Xavier Newswire sat down with Professor John Wolfe to discuss why he considers himself an “essential nerd”. For the past three years, Wolfe has been teaching a variety of Xavier’s philosophy courses with a medieval focus.
Some background information on Wolfe includes his graduate work at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He also taught there for a year before coming to Xavier.
Since he began teaching at Xavier, he has tried to portray to his students how philosophy is the “glue” between other disciplines in academics.
Wolfe appreciates teaching at Xavier because he is an advocate of liberal arts education.
“I think Xavier’s core is very important not to just provide you with diverse facts, but to help the students see the complexity that’s in their lives, both personally and professionally,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe has become renowned for his “nerdy” ways.
“I am more of nerd than anyone could be in the classroom. Anything that can be nerdy, I’ve probably been a part of in one way or the other,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe was not joking either. Video games and other “nerdy” activities are some elements he always connects to philosophy.
“The fascinating thing about games is that there is this budding moral decision that is being brought up,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe said that his favorite video game is Planetscape: Torment, a game from the late 1990s. He says it is based on personal identity and the question, “Who are you?”
Wolfe revealed how he spends Friday nights at his local comic book store, Comic Book World, and plays Role-Playing Games (RPGs). Wolfe says it is about telling stories and exploring the element of the human condition.
“It’s a means of getting people interested in questions of what it means to be human and it’s a fun way of doing it,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe has given presentations at other universities relating films and video games to philosophy, such as the film Zombieland and its relation to the ideas of the philosopher Augustine. This past year, he hosted some of Xavier’s “Philosophy in Film” series events. Black Swan is the film he is hoping to do this semester.
“Feel free to make this sound as nerdy as possible,” Wolfe said at the end of the interview. “There’s a dude behind the goofy glasses and old texts.”