an ethical and unethical experiment by looking at past experiments like the infamous Milgram, Stanford Prison social psychological experiments and by designing our own experiments with consideration of ethical theories.

It showed the doors that philosophy can open in careers.

'Ethical issues in CAMHS based research and counselling'. Claire Ballard, CAMHS.

Claire discussed numerous aspects of the ethical code she must follow as a CAHMS based researcher and training counsellor. Through the use of real-life interactions that counsellors have had to deal with their clients, we analysed how the counsellors should act and whether their strict ethical code could be broken to minimise potential harm to clients.