Philosophy Club

A Word of Welcome:

Thank you for visiting the Saint Peter's College Philosophy Club: Club Agora website.  On this site, there will be posted upcoming events throughout the upcoming year, as well as, all official information, regarding meeting times, agendas, the Constitution, the Mission Statement, and other administrative nuances.  In lieu of this, please check back regularly to see if there are any updates and other pertinent information posted.  Thanks again.

Club Officers 2006-2007

President: Kristofer Gryte - Philosophy, Physics, Mathematics

Vice President: Scott Bonnono - Philosophy, Physics, Mathematics

Secretary: Michael Smith - Philosophy, Biology

Treasurer: Michael Brown - Philosophy

Advisor: Dr. Peter Cvek, Professor of Philosophy

Saint Peter’s College Philosophy Club
Club Agora
Mission Statement

Realizing the value of the discipline of philosophy and its practice, the mission statement of the philosophy club of Saint Peter’s College—Club Agora—is decreed as follows:

To live, and champion the cause of living, an examined life—an examined life done so through an intransigent allegiance to rationality, an abidance to the virtues requisite in achieving self-realization and self-actualization, and the perseverance and will to overcome material, environmental, and social existence though a refusal to acquiesce to ‘herd’ or ‘other’ identity and through the individual endeavors of becoming who one is, accepting one’s fate, and knowing one’s ‘self.’

Recognizing the necessity and importance of living a life governed by reason in the pursuit of self-actualization and the end goal of happiness, Club Agora seeks to foster understanding and personal fulfillment in the following manner:

1. Establish a forum in which individuals can engage in constructive and meaningful dialogue in order to unveil and cast light upon the questions that serve to mold and direct one’s life, whether pre-existing on a conscious or subconscious level;

2. Promote the practice of engaging in dialogue with others in hopes of orienting others toward the Truth, so that they may come to understand the importance of living an examined life and remove the veil of ignorance that has plagued their lives;

3. Expound the value in critically evaluating and logically analyzing arguments, preventing the event of ‘mindless’ integration and the endorsement and propagation of pseudo-knowledge;

4. Stress the essentialness of the attainment of knowledge and understanding, which is accomplished not through specialization in one particular academic endeavor, but rather, through an all-encompassing approach that hopes to achieve the embodiment of a philosopher—a lover of wisdom—by way of actively learning all fields and disciplines;

5. Resolve, having witnessed the evils that have burdened mankind since time immemorial through acts of self-destruction and crimes against humanity, resulting in undue suffering and the perpetuation of acts of injustice, to aid one’s fellow man, through the basis that the value of a man’s life takes precedent before any other value and through the advocacy of man’s divine element and his potential for transcending his current state and reclaiming his rightful throne of reigning his own life for his own ends;

Resolving thus to accomplish the aforementioned goals, Club Agora determines that, given the present state of affairs in lieu of future endeavors and purposes, the most sufficient and efficient means are the following:

1. Provide members with information regarding future opportunities for disseminating ideas and personal achievement—whether of the form of colloquiums, contests, presentations of papers, research, higher levels of education, et cetera—in an effort to provide the member with means of advancement and experience;

2. Institute forums, as alluded to earlier, through the gathering of members to discuss meaningful topics—a modern and more refined version of Greek symposiums and more akin to the ‘salons’ of Europe—in order that members may freely provide arguments and counterarguments to the said areas of concern, all in hopes of illumination and appeals to reason so that one may find Truth;

3. Arrange for a philosophical newsletter to be established so that members may explore areas of interest and provide their findings and intellectual discoveries to the general public;

4. Encourage the dialogue between members of the faculty and members of Club Agora vis-à-vis the establishment of ‘reading groups,’ in which philosophical, political, historical, scientific, and other such intellectual and notable works can be critically evaluated and discussed, in order to achieve a more thorough and substantive understanding of the work in question;

5. Engage in humanitarian efforts through acts of community service and good will—in essence, descending from the academic ‘ivory tower’ and assuming a ‘realistic’ approach with regard to the global community;

6. Organize social functions in conjunction with other organizations, thereby providing a suitable mechanism through which to further disseminate philosophy and in effect, resurrect the antiquarian practice and spirit of the fathers of philosophy, the Greeks, by means of celebrating the Dionysian and Apollonian ideals;

7. Orchestrate panel discussions, involving faculty members and those actively involved in particular intellectual endeavors, in order to present various perspectives and approaches to areas of interest and to additionally illustrate the ‘unity and diversity’ with respect to the said perspectives;

Having resolved thus, the Philosophy Club of Saint Peter’s College, Club Agora, will, by adhering to the mission statement set forth, be thereby established and preserved, in virtue of the intransigent allegiance of each member to his or her rational faculty—reason.