University of Dallas News

Issue date: 2/24/09 Section: Feature

It is a well-known fact that the University of Dallas places a great deal of value on a deep knowledge of philosophy. Those students following the old bulletin take a minimum of four philosophy classes, and those pursuing the new bulletin take three. However, many students, as well as faculty and staff, might wish for more sources of philosophic discussion and learning. There are, in fact, many places in the Dallas/Fort Worth area where this need might be satisfied.

At Campus: The Philosophy Colloquium

If you have been paying attention to the brightly colored event signs around campus, you might know about the philosophy department's Philosophy Colloquium, which each Friday at 3:30 p.m. offers a different lecture on various aspects of philosophy. The colloquium is one of several avenues for philosophic thinking available to UD students, faculty and staff.

The colloquium is in its first year, and is intended not just for philosophy majors but for "anyone who wants to think about philosophical questions," Dr. Lance Simmons, philosophy department chair, said. He described the inspiration for the colloquium: "Several members of the philosophy department studied at institutions that had a weekly philosophy colloquium. We remembered how much fun it was to get together with other students on Friday afternoons and talk philosophy. We wondered if we could establish something similar at UD. Someone noticed that the math department has a weekly colloquium, MAT 2107/3107. That course has been offered for about 20 years! We slapped our foreheads and cribbed our course description from the math department."

Each week's lecture is focused "on issues that are not discussed in the Core
philosophy courses," Simmons said, explaining that this was done deliberately, and that many of the topics are "unique to the colloquium." Senior philosophy majors are required to present their thesis research projects in public, and Simmons said that the colloquium "seemed like a good forum for the presentations, but that may not be true every year."
The lecture runs about twenty minutes with a discussion following after. While there are students taking the colloquium for credit, Simmons assured that "visitors are always welcome," and that "the presentations are designed to be accessible to everyone in the audience, even those who have never studied philosophy."

For those interested, the colloquium meets in Braniff 201 at 3:30 p.m. every Friday.

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