From the Archives & Special Collections: Man and His Becoming

ManBecomingSo there’s been a new little green book sitting on our shelf for months that I hadn’t quite gotten an opportunity to look at until now. Imagine my surprise to find out that it’s actually from our university (even if printed by Rutgers)!

Man and his becoming by Philip H. Phenix is actually part of the University of Puget Sound’s 1964 Brown & Haley lectures, a series that has been going on since 1953, though over the past 10 years it has become bi-annual. If the sponsors, Brown & Haley, sound familiar to you, it’s probably because they’re the inventors of Almond Roca and are located right here in Tacoma.

This specific lecture contains three parts: “Being and Becoming Human,” “Being and Becoming Related,” and “Being and Becoming Oneself.” It explores the age-old question of human nature and its development through a multitude of approaches, including the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. Phenix postulates that no one of these studies can construct a complete understanding of human nature, and on their own can only offer partial understanding. Combining physical (body), behavioral (mind), and artistic (spirit) approaches is the best way to get close to what Phenix calls the “whole truth.”

Though this lecture is over 50 years old, it offers an interesting synthesis of multiple fields to form a moderately cohesive philosophy of human nature. Though to be honest, I’m just happy to have stumbled across another publication that came from our university.

The Archives & Special Collections is open on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:00-3:00 p.m. or by appointment.

By Morgan Ford

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