Every once in a while I'll type my name into a search engine to see what comes up. Today I had the treat of stumbling across an old story about a philosophical discussion I led on zombies. The great part about it was the look of utter mental anguish on my friend Chris's face as I waxed poetic about our philosophical non-conscious twins. Anyway, here's the story, which you can find here in the archives of the K-State Collegian:
Local reporter stumped by zombies
Zombies invade local philosophy club
 Christopher French, senior in philosophy, talks with James Sperman, graduate student in philosophy, during a K-State Philosophy Club meeting Monday evening in the K-State Student Union.
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I already know I'm out-classed. Before the meeting even begins, I'm presented with a handout that looks roughly Greek to me.
My fellow attendees have launched into a discussion about the contents, leaving me even further behind in the conversation.
"You can be a physicalist and think that not everything is causally closed," Christopher French, senior in philosophy, said about one of the handout's points.
Huh?
The source of my confusion is the K-State Philosophy Club's weekly meeting.
Philosophy clubbers have only had an official home for about two years, although the club has existed in various forms for several years. The mind-twisting meetings have covered issues from social and moral philosophy to feminism, environmental ethics and explanations of science.
But today's topic of discussion presents a special interest to the participants.
"A zombie would not feel self-conscious, but they would act as if they were," James Sperman, graduate student in philosophy, said.
But which zombies, exactly, does the group care about?
Is it the Hollywood, drooling monster zombie or the "Caribbean" zombie of Voodoo legend? Neither.
"Imagine your exact duplicate down to the atomic level and beyond, but that is not conscious," Sperman said.
Thankfully, I'm not the only one needing clarification.
Zach Starr, senior in horticulture, and San Conner, junior in music education, work out the details with Sarah Lawver, club president and senior in philosophy.
The clarification comes out. A twin that was not conscious but still acts the same is a zombie. I'm beginning to understand… I hope.
"You can't imagine experiencing nothing. All you can do is imagine not imagining anything," Sperman said.
I'm beginning to imagine a headache.
Discussion varied throughout the meeting, from thought processes to how to justify existence, but all revolved around the same general topic - zombies - and even though the concepts were challenging, the group always stopped to clarify.
Lawver said one of the goals is to make the club accessible to everyone, including non-philosophy majors.
"If you come to a meeting, and you're new, and you don't look like you know what's going on, we'll help you out," she said.
The group meets 7-9 p.m. Monday nights in Union 208; confused reporters are optional.
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