The Honors Office now has the application forms for the Summer Study Program at
You can read about the details here.
View online presentations and/or read blog entries from people who went to
Adam Stratton blog presentation
Tessa Woods blog presentation
Amy Barnicle blog
Katie Hargrove blog presentation
Yvette Bowden blog presentation
Sarah Hoffmeister blog presentation
Lauren Oxendine blog presentation
Jeff Martinek blog
"Philosophical questions are interesting in themselves. They often deal with assumptions on which a great many normal beliefs rest. People don't want their assumptions examined overmuch---they begin to feel uncomfortable when they are made to look into what their beliefs really rest on---but in fact the presuppositions of a great many ordinary common-sense beliefs are matters for philosophical analysis. When examined critically they sometimes turn out to be a great deal less clear, than they seemed at first sight. Philosophers, by examining them, increase men's self-knowledge.
"[But people can become uncomfortable with critical thinking] partly, I suppose, because [they] don't like being over-analysed---having their roots laid bare and closely inspected---and partly because the need for action itself precludes this kind of thing. If you are actively engaged in some form of life, then it is inhibiting and, perhaps, even in the end paralysing, if you are constantly being asked: 'why do you do this? Are you sure that the goals you are pursuing are true goals? Are you certain that what you are doing does not in some way contravene moral rules or principles or ideals which you would say that you believed in? Are you sure that some of your values are not mutually incompatible, and that you are failing to admit this to yourself?' When you are involved in some kind of dilemma, are you not sometimes so nervous of looking it in the face that you avert your gaze and try to shift responsibility from your own to some broader back---state, or church, or class, or some other association to which you belong---perhaps to the general moral code of ordinary, decent people---but shouldn't you think the problem through yourself? Too much of this daunts people or irritates them, undermines their confidence and naturally creates resistance.
"Plato makes Socrates say that an unexamined life is not worth living. But if all the members of society were sceptical intellectuals, constantly examining the presuppositions of their beliefs, nobody would be able to act at all. Yet if presuppositions are not examined, and left to lie fallow, societies may become ossified; beliefs harden into dogma, the imagination is warped, the intellect becomes sterile. Societies can decay as a result of going to sleep on some comfortable bed of unquestioned dogma. If the imagination is to be stirred, if the intellect is to work, if mental life is not to sink to a low ebb, and the pursuit of truth (or justice, or self-fulfillment) is not to cease, assumptions must be questioned, presuppositions must be challenged---sufficiently, at any rate, to keep society moving. Men and ideas advance in part by parricide, by which the children kill, if not their fathers, at least the beliefs of their fathers, and arrive at new beliefs. This is what development, progress, depend on. And in this process those who ask these disturbing questions and are intensely curious about the answers have an absolutely central role. Not many such persons are, as a rule, found in any society. When they engaged in this activity systematically and use rational methods which are themselves open to critical scrutiny, they are called philosophers."
Provocative objet d'art or proof of what too much studying can do to you?
Here's a great quote from cultural critic Christopher Lasch on the value of critical thinking and debate. We think it does a nice job summing up one of the core values of the MSSU Honors Program:Our search for reliable information is itself guided by the questions that arise during arguments about a given course of action. It is only by subjecting our preferences and projects to the test of debate that we come to understand what we know and what we still need to learn. Until we have to defend our opinions in public, they remain opinions---half-formed convictions based on random impressions and unexamined assumptions. It is the act of articulating and defending our views that lifts them out of the category of “opinions,” give them shape and definition, and makes it possible for others to recognize them as a description of their own experience as well. In short, we come to know our own minds only by explaining ourselves to others.
The attempt to bring others around to our point of view carries the risk, of course, that we may adopt their point of view instead. We have to enter imaginatively into our opponents’ arguments, if only for the purpose of refutuing them, and we may end up being persuaded by those we sought to persuade. Argument is risky and unpredictable, therefore educational. Most of us tend to think of it . . . as a clash of rival dogmas, a shouting match in which neither side gives any ground. But arguments are not won by shouting down opponents. They are won by changing opponents’ minds---something that can happen only if we give opposing arguments a respectful hearing and still persuade their advocates that there is something wrong with those arguments. In the course of this activity we may well decide that there is something wrong with our own. (The Culture of Narcissism, pp. 170-171)
Here's the list of Spring '06 Honors Classes. The number at the beginning is the catalog line number and the number following the instructor's name is the number of credit hours.
