Author: Huenemann

I just saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last night, and was struck by the prominence of Heideggerian themes in it. I know a lot of students out there are hopped up on Heidegger — one of you should write a paper on the Heideggerian elements in the movie. Some of the themes I saw: the overall significance of time for Dasein (Button’s aging process as the reverse of everyone elses’s, and the questions it raised; the backward-running clock); technological enframement (contrast between the old nursing home and the newer hospital, buttons vs. zippers); importance of care (again, the feeling of the old nursing home, as well as the nuggets of wisdom Button learns along the way); finally, the great need for editing.

Congratulations to our majors who are graduating this term:

David Baker
Brian Horrocks
Darren Housel
Samuel Olsen
Derrick Perkins
Ben Pollock

Huzzah!

Pretty funny.

I have heard rumors to the effect that the Philosophy program at USU is in jeopardy. It is not; there is no doubt in my mind that there will be a Philosophy major at USU for a very long time to come. What is true is that we are experiencing some loss of faculty. Kent Robson is retiring at the end of this year, and it is uncertain whether Professor Kleiner will be teaching in the program after this coming fall. Losing faculty, of course, is far from a good thing, and it is painful. But I do want to affirm that the Philosophy major itself is not in jeopardy or uncertain in any way.

You are already pretty good at it. See Dan Gilbert’s talk about how we make ourselves happy with our lot in life, no matter what it is, and always strive for more opportunity, even though it is sure to make us miserable.