Spring Break
A community of philosophy lovers
Ariel Green
Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: News
Since the foundation of the philosophy department at UMKC, the faculty members have established a group to encourage student interactions within the major.
The purpose of the Philosophy Circle is to create a forum by which adjunct lectures can be given, as well as to establish interaction between both professors and students.
After experiencing a sort-of intermission due to a lack of leadership, Jim Sheppard and Clancy Martin, assistant professors in philosophy, hand-picked the new president, Jillian Bruns, senior philosophy major. Under her leadership, the Philosophy Circle has met three times this semester.
The first meeting served as an introduction to the circle. It was held at McCoy's Pubhouse in Westport. One attending student, Katherine Hembree, junior philosophy major, said she enjoyed the interaction with her philosophy colleagues and the opportunity to see the professors outside of a classroom environment.
"It is an intellectually stimulating environment … a mechanism to integrate philosophical ideas into applicable settings," Hembree said.
Another meeting was a movie night showing "Thank You for Smoking." Following the movie, Sheppard led a discussion on "spinning" and its roles in our daily lives and the realm of politics, placing a special emphasis on the current presidential election.
The most recent forum was a political roundtable focusing on local politics. Discussed topics included the proposed smoking ban for Kansas City, Mo. Both views were adamantly expressed in a passionate but friendly manner.
Practicality and implementation of the discussion were also emphasized.
"It's a way for us to use what we learned in class in our real lives," Hembree said.
The group serves a greater purpose in instilling a community environment amongst philosophy majors, according to Bruns.
"It's a way for us to know all of the other majors. There are 60 to 70 philosophy majors, and on average, six to 10 people show up to the Philosophy Circle meetings," Bruns said. "These are disturbing statistics that we have so little action and involvement through the forum. … The philosophy department is pretty big, but the student involvement is really low."
The Philosophy Circle serves as a mediator to connect students from different stages in their academic careers in a fun and informative environment, Bruns said.
While faculty involvement has been a major benefit to the group, difficulties have occurred in planning consistent meeting times because of their popularity and work, Bruns said.
"With Dr. Martin publicizing his book … and Dr. Sheppard finishing up his latest book, it's been difficult trying to set a time for all of the meetings," Bruns said.
Despite these obstacles, Bruns plans to have four meetings before the end of the semester. Civil disobedience and existentialism are two of the planned discussion topics.
For more information, please contact Jillian Bruns at jib21f@umkc.edu.
agreen@unews.com
The purpose of the Philosophy Circle is to create a forum by which adjunct lectures can be given, as well as to establish interaction between both professors and students.
After experiencing a sort-of intermission due to a lack of leadership, Jim Sheppard and Clancy Martin, assistant professors in philosophy, hand-picked the new president, Jillian Bruns, senior philosophy major. Under her leadership, the Philosophy Circle has met three times this semester.
The first meeting served as an introduction to the circle. It was held at McCoy's Pubhouse in Westport. One attending student, Katherine Hembree, junior philosophy major, said she enjoyed the interaction with her philosophy colleagues and the opportunity to see the professors outside of a classroom environment.
"It is an intellectually stimulating environment … a mechanism to integrate philosophical ideas into applicable settings," Hembree said.
Another meeting was a movie night showing "Thank You for Smoking." Following the movie, Sheppard led a discussion on "spinning" and its roles in our daily lives and the realm of politics, placing a special emphasis on the current presidential election.
The most recent forum was a political roundtable focusing on local politics. Discussed topics included the proposed smoking ban for Kansas City, Mo. Both views were adamantly expressed in a passionate but friendly manner.
Practicality and implementation of the discussion were also emphasized.
"It's a way for us to use what we learned in class in our real lives," Hembree said.
The group serves a greater purpose in instilling a community environment amongst philosophy majors, according to Bruns.
"It's a way for us to know all of the other majors. There are 60 to 70 philosophy majors, and on average, six to 10 people show up to the Philosophy Circle meetings," Bruns said. "These are disturbing statistics that we have so little action and involvement through the forum. … The philosophy department is pretty big, but the student involvement is really low."
The Philosophy Circle serves as a mediator to connect students from different stages in their academic careers in a fun and informative environment, Bruns said.
While faculty involvement has been a major benefit to the group, difficulties have occurred in planning consistent meeting times because of their popularity and work, Bruns said.
"With Dr. Martin publicizing his book … and Dr. Sheppard finishing up his latest book, it's been difficult trying to set a time for all of the meetings," Bruns said.
Despite these obstacles, Bruns plans to have four meetings before the end of the semester. Civil disobedience and existentialism are two of the planned discussion topics.
For more information, please contact Jillian Bruns at jib21f@umkc.edu.
agreen@unews.com
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