Launch and Query as Dynamic, Non-Synthetic Exchange
Once the conversations got going, we did witness threads demonstrating dynamic interaction between launch and query post. In these exchanges, students engaged particular ideas and passages referenced by a launch post. The depth and quality of their responses shows they spent time parsing the original writer's ideas.
If universities have a problem creating well thought out, rational laws for their university, have they also put the same lack of logical thought into their constitutions and mission statements, which are the very basis of their university? I think that this problem may stem from the university itself and its inability to create wise and rational minds, and instead fostering a booksmart, binge-and-purge learning system. Should all majors have a required philosophy class, in order that students might gain an understanding of the basics of logical thought? I think that this would be a great idea, but it could also very easily create a society of athiests who are so confined to the bounds of logic that they cannot find it within themselves to believe in anything but those facts in which they have seen. So maybe we add in a required logical world religion class, so that people can see how some world religions have defined their views on morality and reality by process of logical induction.
The first query response addresses the launch post's attitudes toward the logic of university mission statements with respect to the goals of the university.
However, I think if you look at many civil laws and university policies IN REGARD TO THEIR MISSION STATEMENTS there is little to argue.
Returning to missions statements later in the post the student concludes with:
You said people don't come out of college with logical thought and i agree, and if we don't require a class in philosiphy the democratic society in the future will become very much less represented of soceity and government will represent the few people who can form a logical thought. To sum up my post, i believe philosiphy should be taught in schools and that universities are not failing in their mission statements, but that their mission statements must change.
The first query posts engages the launch post first by attempting to understand its basic argument, finding the points where they agree, and then, finally, questioning the terms with which that argument is made.
The second query responds to the launch in another way, challenging the grounds of one of its suppositions. After agreeing that college students could use more courses on philosophy and logical development, the author retorts:
to think that requiring philosiphy courses would create a large group of atheists is, in my opinion, absurd. Certainly many philosiphers were atheists, and the existence of God can't be scientifically proven, but just because people have logic doesn't mean that they lose faith.
This thread, like many, didn't conclude with any kind of consensus, but, like many, it did testify to student investment as they returned and posted additional comments to threads even after their class obligations were fulfilled.