Annual philosophy lecture instructs on ‘Composing Community’

By: Natalie Pistole
Contributing Writer

At 7 p.m. Monday, March 26, 2007, Mary Catherine Bateson delivered the annual Samuel M. Thompson Lecture at Monmouth College.

Thompson served in the philosophy department at Monmouth College for 46 years. Because of his dedication to the College and for his popularity not only throughout the college but also with his two popular textbooks, “A Modern Philosophy of Religion” and “The Nature of Philosophy,” a lecture is annually given in Thompson’s honor. Past lecturers who have come to the college include Sandra Harding of University of California Los Angeles and Ted Cohen of the University of Chicago.

The crowd on Monday night was filled with a variety of people and the attention was faced to the stage where Bateson sat on a stool beside the usual podium and addressed the crowd with her lecture entitled “Composing Community.” The crowd included community members, professors, students and even Mauri Ditzler, Monmouth College president, each focusing his or her attention on the stage as Bateson took them through stories and other thought-provoking information.

Tim Doubek and Tiffany Gonigam, both juniors at Monmouth College and in the crowd on Monday night, agreed in saying, “She was very insightful and brought up many thought-provoking ideas on composing community and ourselves.” They both agreed her talk kept them thinking and brought up many points which they had never before considered.

Bateson began the lecture with a story of her at the age of eight, during the presidential election of 1948, with presidential candidates Thomas Dewey and Harry S Truman. Her mother expressed she was in favor of Dewey winning, but did not think it was a bad thing if Truman won the election. Her mother also said the Democrats should feel fine when the Republicans win, but do not. Our society is worried more about winning and losing than anything else.

She next branched off into talking about the main topic of “Composing Community,” telling the crowd she began thinking of this topic by applying the word “composing” to individual lives, and was later inspired to apply it to the bigger picture of community. She stated, “We talk a lot about being a pluralistic society; one with many voices. We respect and value – well sometimes – that multiplicity.” She said we all value that we are different, and usually can respect those differences.

As Bateson continued her speech, she gave a very valuable. piece of advice to all members of the audience, but mostly to those students of Monmouth: “Treasure the experiences of either changing your mind or receiving information that makes you change what you’ve previously believed.” She says changing your mind is something which needs to be cherished because it keeps happening.

At the end of the speech, Bateson went into a different story which described a 17-year-old girl and an 80-year-old woman, both from completely different heritages. When they needed one other most, they forgot about what they accepted as normal and did what was best for each other. Bateson was truly inspired by this story in the way that the two came together at such a time and set aside their beliefs. The audience seemed to be inspired by the story as well.

Leisa Kauffman, assistant professor in the department of modern foreign languages, said of the lecture, “I thought it was fantastic, inspiring and thought-provoking.” Bateson used her inspiration from the story to feed it into Kauffman and the rest of the audience.

So, as the audience came to the lecture to remember Thompson, they also learned some valuable things about life. As the students, community members and faculty left the auditorium, they were surely still thinking about what Bateson told them, and that is exactly what she aimed for.