Club Advisor: Matthew Meyer
The Philosophy Club of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire began, in its current iteration, in the Fall of 2015. The club has always met in the library of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. At times, the seminar tables there felt quite packed. On any given meeting night, there may be twenty or more students who show up. More recently, because of COVID distancing restrictions, the group has taken to meeting in lecture halls, with a simultaneous Zoom component. The meetings are held on a weeknight beginning at 5pm, but meetings can sometimes last up to 5 hours! The group usually meets first as whole group, and then may break into smaller groups for more in-depth discussion. The main purpose of the Philosophy Club has been to discuss big questions that are proposed in advance (major questions followed by smaller related ones). Topics have included the nature of time, freedom, nature, existentialism, magic, simulation, human rights, and more. Since the people in the club from all different majors and backgrounds, each of the participants usually has something they are passionate about and want to bring to the conversation: classical philosophy, chemistry, psychology, etc. As one might imagine, when the topic becomes one of current social topics, everyone gets involved. Students in the club report that it is one of the few opportunities on campus to discuss ideas, topics, and positions that are “out there” and that they don’t get to discuss every day. They also have said that it is a place to dive deeper into philosophical topics they are interested in, but do not know much about. Beside the intellectual stimulation, the club is also an open and supportive group—and invites all kinds of worldviews.
The Philosophy Club is entirely student run. The faculty advisor is really only there for technical aspects of organization formation and membership, as well as serving as “institutional memory” for turnover. As one might imagine, maintaining membership through different student leaders (often with different interests, levels of enthusiasm, skillsets, and visions) can be difficult. There have certainly been moments in the past where projects picked up one year were put down—or even forgotten—the next year. We are encouraged right now because two of the four officers are enthusiastic first-year students, who hopefully will be in leadership roles in the club for their entire tenure at Eau Claire.
At the moment, as well as in the recent past, there has been very little interaction between philosophy classes and the club in any formal way. It has pretty much been limited to members of the club who happen to be in that class mentioning upcoming meetings to their fellow classmates. And to appeal to a broader audience the club has not often brought aspects of classes in discussion.
In the future the club showed interest in reviving some of its past events. For instance, one addition to the normal discussion might be either a virtual or socially distanced moving screening with discussion to follow that might be aimed at the broader public. Also, twice in the past couple of years the club has had faculty come in to give talks about their areas of expertise. A few years back we had a couple of “Dinners with the Professor” and even a philosophy-themed haunted house on Halloween. That said, in part because of the uncertainty of COVID, the group plans to just hold steady for the moment and focus on maintaining its current model of weekly discussions for the foreseeable future. The current officers also are very pleased with the size of the current clubs regular membership, and so they do not see a need for additional opportunities for recruitment at the moment.
The Undergraduate Philosophy Club Series of the APA Blog is designed to share insights about undergraduate philosophy clubs. We would love for your undergraduate philosophy club to be a part of the project. Please email sabrinamisirhiralall@apaonline.org to nominate an undergraduate philosophy club.
Matthew Meyer
Dr. Matt Meyer is an Associate Professor of Philosophy. His teaching area of specialty is Continental Philosophy from Kant to Derrida. He also teaches classes in Aesthetics, Healthcare Ethics, What is Happiness?, Philosophy of Race, Feminism and more. He recently published Archery and the Human Condition in Lacan, The Greeks, and Nietzsche with Lexington Press, and his written many articles on pop culture and Continental philosophers. He enjoys advising the Philosophy Club even though he is the first to admit that his student officers do all of the work.
