Chronicles

To provide a record of the Society's Disputations for members to access and refer to, the Chronicler, Ms. Hannah Lorastein '13, creates basic summaries of disputations and events. These summaries note the resolution, significant themes, and the Society's vote for each Disputation, and are available in pdf form below.

Detailed summaries compiled by the Society's first Chronicler, Mr. Wesley Hartwell '11, describing the orations, debate, and significant themes of Disputations from the Society's Second Founding until the end of Fall 2008 may also be found archived below. The Chronicles for the fall semester of 2007 are signed by the Council members who presided over those sessions.

Academic Year 2009-2010:

Spring Semester 2010:

Disputation L: 02/04/10 -- Resolved: The search for the Common Good is enriching liberal education at Bowdoin College
Disputation LI: 02/11/10 -- Resolved: The Green Movement is a threat to our liberty
Disputation LII: 02/18/10 -- Resolved: All atheism leads to the crisis of nihilism
Disputation LIII: 02/25/10 -- Resolved: National identity is an elevating force in society
Disputation LVI: 04/08/10 -- Resolved: Humans should strive for utopia

Fall Semester 2009:

Disputation XL: 09/24/09 -- Resolved: The "Psychopharmacological Revolution" is making us happier
Disputation XLII: 10/08/09 -- Resolved: There is no such thing as a noble lie
Disputation XLIII: 10/16/09 -- Resolved: Religious faith is an obstacle to intellectual freedom
Disputation XLIV: 10/22/09 -- Round Table Discussion
Disputation XLVI: 11/12/09 -- Resolved: Bowdoin should adopt gender-neutral living facilities
Disputation XLVIII: 12/10/09 -- Resolved: The rise of the internet has been to the detriment of artistic genius

Academic Year 2008-2009:

Spring Semester 2009:

Disputation XX: 01/29/09 -- Resolved: Israel is a legitimate nation
Disputation XXI: 02/05/09 -- Resolved: Liberate humans from gender
Disputation XXII: 02/12/09 -- Resolved: Nation states should devolve more power to international bodies
Disputation XXIII: 02/19/09 -- Resolved: The works of art incite more curiosity than the works of nature
Disputation XXIV: 03/05/09 -- Resolved: It is possible for excessive laughter to yield cultural decline
Disputation XXV: 04/02/09 -- Resolved: Social democracy would strengthen America
Disputation XXVI: 04/09/09 -- Resolved: All consensual sex is moral
Disputation XXVII: 04/16/09 -- Resolved: Humanitarianism corrupts American liberals