May 22, 2020 | By Hannah Loomis

Where are you from?

South Bend, Indiana

Which book did you write on?

The Art of Rhetoric by Aristotle

What’s the title of your essay?

“Emotional Tears in the Fabric of Rationality: on the Interconnectedness of thumos and logos in Aristotle’s Art of Rhetoric”

What was the essence of your argument?

Man is an animal with logos, but not entirely so. There are “tears” in the fabric of our logos, and this is why we have to treat the thumos within us with philosophical seriousness, which Aristotle does in the Rhetoric. If we take the task of rhetoric to investigate how persuasion works, it leads us to questions about the way we fundamentally relate to the world in terms of logos and thumos.

How did your essay connect to the different aspects of the Program from throughout your four years?

The Rhetoric touches on universal themes that relate to many different aspects of the Program. As a serious investigation of human emotion, it takes many examples from poetry and raises questions about art as well as science and our relationship to knowledge and understanding.

What was the writing process like for you?

The month off for writing period was like stepping into another dimension. I started regularly meeting with my advisor in the Fall and it was a tremendous experience working with him through the last week.

What is the most important lesson you learned during your time at St. John’s?

If there’s one thing I’m glad I learned at St. John’s it was developing a sense of really appreciating the books themselves. I feel like I had to learn this lesson more than once. There were several times I fell into the trap of judging an author or a book far too quickly, often even before I had done the hard work of trying to understand their argument completely. Once I had done all the hard work (almost always helped along by a tutor) I got something big out of it every time. I hope to embody some of my tutors’ sensibilities in that regard with whatever else I do, even out in the “real world” (or so they call it).