In the first part, Thanh reviewed the teachings of philosophy both in Việt Nam and England/America. He first explained why Marxism-Leninism are taught in Socialist Việt Nam, and then what and how philosophical subjects were taught in South Việt Nam prior to 1975 under the French curriculum influence. The teaching of philosophy in South Việt Nam was similar to traditional philosophy curriculum in England/America in high school with subjects such as Epistemology, Ethics, Logic, and Metaphysics. In the second part, the speaker tried to tackle the questions: "What is philosophy?" and "What is Metaphysics according to Aristotle?". Aristotle defined "metaphysics as a science of being as being, or being in general". Some remarkable questions during this talk were: "What is the role of philosophy in business and national development?", "As a developing country, what can Việt Nam learn from the patterns of development/ modernization in other countries?", "Should philosophy or economics take priority order in this process?". These questions brought a very exciting discussion.

In this talk, the speaker mainly used paintings from various times, from ancient Greek and Middle Age to Renaissance and Modern time, to illustrate the conception of beauty in the history of Western Philosophy. He explained the beauty of some Greek sculptures and buildings according to the balance and harmony principles, and beauty of Medieval religious paintings according to Aristotelian conception of beauty, which lies in imitation of nature (or God). He also explained the change of beauty concept in Impressionist and Dadaist paintings in Modern time. In the second part, the definition of beauty was discussed. Is beauty subjective or objective? Can good taste be learned? What is the main difference between beauty concept in Western and Eastern traditions? A lot of exciting examples were drawn from music to illustrate further the beauty concept and principles of fine arts.

In the first part, the speakers used Freud's psychoanalysis to answer the question "Who Am I?". According to Freud's theory, the structure of human mind includes das Es (cái nó), das Ich (cái tôi), and das Über-Ich (Cái siêu tôi). This theory indeed explained very well otherwise non-understandable human behaviors. In the second part, the speakers explained interesting relationships between personalities and professions. To one speaker, if one can choose a profession suitable to his personality, one can do it best. In the Q&A section, the audience answered the common question raised by the speakers: "Could you please share with us how and why you chose your profession?". One interesting question from one of our intern students was: "Should I choose a profession which I feel passionate about or a profession which brings me better income?". He also asked how he could find out his own passions because currently he did not feel like he had one. A lot of suggestions were given, but it seemed no universal formula ever existed.