Spring 2006
520 ENG 271 British Lit. I 9:30-10:45 TTH Martinek 3 H211
260 COMM 100 Oral Comm. 1:00- 2:15 MW STAFF 3 WH112
516 ENG 262 World Lit II 9:00-9:50 MWF Dworkin 3 H324
998 KINE 103 Lifetime Wellness 11:00-11:50 TTH
872 Hist 120
531 ENG 305 Short Story 9:00-9:50 MWF Saltzman 3 H322B
1376 Phil 201 Intro to Philosophy(W) 11:00-12:15 TTH Brown 3 H211
1459 PSY 100 General Psychology 9:00-9:50 MWF Cole 3 TH217
1210 MIDS 201 Service Learning 8:00-8:50
1211 MIDS 201 Service Learning 2:00-2:50
The National Academy of Arts and Sciences has placed MACON on the official ballot for the 2006 Grammy Awards. Macon is in 2 different catagories. Best Performace By a Rock Group or Duo with the song "If I Could"and Best Rock Song with the song "Sex."
The decentralisation and despatialisation of governmental architectures within the European Union (EU) that will result from the development of eGovernment under the Lisbon Strategy could have a crucial impact on political structures and identity in Europe. eGovernment projects at the European and Member State levels are professed to expand citizens' access to political institutions, increase social inclusion and enhance the efficiency of pan-European government. This essay examines the possible implications of long-term digitalisation of government in the EU given the current trajectory of eGovernment discourse and its place within the broader Information Society goals. It argues that eGovernment will reconfigure several political relationships within the EU, fostering the development of a neomedieval polity similar to that first described by Hedley Bull, where government is multi-layered and overlapping and mobility among certain individuals is very
high. To make the neomedieval perspective more appropriate for this digital analysis, the essay draws upon postructuralist ideas concerning political forms and the construction of knowledge and subjectivity.
Honors and the
11:00 - Honors Meeting with new Students - Blogs, etc.
Let either Dr. Kluthe or me know your thoughts and opinions. We value your ideas.
Freshman Honors student Patrick Beckett has a band called Macon that will be playing at some local venues this weekend.All current Honors students may register Friday November 4, 2005 in the Honors Office, according to the following sequence. Students may register any time after their scheduled sequence but NOT BEFORE.
| Last 2 Digits Student ID # | Date | Time |
| 84-99 | November 4 | 8:00 a.m. |
| 00-16 | November 4 | 9:00 a.m. |
| 17-33 | November 4 | 10:00 a.m. |
| 34-42 | November 4 | 11:00 a.m. |
| OFFICE CLOSED | OFFICE CLOSED | OFFICE CLOSED |
| 43-50 | November 4 | 1:00 p.m. |
| 51-67 | November 4 | 2:00 p.m. |
| 68-75 | November 4 | 3:00 p.m. |
| 76-83 | November 4 | 4:00 p.m. |
Stephanie Harter (Senior, Music Major) and T.J. Gerlach (Senior, Communications Major) are running for MSSU Homecoming Queen and King as representatives for Omincron Delta Kappa (ODK), an national leadership organization.
Yvette Bowden, Honors Junior (Math Secondary Education) is also running for Homecoming Queen as the reprsentative for Koinonia, the on-campus Christian ministry. 
We know of at least one current Honors student who is running for MSSU Homecoming Queen----senior Cortney Tate. 
Freshman Patrick Beckett and Sophomore Joshua Onuiri chill on the Honors couch.
Steve seems to think we've all been dancing around this basic question without getting to the nub of it:
Want to see what the Honors Meta-Blog looks like after Snoop-Dogg gets ahold of it? We thought so. Click here to "Gizoogle"-ize it [warning: some "R"-rated language in the results]. For instance:"Some students described science as being cold, W-to-tha-izzell, maybe not cold, jizzle emotionless. Death row 187 4 life . . . . Perhaps I can clarify this last statement. It dont stop till the wheels fall off. It is not tizzy science lacks emotion, cracka. It be stone-cold concrete; so sit back relax, new jacks, 'an get smacked. Science is concrete . Relax, cus I'm bout to take my respect."
Oh, and don't miss "Nate Doggy Stylin'" here, fo' shizzle.
Honestly, I felt angry that they all got to go off to Mizzou, and have the "typical" college lifestyle, while not having to step out of their comfort zone. I envied them. Now, I feel like I should be envied. I have already met so many AWESOME people, and I can thank the athletic department and the Honors Program for that.
"Some students described science as being cold, well, maybe not cold, just emotionless. To those students, I pose you this question, “If science is so emotionless then why is stem cell research such a big issue between researchers and pro/anti-abortionists? What about cloning? If science is so emotionless why am I so passionate about it?” Perhaps I can clarify this last statement. It is not that science lacks emotion; rather, it is concrete. Science is concrete. Unlike poetry or art, science is not left for interpretation. You will find no eloquent metaphors or similes in a science experiment. What you will see is the purpose of the experiment, how it is set up, the results, and the evidence of the results in relation to the purpose."So what do the rest of think? I'd especially like to hear from our many science majors.
