Have you ever stopped and wondered in the midst of your very existence what truly makes you, you? More specifically, have you ever wondered what truly makes us human? Well, Dr. Rod Soper of the Concordia Biology department certainly has. On Feb. 22, Soper booked a full house to discuss the age-old question: What is humanity? 

The audience included faculty and staff representing the sciences and humanities, and Soper challenged the audience’s inquisitive minds and encouraged progressive conversation.

“Truth is best assumed as a dichotomy,” said Soper in his CUI Bono talk. “Dialogue is needed to make further clarifications or abandonments.” 

In essence, this means that those who seek knowledge must always be prepared to abandon false information and be prepared to learn information that exists outside of one’s comfort zone.

Soper stressed the importance, above all, of being able to extend this kind of dialogue across all groups and members of society because it helps to form human connection. It helps us relate to each other, and to navigate the world in a moral and ethical way. One’s attempt at understanding humanity and human origin in the pursuit of truth helps us to order our steps forward and leave a responsible foot print in this world. 

Humanity, Soper noted, also involves respect. “A healthy awareness of your humanness means that you will not inadvertently devalue humans which has been done in the past,” said Soper. “You need to dialogue and be clear about your assumptions associated with a topic, especially like this, but that carries over to any topic that’s weighty. List your assumptions and make everyone aware that you’re assuming these things. Then speak from those.”

Concordia students value CUI Bono talks like Soper’s and use talks like these to navigate their purpose, their mission and vocation in the world. “I think having these conversations especially with people like Dr. Soper definitely influences me a lot because I am very much a humanities person, and I think about these things qualitatively,” said Evangeline Gahn, senior and History and Political Thought major. 

“I think about them in terms of language. I think about them in just very experiential non-specific ways and to see people who don’t have that paradigm, who don’t have that same perspective asking the same questions as I am and being able to have that dialogue is a really important part of being able to grow intellectually, morally and emotionally,” Gahn added, “I think it’s definitely gonna be another one of those ideas in my toolbox to help inform and push me forward on those intellectual journeys.”

For more information, you can email cuibonocast@cui.edu to stay updated on upcoming CUI Bono events!

Tags: event, community, Education, philosophy

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