This weeks personal opinion column is by Polit- ical Studies student, Robert Bodrog.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve reached a saturation point with certain science majors and other people who somehow be- lieve that a mark of 80 in a philosophy or political studies course has considerably less value than an 80 obtained in physics or chemistry. As we’ve so often heard, “those aren’t real; those are just artsie marks.” Well, I think its time to set the record straight.

The last time I looked at the calendar of this institution, it asserted that in terms of goals, it was_“a community of scho- lars engaged in the pursuit of truth.” Therefore what we have here is not a question of qual- itative nor quantitative values in terms of numbers upon our transcripts, but rather a ques- tion of the value of truth — truth encountered in the sci-

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Opinion In Defense of the Arts

ences, compared with truth encountered in the liberal arts. So then we must ask ourselves is there such a thing as super- ior and inferior truth, and ifso, why is this the case?

With the emergence of the Enlightenment or the “Age of Reason” of the eighteenth cen- tury, man began to expand his knowledge of the world and see it in a different light. New- ton’s laws of motion showed us that the universe was in ruled by discernable laws which were comprehensible. This, “along with other discoveries helped to give rise to the pursuit to uncover “scientific” knowledge to explain man’s political ar- rangements. Hobbes, Rous- seau, and later Marx would all look to science for at least par- tial grounding and foundation for their respective theories of social and political order — or lack: of it.

I think it is important to bear in mind that in so inte-

grating two such different types of knowledge, we first acknowledge and sufficiently comprehend that there are indeed two kinds of knowledge present, and also how they differ. In the physical sciences one is dealing with universal theories for a given set of con- ditions. Under those conditions that theory will presumably always be valid and unchang- ing for all time. The length of the hypotanuse of a right-angle triangle will always be the sum of the squared length of the other two sides. It’s a known content and that’s it. Once that, or any other scientific phenomena and its laws are discovered, they are known and not subject to debate. One cannot argue 2+2=4.

However, in the liberal arts, answers do not come as easily and incontrovertably. One cannot ‘prove’ something like Marx’s theory of dialectical materialism universally as one could with a law of physics. This is the fundamental con-

Editorial!

Ignorance or Apathy?

The old joke goes “Two things are wrong with this place; ig- norance and apathy. Well I don’t know what apathy is, and I don’t care.”

‘Apathetic’ is a word often applied to UPEI students. Every year there are problems getting people to run for elected student positions. The year- book, winter carnival commit- tee, and student newspaper all just cannot get enough students to participate. Apathy. Stu- dents just don’t give a damn about anything but their marks, right?. But is apathy the problem?

There’s an ignorance theory used to explain apathy that says “students would care more if they were properly informed.” Since students aren’t told about all the things going on at UPEI, they don’t feel a part of it and don’t get involved.

Then there’s the impotence

theory. “Student don’t suffer from apathy; they just gave up because they feel they can’t change a thing.” Last week, CFS Chair Tony Macerollo expressed that same opinion.

The theory’s advocates feel that if students only knew the path to take, UPEI would bea hotbed of student activity.

So which of these theories is right? Well, thinking of the number of students I know how ARE involved around campus, I can’t agree with the pure apathy theory. Most student care very much about the in- stitution they are part of. I

think truth about student apathy lies halfway between the ignorance and impotence

theories. No, the flow of infor- mation around campus is not enough, and yes, I think that students who have tried to be more involved but get nowhere may have stopped trying.

Well, the Gem wants to help in one of those areas. This paper wants to keep students as in- formed about events and con- cerns at UPEI as we humanly can. I think that with more information about what goes on right here at this univer- sity, the greater student aware- ness will lead to greater in- volvement. We try to identify channels through which the idividual student can be heard with reports on the Student Union. And we try show what’s going on elsewhere like the recent education wake at U of Alberta. Student newspapers are also traditionally a forum for student discussion, through letters to the editor. Armed with a greater sense of belonging to the university, and with in- formation about how other students are tackling their own

_ problems, we hope we can help

some students get rid of that apathetic attitude.

A good way to start is to write a reply to this editorial.

Graphic/Goliard

trast one encounters in differ- entiating teleological thinking from scientific analysis.

What this comes down to is simply that since within the confines of the arts there is no such thing as perfect knowl- edge, they do not offer defined limits or the security of mind one encounters in the mathe- matical world of the sciences. Therefore, although it might be possible to get 100% on a lab or a biology exam, even the best dissertation or essay on the Hellenic notion of justice could never be expected to score an incontestable 100.

And therein lies the basis of my argument. As I have said, it is not my purpose here to assign value to, nor judge, superior or inferior epistemes. But what I am asserting is that it is important to bring a greater inter-disiplinary under-

standing between the various .

academic faculties in terms of not only grading, but further- more, a fundamental realiza- tion that in our respective pur- suits for truth and under- standing, the numbers on transcripts are not a definitive uniform scale to rank learning or achievement. They should be thought of as relative; a guide to gauge our own respec- tive progress in our chosen field of study, while keeping in mind that they, as the philosophers of the Enlightenment came to learn, like everything else in the universe, are ultimately relative.

‘The Letters Page

The Gem gets a lot of letters to the Editor signed with that old’ favourite “Anonymous”. Unfortunately, for legal and

‘other reasons, these cannot be

printed without the Editor knowing who wrote it. The Gem gladly will with-

hold names from publication, but to prove the authenticity of

.the letter, IT MUST BE

SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. Just write at the bottom of the page “please withhold name”, or “sign me Anonymous” and the author’s identity will be known only to the editor. It will be kept confidential even from other staff members.

Letters to the editor or other submissions can be sent free of charge through campus mail, dropped off at the SU office in the Barn, or through our Gem- Slot 2000, rm.401 Main.

# “! a Wen

SS Thursday, January 29th 1987

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