‘A place where ideas just matter’: Students find refuge in Philosophy Club during COVID-19

| Staff Writer

Every Friday afternoon, a group of students meet to discuss all things philosophy. A few have their cameras off, most have them on, but regardless of their camera status, everyone takes the opportunity to share their perspective. And perspectives aren’t in short supply.

Whether the topic is about the existence of God or the morality of the death penalty, as soon as the topic is introduced, the conversation takes off, devoid of the awkward silences of most Zoom calls.

With weekly philosophical discussions, an outreach segment and a developing academic journal, Philosophy Club’s main goal is to spread the love of philosophy and make it more accessible.

Amongst Washington University’s student population, Philosophy Club has been using its weekly discussions to generate interest in philosophy. Although the group is excited to have in-person discussions, the Zoom meetings have been helpful, co-president sophomore Astoria Chao said. They’ve added more structure to the weekly discussion meetings through the introduction of a discussion master who gives out topics and readings, which has allowed for conversations to flow more smoothly. So far this semester, discussions have revolved around subjects such as moral luck, writer Ayn Rand and questioning whether human beings are selfless by nature.

Sophomore Ethan Harris, one of two discussion masters for the club, has been working to make these weekly philosophical discussions more accessible. As a discussion master, he leads and mediates these conversations, happening every Friday from 2 to 3 p.m. When choosing topics and issues to address, Harris tries to pick topics so that anyone can have an opportunity to voice their opinion. If the topic is more niche, he tries to provide optional, recommended readings so that members are able to come prepared.

“Something I always stress is that we want to make this as easy to get involved with as possible,” Harris said, “People are always welcome to the meetings even if they want to sit with their camera off. This is a place for anyone to come and just learn and have fun.”

They’re also trying to extend their influence into the St. Louis community.

“Right now philosophy is pretty contained to the college experience,” Chao explained. “Not a lot of kids or people who don’t go to college ever really know what philosophy is.”

This part of Philosophy Club, developed over the summer, has so far been having Zoom meetings with local high school students in the St. Louis area, where they teach and discuss different topics in philosophy.

Philosophy Club isn’t just for people who want to major or minor in it. In fact, a diversity of thought and experiences are preferred, because the meetings are enhanced when everyone brings their own unique interests and expertise, Harris explained.

This is true for the executive members as well. Harris has a second major in the business school and actually has no intention of pursuing a career in philosophy, and Chao is a Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology major on the pre-med track. The club’s other co-president, sophomore Rohan Srivastava, is a double major in Math and Philosophy. For him, the interdisciplinary nature of both the club and the subject of philosophy itself has made him come to appreciate the connections between his two majors, which he described as both being rooted in logic and proof.

The newly-rebranded Philosophy Club started at the beginning of the 2020 spring semester when they transitioned to a student body club under the Student Union. It instantly started to gain momentum that grew when students were sent home in March due to the pandemic. Its Instagram page started at the end of June and now has about 650 followers.

On top of receiving an influx of new members and interest, Philosophy Club also spent the summer developing new programs, such as outreach and Washington University Review of Philosophy (WUROP), an academic journal. After being inspired by the undergraduate-run Harvard Review of Philosophy, Srivastava came up with the idea of the journal in the spring. Work started on the journal during the summer, where other executive members joined due to both interest and the inevitable boredom of quarantine.

“It also gave me time to reconnect with people I normally wouldn’t see at home,” Harris said.

The theme of this year’s WUROP is aesthetics or the branch of philosophy that deals with beauty, so the members of Philosophy Club who are working on the journal have been exploring people who are relevant in the field and reaching out to them. Those working on the journal are optimistic about the launch of WUROP, in large part due to the feedback they’ve been receiving.

“So far we’ve been very fortunate with the responses we’ve gotten. We’ve been getting a lot of interest from the people we reached out to,” Harris explained, “It’s been really exciting.”

Philosophy Club can be a break from the general academic stressors members face as college students.

“At Wash. U. there’s a bit of a trend towards pre-professionalism and people can tend to be caught up in thinking about the future, jobs and careers. Sometimes I think that there’s a bit of a loss of this idea of learning for the sake of learning or the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge’s sake,” Srivastava explained, “And philosophy—and Philosophy Club in particular—feels like a place where ideas just matter and people come together to discuss big ideas without much regard for any of those professional considerations. It’s just a fun, intellectually-stimulating space. I really enjoy being a part of that.”

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