Ever wonder if anyone actually cares when they ask you, “So, what do you think?”

The philosophy club wants to hear your opinion.

John Swisher, a junior philosophy and Greek major from Wuerzburg, Germany, said the club is looking to increase its numbers and become a more comfortable platform for students to share their thoughts.

“In previous years, coming to meetings was like coming to class without reading,” Swisher said. “We’re trying to show that philosophy is not intimidating – it happens all around us.”

Chris Crawford, a junior philosophy major and active club member from Dallas, said the club would like to double its membership from last year and see about 20 to 30 members at meetings.

“We’ll be doing the same things as last year, except we will hopefully be a little more accessible and more enjoyable,” Crawford said.

“We want people to engage in philosophy outside the classroom and give them a venue for doing the same activity, but with less constraints and a little more control.”

The club has been active on campus for more than 30 years, said Richard Winfield, the club’s faculty adviser.

The philosophy club is affiliated with the national honor society, Phi Sigma Tau, which involves both undergraduate and graduate students who have interest in philosophy and have achieved the academic requirements stated by the society – which include ranking in the top 35 percent of their class.

“If you become an actual member [of Phi Sigma Tau] you get a subscription to ‘Dialogue,’ a student philosophy journal, as well as the newsletter of activities of the group throughout the country,” Winfield said.

If students meet the requirements for the honor society, there is a fee of $25 to be nationally recognized as a member, but otherwise there are no fees necessary to become an active member in the club, Swisher said.

Although there are many benefits to joining the national honor society, membership in the society is not required to attend meetings and participate in club activities.

“If they are here to engage in critical thinking and discussion, then they’re members,” Swisher said.

The club will be involved in many activities this year, such as bi-monthly meetings with open discussion, viewing and debating of films, informal social gatherings, as well as potentially hosting a regional colloquium of directors and students from regional philosophy departments, Winfield said.

“The club has hosted the regional colloquium in prior years, and will hopefully be doing it again this year,” he said. “It just depends on the initiative of the members.”

Crawford said the club is open to suggestions for improvement and how to make the club more enjoyable for members. He would also like to see students bring in topics for discussion, rather than always debating philosophical papers.

“If someone has something they want to talk about, they can submit a topic that is short and concise and raises a question,” Crawford said.

“If they want, they can put quotes from philosophers or anyone else that we can think about and read fairly quickly, and the discussion will go on from there.”

To open a topic for discussion, members do not have to have a strong background in philosophy, Swisher said.

“We just want people to realize the things that they’re dealing with from other departments, and bring issues to philosophy students that they don’t realize are there,” Swisher said.

Winfield said the club is looking forward to another successful year.

“The club will be active and ambitious in its activities, and I believe the students can help enhance the intellectual activity in the philosophy department and University in general,” Winfield said.