Event Details
Date & Time
Thursday, Jan 25, 2024 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Event Link
Department
Gonzaga Socratic Club
Gonzaga University Philosophy Department
Cost
FREE
Location
Wolff Auditorium, Jepson 114
Contact/Registration
David H. Calhoun, Professor of Philosophy
calhoun@gonzaga.edu
Event Type & Tags
About This Event
What Price Wisdom? Ignorance and the Path to Understanding
George Watson, Philosophy, Gonzaga
Gonzaga Socratic Club
Thursday, January 25, 4:30-6:00 pm
Wolff Auditorium, Jepson 114
'Suppose there were men who had always lived under the Earth ... Suddenly, there was an Earthquake and they were able to make their way up to the surface of the Earth. There, they saw the Seas and Skies, the Clouds, felt the Winds, saw how the Sun lit up the entire World, how Dawn followed the Night, how Day followed the Dawn and Evening came before the Night. Then, how the Stars appeared and moved across the Night with the Planets and the Moon.
Would they not think Divine hands had made this Universe possible?
Cicero quoting from a lost dialogue of Aristotle, On the Nature of the Gods (2. 37. 95-96)
If it is the case that we are living in increasingly Post-Christian World, from whence, then, might wisdom be found? If wisdom requires that one search for it via the light of Truth, what metron may we use to discover what is the purest light?
I would ask us to jointly examine a few passages from Greek Drama and Philosophy and juxtapose them with a few passages from the Bible so that we might ponder what may be gained and lost if we no longer believe that humans are made in the Image and Likeness of their Creator. Using Plato’s Meno as the starting point, we may end up pondering Parmenides’ admonition to Socrates that wisdom is the rarest of the gifts from God.
George Watson attended the University of California, the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Notre Dame, Gonzaga and the University of Idaho, obtaining undergraduate degrees in cognitive science, philosophy, history, literature and the classics and graduate degrees in philosophy, education and the teaching of mathematics. He has taught mathematics, physics, chemistry, English, Latin, religion, history, robotics, computer science and drama at various Catholic secondary schools. Mr. Watson has also taught philosophy at Seattle University, the University of San Francisco, the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, and the University of California. Currently a lecturer in the Gonzaga Philosophy Department, Watson has been known to pose a myriad of philosophical questions to the students and faculty of Gonzaga.