John Ziegler Memorial Lecture

By Ifeanyi Onwumah

The John Ziegler Memorial Lecture was instituted in 1996 in honor of the late Professor John Ziegler who was chair of the philosophy department at SXU. This biennial lecture series graces Saint Xavier with the presence of remarkable philosophical thinkers and this year’s installment was no different. SXU was delighted to host the very distinguished and accomplished Professor Adriaan Peperzak for the series.

Adriaan Peperzak, also the Arthur J. Schmitt Chair of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago, is a member of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, the Heidegger Circle, and the American Hegel Society, to mention a few. He has worked in places such as his native Netherlands and Italy. He is also very fluent in English, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch. This just entails the vast experience that Professor Peperzak was bringing to this year’s lecture.

Before the lecture was given, a couple of students were granted the incredible opportunity of having a brief Q & A session with the professor. I was lucky and happy to be one of those students. We asked some preliminary questions that led to his lecture which was titled, “Ethos, Critique, and Faith in Education”. I and the rest of the students involved came to learn that Professor Peperzak is a man of vast intelligence due to his travels around the world that allowed him to garner knowledge that he was more than willing to share with anyone.

The lecture revolved around education and what exactly the term entailed. He emphasized on the importance of education being a two-way street where not only the students are learning but also the educator is also learning. Generally, education is a cross between two different generations and the educator can learn new things from the students. In order for this to be possible, Professor Peperzak says, there has to be a shared ethos in the educational setting, meaning that there have to be shared customs, values, and goals amongst all that are present in the classroom. This invariably means that in a society such as America’s, a situation where there is an authoritarian educator who doesn’t actively engage the students or properly interact with them, learning is minimal and inefficient.

This was an eye-opening lecture to me because as a student whose future is vested in what I am able to learn today, it is very important for me to receive an optimal education that enables me to apply myself properly outside of and beyond the classroom.

Ifeanyi Onwumah is a sophomore philosophy major from South Holland. He participates in several campus clubs. Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.