Philosophy Is for Everyone
Written by Eli Matola
Seeking a comfortable and friendly atmosphere to discuss and debate ideas? Intrigued by names like Gadamar, Nietzsche, Xenophon, Kropotkin, or Kant? Nicholas Ackerman, Philosophy major and Hawaii Island Philosophy Club Vice-President, talks about the club he helps oversee below.
To Ackerman, the club “reflect[s] [] the many diverse perspectives among undergraduate college students.” It provides members with intellectual development by means of open, active engagement with fellow students, community members, and faculty. Typically, the engagements involve sitting in a circle, eating snacks, and learning and conversing about relevant topics.
The Vice-President also asserts that the club allows a better understanding of philosophy via the “[p]erform[ance] of well-constructed arguments through use of dialectics [which] brings about different ways [] [of] understand[ing] the learning process outside the texts and lectures.”
Photo courtesy of Eli Matola.
Ackerman promises students who partake will get to enhance their communication skills within a multi-subject framework. Moreover, participants can look forward to learning a lot about the world through discussion and debate. Past keynote speakers for the club have conducted symposiums on subjects such as love, mortality, art, indigenous ontology, and environmental philosophy. Topics change every meeting.
The club is also known to show movies, which are discussed at their ends. “[The club],” the Vice-President states when asked about how he has benefited from the organization, “increases the self-discovering potential of the student by the various viewpoints in our discussions. This is the capacity at which intellectual growth heeds a more open-minded approach”
Ackerman further states that participating in the Hawaii Island Philosophy Club for the last three to four years has given him the opportunity to meet many brilliant individuals who he has learned to appreciate to the fullest. Guest speakers for symposiums have shown him “a noble sense of urgency around environmental and social issues.”
Philosophy is for everyone, as the Vice-President points out. “Philosophy incorporates a wide range of possible outcomes for many interesting topics which are [] correlated with one’s major/minor. By using your own invested time in your subject matter of choice, one can start to see a broader depiction of availability within the context of a profession through philosophy.”
The only thing students need to bring to meetings is their minds, according to Ackerman, who concludes, “Philosophy is an art that necessitates creativity among a willingness to understand many perspectives and draw your own conclusions.” Meetings are open to all students. The next one will be held at PB 9 at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, November 6.
Feel free to join the club Facebook page for more information and updates.
