Archive for December, 2013

Philosopher’s Guild opposes move to make Gustavus a smoke-free campus

Members of the Philosophers’ Guild have spoken out this fall on the proposal to ban smoking on the Gustavus campus. In addition to publishing a letter to the editor in the October 11 WEEKLY voicing their opposition, members of the Guild recently appeared on GAC-TV to further explain their position. All members of the community […]

World Philosophy Day/Great American Smoke-Out Mashup 2013

The Philosophy Department again went all out to celebrate World Philosophy Day, a UNESCO-sponsored event that occurs each year on the third Thursday of November. Members of the Philosophers’ Guild did a masterful job of chalking quotations from philosophers famous and not-so-famous, and the department served cake at the Old Main Tea Trolley on Friday. […]

And many happy(?) returns of the day, Albert….

                  Philosophy students, led by members of Peter Shea’s Existentialism class, celebrated Albert Camus’s birthday on November 7 with pizza, Dairy Queen cake, and a spirited discussion of what members of the group found valuable, or puzzling, or disturbing or challenging about this philosopher. Camus is most […]

The Good Life, Northern Edition

Students in Josh Brown’s FTS have been spending the semester pondering the question “what makes the good life?” Today, the last day of classes, they are conducting some investigations in the field. Here is Josh, demoing the study.             Following their investigations, the student researchers repaired to the Courtyard Cafe […]

Barack Obama on Nelson Mandela: The Power of Ideas

President Barack Obama delivered a powerful eulogy for South African anti-apartheid leader, first democratically elected president and first Black president, Nelson Mandela. Among the things he said in praise of Mandela, this one stood out to the philosopher: Mandela taught us the power of action, but also ideas; the importance of reason and arguments; the […]