Essay / Education

Friends with Aristotle and Each Other

Here’s an episode of The Common Room, the periodic vidcast of the Torrey Honors Institute, made possible by OpenBiola. What we try to capture and share in Common Room conversations is a little bit of the ongoing dialogue that makes up the daily life of Torrey. Usually we do that by gathering a few tutors who have recently taught the same text or thought about the same issues.

In this episode, Adam Johnson talk with Joshua Smith and Fred Sanders about friendship in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. This is the kind of thing you get when two theologians and an American Literature prof talk philosophy with students from all majors.

Quotes:

“We’re about two things. We’re about genuine friendship with each other in the program (as faculty and among the students); and we’re about a genuine friendship with these authors who we’re getting to know over the years.” -Adam Johnson

“That epiphany that we have over and over again with texts as persons is an incredible thing about the Torrey experience.” -Joshua Smith

“You need a friend in every century.” -Fred Sanders

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