Copeland Hall was greeted by David Rozema’s lecture on Thursday, Sept. 26. Rozema discussed topics from authors C.S. Lewis and Fyodor Dostoevsky on human transformation.
This was the first presentation of the semester hosted by A Scholar Academy.
The discussion focused on how there are those who want to create what is known as the “new man” through means like how machines are developed. However, both authors display flaws in their works on how this cannot be done. C.S. Lewis’ book, “That Hideous Strength,” discusses this topic with the character Mark Studdock and their experience dealing with the National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments organization and transhumanism.
Rozema encouraged people to not study humans as if they were natural objects or phenomena as he sees it as dehumanizing.
“It’s important to me that people think about this and not get sucked into that false way of thinking about each other because it could be dangerous,” Rozema said. “They’re both brilliant writers and I think that they have important things to say to people. And I’d really like for people to read their books.”
Rozema continued the discussion on Fyodor Dostoevsky and brought up the questions of “What will take motives once someone obtains objectivity?” and “What are the real causes of human action?” Dostoevsky, very similar to C.S. Lewis, believes that utopians are optimistic dreamers. In his book “The Underground Man,” it is believed that humans have every right to free will and will value it over even their own best interest.
Audience members included UNK alumni.
“A lot of the young people here are starting college,” said Tom Martin, a retired philosopher who taught for 37 years at UNK. “Freshmen and sophomores are being introduced to what it means to have freedom of the soul or what it means to be free as opposed to having no freedom in your life. Seeing the students’ enthusiasm as they pick up these books and listening to the discussion is a wonderful privilege to be a part of.”
Scott Willson, a former UNK student, was familiar with the topic but wanted to see a new perspective.
“This is not something new to me.” Willson said. “ I’ve read most of these books and I just wanted to see if there was anything new that I might think about in relation to the subject tonight and these texts.”
A mixture of students and community members showed up.
“I’m thrilled that we get more than just students to things like this,” Rozema said. “But you know, it’s essentially the student group that asked me to do it and I’m not going to turn them down.”
Rozema said he is more than willing to do another discussion in the future for Copeland Hall.
