Dialogue Series Engages Community In Philosophical Discussion

By, Kara Dorns | Trends Reporter

Every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., Texas State’s Philosophy department holds a dialogue at the San Marcos Public Library. The series gives the citizens of San Marcos as well as students the chance to participate in particular philosophical discussions and interact with other community members.

This week’s discussion topic, Vegetarianism and Feminism, was lead by Bob Fischer, an associate philosophy professor at Texas State. The dialogue focused on the connections between the two topics, particularly about how certain types of mechanisms are used to oppress and subdue women and animals alike.

City patrons had the chance to voice their own opinions and compare their views to the outlooks of current students and the younger crowd in San Marcos.

“These dialogue series are one of the only times when San Marcos citizens like myself can come and get to interact with the students of Texas State and their views,” said audience member Rob Benson.

Benson explained he and his wife attend almost all the dialogue series, adding it “feels great” to participate in the discussions and hear different opinions from all types of people.

Fischer posted a picture on the projector as the dialogue was about to begin. The image was of an ad depicting a woman laying naked by a shoe with the quote ‘keep her where she belongs.’ The image specifically targeted women and how they are treated differently in the media and was clearly an attempt to start the discussion.

“If you poke around and look at some advertising, you can find Hardees or Carl’s Jr. has been running ads over the past few years of scantily clothed, very thin women eating these enormous burgers in these ridiculous poses, and you wonder why this is being done and what this is supposed to be communicating about women,” Fischer said.

Fischer raised these issues for discussion and went into detail concerning impressions about femininity, masculinity and animals and how they are portrayed in certain ads. The Subway ads depicting women who look like they are about to perform oral sex but in fact are forcing foot-long sandwiches in their mouths to promote the company are one example

Throughout the dialogue many different points of views can be expressed without any judgment and tested and refined as more opinions are shared.

The discussions for each dialogue series go on for about an hour and a half, and refreshments are provided. The setup gives everyone in the group ample time and a comfortable environment to participate and share views about the topic.

“As a first time coming to the dialogue series, I am excited,” said Priscilla Recio, political science sophomore. “I am very into politics, especially since it’s part of my major, so I come to get more ideas, more feedback and to be more open-minded and to expand my views on everything.”

Kara Dornes is the Trends Reporter for the University Star where this story originally published. It is reprinted here through a news partnership between the University Star and the San Marcos Corridor News.

Below are the next two scheduled Philosophy Dialogues at San Marcos Public Library.

Philosophy Dialogues: Why We Can’t Talk About Race

Wednesday, November 5—Join Texas State University instructors and special guests for a variety of discussions at the San Marcos Public Library every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. through November 12. Joseph Brown, faculty at Stanford University’s School of Humanities and Sciences, presents “Why We Can’t Talk About Race.”

Philosophy Dialogues: Leibniz’s Solution to the Problem of Evil

Wednesday, November 12—Join Texas State University instructors and special guests for a variety of discussions at the San Marcos Public Library every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. through November 12. Jack Davidson, professor of philosophy at Texas Lutheran University, presents “Leibniz’s Solution to the Problem of Evil.”