Author: Huenemann

Here is a very interesting, thoughtful bit of fiction about a hardened atheist who nevertheless finds within himself a profound need to reach out to something divine. It is the first chapter of a book by the same title, by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein.

The last Intermountain Philosophy Conference was a welcomed opportunity to get better acquainted with students and colleagues from our region. Some of us are thinking we can keep the momentum, or maybe even increase it, with a common blog for us all to participate in. So we’ve created “Philosophy in Utah“. Expect to see announcement of regional goings-on, along with (I hope) further discussion of philosophical ideas across the spectrum.

1. If you have taken 2+ courses in Philosophy, and done well, you may be eligible to join Phi Sigma Tau, our Philosophy honor society. You get to wear a bright yellow neck thingy at graduation to show how wise and honorable you are. More details.

2. You also may be eligible to join the Honors program at USU, get special access to classes and get access to special classes, and write an honors thesis. More details.

3. What is “honor” anyway? Hobbes says that to honor someone is to ask for their aid. Aristotle, more plausibly, thinks it it to be respected by people who know what they’re talking about in the area of one’s own excellence. Kant thought it was disinterestedly doing your duty in obedience to the moral law. Me? I’d go for the yellow neck thingy.

Mariam Thalos (U Utah) has passed along this nifty cartoon. (Don’t let the hokey music at the beginning turn you off!)

Philosophers are often the sources of great witticisms, some of which have been recorded here by Gerry Dworkin.

Also, imagine sitting down every day to the same rye-and-Swiss sandwich and saying, “Hot ziggety!”. And imagine at the same time that you are Ludwig Wittgenstein.