USPians gathered once again on Monday evening, 7 March for a special lecture. Professor Andres Luco of the Philosophy Department spoke on his philosophy of death to an appreciative audience in the cozy ambience of the Hive Lecture Theater. The thesis: death is not really a bad thing for the person who dies; what is much worse is not living well.
With a meticulous approach characteristic of philosophical enquiry, Prof. Luco deftly led the audience through a succession of premises leading to a logical conclusion, followed by common objections and his subsequent rejoinders. The goal, as he later shared, was to “get the students to realize that there are things that make life valuable–things like alleviating the suffering of others, protecting the environment, and contributing to cultural achievements. These valuable items are worthy of pursuit. Notably, they are not limited to furthering one’s own life and well-being in an exclusively self-interested fashion.”
As the lecture concluded, the floor was opened to a Q&A session. One question among many was “What would you like to be remembered for?” In reply, the professor revealed his personal goal to increase the percentage of income that he was giving to charity, and to write good philosophy papers.
When asked for his thoughts on the amount of good one ought to do, Prof. Luco shared, “I would say that we should all strive to do the most good that we can. We shouldn’t settle for less than the maximum good we can do. What we ‘can’ do is only limited by our ability to do good, and our access to information about how we can do the most good. If you’re doing less good than you could do, or less good than you could learn to do, then your life could be better than it is. In the end, I think that everything good reduces to the well-being or happiness of sentient beings, and everything bad reduces to the suffering of sentient beings.”
Commenting on the lecture, Communications Studies freshman, Ng Xin Yu, said, “It was really insightful and logically put. It gave a great perspective on why we should not fear death, but at the same time [Prof. Luco] didn’t force his opinions on us, such that we had space to think and reflect upon the meaning we give to our own lives and our own definition of why we fear death.”
On his part, Prof. Luco said, “It was truly an honor to give the lecture to the USP. I miss teaching the group very much. I look back fondly on the years that I was privileged to teach the Ethics Seminar.” Reflecting on his philosophical journey, he added, “My thoughts on what makes a good life are still evolving. They have changed–I’d even say they’ve progressed–as I learned more about ethics. [A] major lesson I learned from ethics is one I’m still grappling with: everyone’s well-being is equally valuable… One implication of this idea is that we should do everything we can to promote not only our own well-being, but also the well-being of others. But the idea is also riddled with complexities that I’m still trying to work out. Should the well-being of others trump my own well-being? I think so, at least when there is a tradeoff between my own well-being and the much greater well-being of others. But what if the tradeoff is more balanced–should I give up ‘x’ amount of my well-being to produce a tiny bit more well-being in someone else? I’m torn on that issue.”
One thing, however, seems certain: USPians left the lecture late in the evening with many ideas to reflect upon. As Socrates famously said during the trial that led finally to his execution, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”
The lecture by Prof. Luco is the second instalment of the USP Lecture Series organized by the Academic and General Affairs subcommittee. The series is modelled after the Last Lecture Series, where academics are asked to give a hypothetical last lecture on the things that are the most important to them and deliver it as if it were the last time they could share their wisdom with students. The first of the USP Lecture Series was given last year by Professor Schubert Foo, the first Director of the USP, who shared about how life isn’t always smooth-sailing. Video recordings of both lectures are available online.