Several people have expressed interest in reading some of the research papers produced by Honors scholars at Oxford University this summer. If anyone would like to make his or her paper available for others to read, please send it to us as a document attachment or drop it off on disc in the Honors Office.
Terrie admits she's re-thinking her major. Is she the only one? Hardly.
Jamie's got lots of great stuff up on her blog, including thoughts on the first three weeks of college and pictures and accounts of her trip to England, Ireland and Wales. "I've very much enjoyed being in honors college at southern. I've met some very interesting and fun-to-talk-to people. It's nice to have friends that have something to talk about other than their illegal esapades of the previous weekend. Those stories got so boring to listen to. I enjoying being around people who have long-term goals and dreams and realize that school is important. Not everything...but important."
Saher has some thoughts about the value of Honors freshman orientation.
Everyone should visit Abbie's blog to see how much you can do to personalize your site. You'll also appreciate Abbie's sparkling prose as she describes the struggles with HTML code that allowed her to create such a cool blog-shack:
Steven Sparkman (who, for the record, happens to be one of the nicest and most thoughtful guys you'll ever meet) wonders what the freshmen made of his remarks at the Freshmen Survival "Scareathon":"But ignoring the open hostility of my comments, what does everyone think of them? Am I in the minority for my newfound hatred of television? How about trying to cultivate yourself into an adult in your time at the university, in an age when most people just remain children till they’re 30?" Tell him what you think here.
A "pure scholar" and a "human scholar" are similar, yet there are some key differences. A pure scholar tries to distance himself or herself from the wide range of emotions inherrant in the human expereince. A human scholar embraces those emotions, and learns from the joy, love, hate, suffering, and jubilation of humanity. A pure scholar speculates on the nature of such emotions. A human scholar experiences them. A pure scholar speculates about the nature of anguish, and sympathises with the suffering, but a pure scholar can NEVER know anguish or suffering. A human scholar lives through both, and is the better, stronger, and more knowledgeable as a result. Finally, though it is highly improbable and most likely impossible, I can't help but feel that if any of us were "human scholars" we wouldn't be in class come Tuesday. We would instead be on our way to Lousiana with a group from the Red Cross or the Salvation Army to help those in need.Read the rest here.
Read the rest here.I'm only 18 but I must say that I have lived quite an extraordinary life: I've battled orcs with the hobbits, traveled the ancient world with Odysseus and his crew, and even been to a future where love is forbidden and Big Brother is always out there watching you. But am I done? Never. There will always be something new to experience (read), and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Debord's theories attempted to account for the spiritually debilitating modernisation of both the private and public spheres of everyday life by the forces of market capitalism during the post-WW2 modernisation of Europe. Feelings of alienation, Debord postulated, could be accounted for by the invasive forces of the 'spectacle' - the seductive nature of consumer capitalism. Debord's analysis applied the critique of commodification by Karl Marx, Georg Lukács and Herbert Marcuse to what is superficially called 'the media' and claimed that alienation was more than an emotive description, but a historically determined outcome of capitalism.
The images detached from every aspect of life merge into a common stream in which the unity of that life can no longer be recovered. Fragmented views of reality regroup themselves into a new unity as a separate pseudoworld that can only be looked at. The specialization of images of the world evolves into a world of autonomized images where even the deceivers are deceived. The spectacle is a concrete inversion of life, an autonomous movement of the nonliving.
. . .when the will to self-searching has you by the throat, there is immense value in being able to find a Self: that is to say, a solid entity that you can trust, because you have made it yourself and made it well. A well-made Self is not a haphazard collection of habits and prejudices, of notions and fancies; it is an ordered set of reflections, conclusions, and convictions. [. . .]
It reminds you at critical moments that the present concern, the irritating predicament, the stupid mess created by an individual act or an institutional rule, is not the sum total of the universe. It gives you, as we say, perspective, a sense of proportion. These words in fact refer to that second Self, that solid Self, full of experience, which stands like a back-stop behind the every-day Self, which is engaged in dealing with the vicissitudes of life.
That second Self is of course a permanent acquisition. You don’t lose it like an umbrella and miss it the next time it rains. You carry your strong identity with you through the whole course of life.
Click here to read my long post about freeform radio that you can listen to over the internet.
Both Bryan Petty (freshman) and Iulia Nastasa (sophomore) are running for Student Senate (click on their names to read their weblogs, where they discuss their reasons for running and the type of policies they's like to promote).
