As the semester winds down, the valedictory lectures will soon be coming to an end. Professor Fisher recently addressed his audience and Professor Oakerson will give the semester’s last lecture next Thursday.
Last Thursday, Professor Carlton Fisher from the Philosophy department offered his thoughts on the implications of God’s foreknowledge—or lack thereof—in his lecture, memorably titled God’s March Madness Bracket: Did God pick UMBC to beat Virginia?
“I will claim that God does not know much about the distant contingent future,” warned Fisher in his description. “I will argue that such knowledge is possible only if God controls all the details of the creation, which he does not. I will argue that for God’s purposes in sovereignly governing the creation such knowledge would be useless. Then I will take a step too far and suggest that there might be facts—facts about us—that God does not know.”
Following his lecture, Fisher offered a few parting words of wisdom to the Houghton community. To faculty, he advised they “focus on mission, not on survival.” As to students, he would tell them to “take the best courses you can.”
“Prof. Fisher is one of the outstanding teachers and thinkers we’ve had the privilege to count among the Houghton faculty,” said Morgan Smith, a junior majoring in Philosophy and Bible. “He does an excellent job of making potentially obscure philosophical ideas both accessible and valuable to students, and he demonstrates an enduringly wise and generous interest in student’s personal journeys and well-being.”
Early in his lecture, Fisher related his primary question back to an experience all people share, their first interactions with philosophical questions. Throughout the lecture, he often made connections or comparisons to popular culture, outside the context of philosophy. The most obvious example, of course, being in the title of the lecture.
“He’s [also] got a wonderful sense of humor,” remarked Smith. “Prof. Fisher will be sorely missed.”
Following Fisher’s address, the only remaining valedictory lecture will be from political pcience professor Ron Oakerson.
When asked about the kind of professor attendees can expect at the faculty lecture, junior Katherine Stevick described him as“a kind, challenging professor and a great storyteller.”
Stevick went on to comment on his general approach to teaching.“I’ve been very fortunate to take a couple of classes with him before he retires—he’s put me onto all sorts of new authors and ideas that I would never have encountered otherwise,” she explained. “He has a knack for creating these wonderful classes—the Sierra Leone Mayterm, the Buffalo-focused urban development class and in the past, the Adirondack studies program—which integrate classroom concepts and “real world” experiences or field trips.”
Those interested in attending Oakerson’s lecture should know that it will be next Thursday, April 26 at 4:25 in Library 323.