Students Bring Philosophers’ Personalities to Life

by Hilary Sigler

The Philosophy Program at the University of West Georgia presented the 14th annual “Meeting of The Minds” in the Kathy Cashen Recital Hall Tuesday, March 11. The theatrical event, which began at 7 p.m., was free and open to the public and encouraged audience participation.

Each year, the event is organized by UWG philosophy students who portray well-known philosophers from different centuries who meet as a panel to discuss a philosophical topic. This year’s topic was, “Are Humans Free?” The cast included James Butler as St. Thomas Aquinas, Jessica Holloman as Fyndor Dostoevsky, Cordero Schalk as Freidrich Nietzsche, Sarah Mcgee as Jean Paul Sartre and Josue Pineiro as A.J. Ayer. Anthony Duffey served as the moderator and director of the event for the second year in a row. The students were responsible for researching the philosopher they were portraying and then creating an original script.

Dr. Janet Donohoe, professor of philosophy at UWG was responsible for coordinating the event this year. Along with the cast, Dr. Donohoe created the original script that was performed. She enjoyed coordinating and collaborating with the students for this year’s production and is proud of the overall turnout of the event.

“The students put in a lot of effort researching the philosophers they represented and writing a monologue of their philosophers’ positions,” says Dr. Donohoe. “I turned the monologues into a dialogue. The students then spent several weeks rehearsing the script and preparing to answer questions from the audience. It is a huge time commitment from the students, but they always do a great job and really become conversant about the topic and their philosopher. It's a great way for them to gain in-depth knowledge of a philosophical issue.”

The “Meeting of the Minds” was sponsored by the UWG Philosophy Program and the West Georgia Philosophical Society. For more information, visit www.westga.edu/~phil/.