Idea 14 for 2025: (Re)turn to Philosophy
- Nitin Deckha
- May 20
- 2 min read
I’ve just returned from an international study tour where I led a group of students to explore and experience various archaeological and historic sites in Rome and Athens. The trip was part of an elective course on the origins of Western civilization.
While in Athens, we had the opportunity to participate in two workshops organized by Hellas Revival: one on democracy and the other on the philosophy of Aristotle.
I co-majored in philosophy as an undergraduate at McGill University, which included a course on Aristotle. Yet, I would have to say, as I didn’t pursue the subject further, it receded as I turned to studying other subjects and become entangled by the demands of adult everyday life.
Yet, intriguingly, even before the experience of the workshop, I have been finding the need for philosophy in responding to the ethical and moral dilemmas of today’s world and the complex problems it faces, be it war, conflict, inequality, climate change, artificial intelligence, intranational, and international relations, among others. Moreover, I have been exploring notions such as integrity in my leadership development work, which at its core is a inquiry into ethics, morals, and values.
As such, this workshop, led by two facilitators and on the archaeological site of Aristotle’s Lyceum in Athens, offered me an opportunity to spend some time in dialogue and reflection on Aristotle’s notions of the Golden Mean and virtue. We each had to discuss an Aristotelian virtue, examined through very pragmatic scenarios, from disagreements with friends and between a teacher-student (very relatable, indeed), being suspicious of intimate partner violence that a friend may be experiencing, situations of war and conflict as well as whether to announce personal accomplishments (very apropos in era of social media saturation).
Of course, the workshop was not a substitute of deeper engagement with Aristotle’s philosophy; however, it made me wonder of the place of ethical and moral education in contemporary educational systems, and by extension, in professional learning. The facilitators were happy that the students were wrestling with the scenarios, some more complex than others, and they drew out, using as they said, the Socratic method, reasoning and critical thinking of the students. We were a group of about a dozen; so, small enough to listen to each other and to participate individually and collectively. I don’t know how much philosophical inquiry fits into their higher educational or other studies, or if it all. However, I do know that were able to engage, dialogue, question, and reason critically about their decision making regarding the scenario. Simply, they were able to examine the “why” of a decision, and not merely state the “what” of a decision, which is often all we receive, whether at a meeting, in a boardroom, by the media, on our feed.
The workshop left me curious to do some philosophical inquiry, drawing from various traditions, to explore and think more about the “why” of what I am doing. In addition, it’s left me hankering after another opportunity for an experiential symposium, preferably al fresco, and reviving our thinking in a time of distraction.
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