I’ve taken no less than four classes with Rory Smead, who I believe to be one of the best professors Boston has to offer. After the first of those, Introduction to Logic, he invited me to his research group, the Rossetti Scholars. Rory is not a traditional philosopher by any means - an experienced meditator, game theory expert, prolific paper consumer and producer, and a lover of all things strange in the world, he’s always striving to explore new ideas. Rossetti brings together students who have the same ideology, and each semester we explore a new topic to dive deep on - topic suggestions can include anything from economic theory to astrobiology.
Most recently, we’ve been delving into the realm of easten Buddhist philosophy and the Dao De Ching, an ancient chinese text revered by many as one of the deepest philosophical works ever written. It’s also the case that it’s far less useful to study these texts without practicing their content, and so we’re learning about meditation as developed and studied by Western cultures through daily meditative practice, using Altered Traits by Goleman and Davidson as our guide.
Rossetti has been a fantastic community for me, and I’ve met some seriously interesting individuals in that motley crew. Being a part of the research group has shown me the power of spending your time with people on the same wavelength as yourself, and I aim to find similar communities as I leave Northeastern!