UATX Student Deftly Answers Peter Boghossian's Difficult Philosophical Questions

<p>Carlos Carvalho, President of the University of Austin (UATX), recently told me, "UATX is Navy Seals training for the mind". It's no surprise, then, that when I ask 19-year-old UATX student Merrick Meardon difficult philosophical questions, he was more than capable of sustaining a high level of discourse about concepts of "abiding significance". (Hat tip to the late philosopher Dan Dennett who popularized this phrase.)</p> <p>Merrick and I didn't know what we'd talk about when we sat down together, but we both knew the unspoken assumptions: You will be held to task for your ideas; our conversation will likely not be intellectually easy; if I detect a mistake in your reasoning you'll know about it, and I expect the same courtesy from you; there are no limits on the content or how deep the conversation will go. Merrick attends the University of Austin, and that's the normative expectation.</p> <p>Watch this episode on <a href="https://youtu.be/KHo9jP90huc" rel="noopener" target="_blank">YouTube</a> and read the accompanying <a href="https://boghossian.substack.com/p/intellectual-navy-seals-a-conversation" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Substack post</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://linktr.ee/peterboghossian" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Follow Peter Boghossian</a></p>