Sen Lecture

Whenever I start blogging, I keep remembering things that I need to make sure I put in here before I go home and don't care about keeping this thing up anymore.

Yesterday I felt like a good little Oxford scholar...attending a whopping TWO lectures.

The first was a Sustainable Development Law conference at Exeter college. I expected lots of graduates..maybe some undergrads to be there. Instead there maybe 4 other students there, 2 of which were running the thing...and one of the girls already had her Law degree from Berkeley and a husband who is a UN Peacekeeper. Her name was Cinnamon. She was surprised when I told her I was from Ky because she actually lived in Dry Ridge (less than an hour from Georgetown) while working at University of Cincinnati for a while. It is certainly crazy the people you will meet.

The speaker was from Brazil. She discussed Environmental Law..and how to help sustainable development work in the future basically. I've never really given much thought to environmental law. I'm from an Agricultural background so you would think it would be the first thing I thought about....The conference was interesting enough..I was the only undergrad there so a lot of it was definitely over my head. I got a grasp on some of the issues though to think of for later.

The next exciting event of the day was a lecture in the Sheldonian by Amyrta Sen, professor of Economics from Havard University. I read Sen for my theories of politics course last term- his lecture was titles "What Theory of Justice"....Events like this help me to appreciate how many people are just thinking about issues for essentially their entire lives. Sen is one of the most respected scholars in political theory...he has a Nobel prize in economics....and he's still writing, researching....it just goes on forever doesn't it.

One of the most debated parts in the theories of justice is the idea of the "Impartial Spectator". Is it possible to ever consider the needs of a wider community over that of your family, friends, compatriots? Part of me wants to believe that it could happen....part of me doesn't see how it ever could.