Dr Erich P Schellhammer
Dr. Erich Schellhammer is the Program Head of the BA in Justice Studies at Royal Roads University. The Justice Studies program is a third and fourth year degree completion program intended to provide for the knowledge and skills base needed for justice service work in Canada and abroad. Dr. Schellhammer was instrumental in developing the program and he has been the academic supervisor of the program since its inception in 2002. He takes great pride in constantly improving the overall quality of the program. The program is learner focused and emphasizes four disciplines, i.e., law, philosophy, sociology and social work. Dr. Schellhammer has a law degree from Germany and philosophy degrees from Queen’s University, Canada.
He is primarily interested in developing the concept of human dignity that he perceives to be the key for considerations of justice. In his research work he is fascinated by the phenomenological tradition and by ontology. Dr. Schellhammer argues that we can derive fundamental principles of justice from a reflection of structural components that cannot be bracketed to explain a person’s identity. One of his findings is the need to acknowledge diversity. The human condition is constructed to allow for a myriad of life worlds. Consequently, he urges to appreciate diversity as the true wealth of humanity. He also believes that this philosophical insight allows the perception of a meta-perspective within where we situate ourselves and its definite truth claim with regards to its values, customs and habits. It is a perspective that he hopes can contribute to a peaceful being-with of individuals and cultures holding different world views.
Lately Dr. Schelhammer has been involved in working as a professional coach, offering intense leadership workshops in peaceful conflict resolution to community leaders from African countries in Togo and to Aboriginal leaders in Canada as well as developing transformative leadership principles in collaboration with an international team. He is also conducting a training/education needs assessment for an African YMCA Leadership Academy (called YMCA University of the African Renaissance) in collaboration with the African Alliance of YMCAs and the World Alliance of YMCAs.