TheChez.net

By Pedro

Hello all. This will be my first post about a group that I have become involved in through Marywood University. We are called the Socratic Society. The goal of this club at Marywood is to sit around and philosophize. There is no requirement of previous knowledge about philosophy or philosophers. We just share opinions about topics and delve into the questions that plague our lives.

I would like to make my first post about the group itself. Following posts will be reviews of what we discuss in our meetings.

The Socratic Society started in the Fall of 2008. It was born out of the ideas of a philosophy professor at Marywood. His original thought was to form a group similar to the Socrates Cafe groups that have been formed around the country by Christopher Phillips. The first meeting of this club consisted of several students in Intro to Philosophy classes, as well as some staff members of Marywood.

In one semester, the group launched into the process of becoming an official club at Marywood. It took a lot of paperwork and crap as well as time. It was all worth it, and now the Socratic Society is a well working club.

We have been a club for only one semester, and we are already a very active group. Some of the topics that we have discussed this semster include “Does experience have value?”, “Does a person have a right to suffer?”, and “Is it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all?”

We recently went on a trip to SUNY Binghampton. We attended a colloquium there. The topic of that event was Dillemmaticity of the Moral Life. It was a very good experience that broadened our sense of what moral dillemas and theories contain.

On Friday the 30th of October, we participated in a Halloween Mixer that raised money for The Women’s Resource Center. This event was a successful fundraiser and a lot of fun.

I write about our events because I think they are important to show our growth as a club, but they are not our sole purpose. Our real goal is to get to the bottom of challenging life questions. This is what I will post about next time. The events are subsequent and required for funding. If you go to Marywood or are interested in going there you should look up the Socratic Society and join. There are many good times to come.