Food For Thought

I found myself enjoying a most rewarding seminar on ethics today given by a chap called Peter Vardy. In just about half a day he (along with a lady called Julie Arliss) managed to be interesting and illuminating on postmodernism, especially as applied to modern art, the theory of the just war, and the broad ethical background to abortion, euthanasia and the latest developments in genetics. Just now I happened to try and look him up on Wikipedia and there's a lot of derogatory nonsense in the article about him which suggests he must be a little controversial. It looks like he may have crossed swords with Richard Dawkins at some point as the page appears defaced by, presumably, a Dawkins supporter. I'm particularly surprised since today's seminar was almost entirely agenda-less and even-handed, as far as I was aware, in the exploration of ideas. Of course, that might simply be a sign of the subtlety with which I was manipulated.