Philosophy

I had a conversation with a philosopher yesterday. I interviewed John Lemos for a faculty profile I'm doing for the Courier. I love these profiles. I tell everyone I chat with my friends, write up something nice about them, and get paid for it!

I have taken exactly one philosophy course in my life, so it was good to hear John's description of what he did in class and what "doing philosophy" was like. "We talk about whether there's an objective basis for morality, whether God exists, about the nature of knowledge . . . " Sounds cool to me, though a bit heady.

John doesn't just live the life of the mind, though. He is quite athletic. He's been competing in triathelons for the past couple of years ("One of those "40" things?" I asked him. He didn't say.) He also fishes, and there's a picture of him holding a big fish (a pike?) on his door.

John said that the life of the body helps with the life of the mind. This is something I've always believed was true. "After exercising, I'm both relaxed and energetic. I'm ready to think."

We got to talking about Tae Kwon Do. Apparently, his brother is really into martial arts--even wrote a book about it. John wanted to know whether our Tae Kwon Do school "taught the morals of Tae Kwon Do." I said I thought the tenets of Tae Kwon Do were taught implicitly through the way class was run, etc. I forgot about the way Master Hughes ends class with a recitation of the tenets of Tae Kwon Do.

John and I also discussed Aikido. He is also interested in this version of martial arts. I'm intrigued, too, and maybe I'll take it sometime. It's the martial art in which you turn your opponent's force against him/her through the use of pressure points, throws, etc.

I gave John the address to this blog. I hope he visits!