I was supposed to update this last week after the lecture, but kept procrastinating. :-p In any case, it was a pretty informative lecture. I learnt a lot and able to see things from different angles. The lecturer is a medical anthropologist (I still cannot get used to this term!) who had extensive experiences in America, Hong Kong and Asia in general.
The lecture is called "The Global Economic Crisis and Moral Changes", part of the inaugural launch of an initiative between Harvard University Asia Center, Nanyang Technological University and Universiti Tungku Abdul Rahman of Malaysia. The entire session was preceded by a buffet reception, then started with a welcome address by the Acting Chair and Head of Economics of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Then there were speeches by the lecturer, by the founder of a charity fund, by the guest-of-honour our Finance Minister, followed by the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, the citation of the lecturer by the Head of Sociology (very impressive resume of the lecturer), and finally the lecture itself, concluding with a Question and Answer session.
The lecturer first touched on the dangers of global economic crisis and moral changes. There are macrosocial dangers (economic turmoil, political dangers like forced migration, repressive regimes, ethnic violence, conflict / post-conflict situations), natural dangers (hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, earthquakes), microsocial dangers (loss of loved ones, divorce / breakdown of the family, financial insecurity), medical dangers (health catastrophes, accidents, chronic and degenerative diseases, severe disabilities, end of life conditions), and the 2009 global financial and economic crisis dangers (joblessness and unemployment, careers on hold, bankruptcy and serious debt, business failure, faltering trade and interference with globalisation, failure of trust and confidence, demoralisation and fear).
The next point touched on morals, and what is the "moral"? Moral is about moral experiences and moral life. Moral experience is about life and values, which relates to moral life. Moral life also relates to wrong moral experience, as well as the negative value changes in response to the financial crisis, like intensifying the clash between traditional and modern values, heightened individualism leading to increased selfishness, as well as the increased gap between the rich and poor due to globalisation.
However, there are also positive value changes in response to the financial crises, such as improvement of women's role as respected providers and caregivers, growing critique of materialism and consumerism as well as search for ethical, religious and aesthetic values. However, moral is not the same as ethical, as moral experience can be malign, whereas ethics can be a professional discourse.
Then he touched on recent developments in global mental health, heroic (individuals that take risks and make commitments that make their lives more difficult, rarely coming into social consciousness as moral exemplars), anti-heroic, morality and care-giving, positive responses to the financial crisis (taking a long-term view, balancing spending and saving, balancing traditional and contemporary values, rethinking metrics of "success", renewal of endurance), and finally the medicine and science for global health.
All in all, the lecture was pretty interesting and informative. The lecturer himself has a sense of humour too! However, I am not one that grasp the concept of economics, demography and finance very well, so I do not quite understand every part. Still, it was a pretty good exposure and I learnt a lot more after attending this lecture!
The lecture is called "The Global Economic Crisis and Moral Changes", part of the inaugural launch of an initiative between Harvard University Asia Center, Nanyang Technological University and Universiti Tungku Abdul Rahman of Malaysia. The entire session was preceded by a buffet reception, then started with a welcome address by the Acting Chair and Head of Economics of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Then there were speeches by the lecturer, by the founder of a charity fund, by the guest-of-honour our Finance Minister, followed by the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, the citation of the lecturer by the Head of Sociology (very impressive resume of the lecturer), and finally the lecture itself, concluding with a Question and Answer session.
The lecturer first touched on the dangers of global economic crisis and moral changes. There are macrosocial dangers (economic turmoil, political dangers like forced migration, repressive regimes, ethnic violence, conflict / post-conflict situations), natural dangers (hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, earthquakes), microsocial dangers (loss of loved ones, divorce / breakdown of the family, financial insecurity), medical dangers (health catastrophes, accidents, chronic and degenerative diseases, severe disabilities, end of life conditions), and the 2009 global financial and economic crisis dangers (joblessness and unemployment, careers on hold, bankruptcy and serious debt, business failure, faltering trade and interference with globalisation, failure of trust and confidence, demoralisation and fear).
The next point touched on morals, and what is the "moral"? Moral is about moral experiences and moral life. Moral experience is about life and values, which relates to moral life. Moral life also relates to wrong moral experience, as well as the negative value changes in response to the financial crisis, like intensifying the clash between traditional and modern values, heightened individualism leading to increased selfishness, as well as the increased gap between the rich and poor due to globalisation.
However, there are also positive value changes in response to the financial crises, such as improvement of women's role as respected providers and caregivers, growing critique of materialism and consumerism as well as search for ethical, religious and aesthetic values. However, moral is not the same as ethical, as moral experience can be malign, whereas ethics can be a professional discourse.
Then he touched on recent developments in global mental health, heroic (individuals that take risks and make commitments that make their lives more difficult, rarely coming into social consciousness as moral exemplars), anti-heroic, morality and care-giving, positive responses to the financial crisis (taking a long-term view, balancing spending and saving, balancing traditional and contemporary values, rethinking metrics of "success", renewal of endurance), and finally the medicine and science for global health.
All in all, the lecture was pretty interesting and informative. The lecturer himself has a sense of humour too! However, I am not one that grasp the concept of economics, demography and finance very well, so I do not quite understand every part. Still, it was a pretty good exposure and I learnt a lot more after attending this lecture!
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