On 21 March at 6pm the Socratic Society officially reopened for the first time since the mid-1990s. The launch, which was held at PULP Cinema, was attended by many including undergraduates, postgraduates and non-students.
The Socratic Society, making reference to the famous Greek philosopher Socrates in their name, is essentially Stellenbosch University’s Philosophy Society.
Imann Malan, a Sociology Masters student, waits for the discussion to begin. PHOTO: Wilhelm Schumann
According to Phila Msimang, a newly appointed lecturer in philosophy at the University, the society originally died out due to lack of interest and apparent general controversy.
The center of the night’s happenings was a discussion panel.
The panel, led by Msimang, was comprised of philosophy scholars at various postgraduate levels including Ragnar van der Merwe, Ivan Bock, Fabio Tollon, Gugulethu Resha and Dr. JP Smit.
Following a brief welcoming and introduction to the topic from Msimang, the panel set out to answer the controversial question: Is philosophy useless?
Fabio Tollon lays out his argument. PHOTO: Wilhelm Schumann
Dr. JP Smit, head of the philosophy department, opened the floor and defended his argument on three different grounds. The first, relating to philosophy as enquiry, the second, relating to the intrinsic worth of philosophy, and the third, relating to philosophy as training.
From Left to right, Dr. JP Smit, Ivan Bock and Ragnar van der Merwe. PHOTO: Wilhelm Schumann
In one of the examples relating to his closing argument Smit said, “in philosophy as training, just pure mental gymnastics to make you better at something, there is a lot to be said for that. I mean I have a friend who works for McKinsey ( a worldwide management and consulting firm) and she did an MBA, worked on Wall Street and also did her PhD in philosophy.”
“She said that she learnt by far the most in her philosophy PhD, just because it teaches you how to figure stuff out when you really don’t know what you’re doing.”
Following this, Smit pointed out that although Mathematics or Philosophy might not train you for anything specific, they are very useful everywhere when placed in conjunction with something else.
He provided the example of how essential math is to chemistry, biology and physics and added that, functionally, philosophy operates in the same way to many other fields of study, including the aforementioned ones. He explained that they go hand in hand.
Gugulethu Resha takes the floor. PHOTO: Wilhelm Schumann
On a different note, van der Merwe argued that when anything we as human beings do is inquired into, is questioned or is asked to answer to some higher justification, then we are ultimately doing philosophy.
According to van der Merwe, when we ask everyday questions like “What is the validity of this?”, “What is the relevance of that?”, “Is that important?” or “What is the purpose of what I’m doing?” we are directly engaging in philosophy.
“Ultimately all human pursuit answers to philosophy”
Ragnar van der Merwe arguing his point. PHOTO: Wilhelm Schumann
After the panel had finished its arguments, a question and answer session followed in which the audience vigorously engaged with not only the panel, but also one another, in a discussion that would have made Socrates himself proud.
Phila Msimang takes a question from the audience. PHOTO: Wilhelm Schumann
The evening ended off with a random prize giveaway in which each of the two winners walked away with chocolates and two bottles of wine.
Ivan Bock, a masters student in philosophy and the society’s chair, says that there is no membership fee involved and that any student from any faculty, especially the sciences, who wants to learn about and/or discuss philosophy, is more than welcome to join the society.
Bock added that the society plans to arrange guest speakers, debates and discussion panels that will address topics that they and, as far as possible, the members of the society will decide on. These events will take place once a month.
Ivan Bock delivering his argument. PHOTO: Wilhelm Schumann
Commenting on the rebirth of the society and how it came to be, Msimang said “I was like wow, okay, these guys [undergrad and postgrad philosophy students] are intelligent and they actually want a space where they can express themselves in a context that is not so high stakes as the classroom.”
“They enjoy philosophical questions and other people are also interested in these things so what if we designed a society as speaking about things that people are interested in and that they can come and express themselves without the pressure of the classroom situation”