Sam Thompson Society

By: Dustin Looney
Features Editor

If you’re looking for something to spice up your Monday nights and perhaps stimulate your intellectual curiosity, look no further. Monmouth College’s philosophy club, The Sam Thompson Society, meets every Monday evening at 7 p.m. at 312 College Place to discuss questions about pretty much anything.

The event is open to any Monmouth College student, and discussion topics are spontaneous, according to Sam Thompson’s president, junior Caleb Burrill of Petersburg.
“We don’t have core ideas to discuss, we want individuals to bring their own ideas,” Burrill said. “We want it to be a society outside of the normal arbitrary studies.”

This year is Burrill’s first as the president of the Sam Thompson Society. He is taking over from Jesse Barlow, who was the head of the club for the past two years.

The Sam Thompson’s constitution says philosophical and theological inquiries are inherited by all human beings, and the society exists to provide a setting for students to reflect on and discuss such questions.

The Sam Thompson Society was named after a former professor at Monmouth College, Sam Thompson, who died in 1983. Thompson graduated from Monmouth College and came back as a professor after earning his M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. He also wrote two noteworthy textbooks, “A Modern Philosophy of Religion” and “The Nature of Philosophy.”

The Sam Thompson Society wants students to think outside the box and encourages students to come check out their discussions. If you go to the meeting once, you do not have to make a commitment to attend every week; you can go as your schedule permits.

“People should come because it’s a way for you to express ideas that you have had that you normally wouldn’t have an avenue to express,” Burrill said.

Anyone interested in attending the meeting does not need any background in philosophy, according to active member, sophomore Alicia Cox of Sterling.

“Everyone has their own thoughts on any subject, so if you come here and you have your own ideas, you can either strengthen it or add onto it with other people’s ideas,” Cox said.

The Sam Thompson Society has been drawing around 10 students every meeting so far this year, and they would like to expand their numbers as the year progresses, Burrill said.

312 College Place is the brick house located behind the Mellinger Learning Center. The meetings generally last for one hour, but if there is an exceptional philosophical discourse, the group will keep it going longer.

If pondering the philosophical topics of the day is not enough to convince you to attend a Sam Thompson Society meeting, there is some extra incentive: Burrill also said that philosophy professor Anne Mamary provides snacks for those who attend the meeting. Food for thought and food for the belly.