Last week, pre-college students from Warren County explored life’s fundamental questions by attending the 2022 Philosophy Summer Camp, hosted by Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Landon Elkind.

From 8 AM to 12 PM each day, students attended lectures and discussed various philosophical topics including relativism, logic, the distinction between lying and misleading, and Philippa Foot’s famous Trolly Problems. 

“The best part of the summer camp is experiencing high school students doing philosophy rigorously, critically, and thoughtfully,” says Dr. Elkind. “Many campers have never before had a chance to do philosophy either in a classroom or with their peers.”

On the last day of the camp, students gave presentations to highlight what they learned. Parents and guardians were encouraged to attend and took active part in the post-presentation discussions.

“Despite being relative newcomers to philosophy, this group mapped out positions and arguments in the scholarly literature mostly with just help and prompting from each other,” says Dr. Elkind. “It is a joy for any teacher to see, in real time, students discovering positions and arguments that you have spent over a decade studying.” 

Each participant also received a free t-shirt for attending the camp.

This was the first year of WKU’s pre-college philosophy summer camp. Dr. Elkind hopes to see new and returning students in attendance next year. Details about that program will be announced at the Hilltopper Philosophy Academy webpage: https://orgs.wku.edu/philtoppers/.

For more information about the Philosophy program at WKU, please visit https://www.wku.edu/political-science/philosophymajor.php.