ters in response to the questions. A well-known example of

this is Philip K. Dick’s Do An-droids Dream of Electric Sheep which explores a world where humans have created clones. In the novel, the clones are consid-ered less than human, conse-quently enslaved, and forbidden on Earth.

Throughout the novel, the main character, a bounty hunter paid to kill errant clones hanging out on Earth, struggles with the question of whether or not the clones are human and have souls as he becomes more familiar with

Science Fiction is a genre that more often than not goes horribly wrong. With moon princesses needing rescued, terrifying aliens threatening the fate of the world, and nine different ways to travel at the speed of light, science fic-tion is not considered great litera-ture by any stretch of the imagi-nation. However, for some au-thors the beauty of science fiction is that it offers a platform on which certain moral questions can be raised while exploring the different consequences of charac-

The Scifly

certain clones. What is intriguing is that the clones, designed to be super smart, lack any sort of em-pathy, emotions, and hope. The worst fate for a clone is to die because for them there is not a hope of an after life, they are merely machines created by falli-ble beings that have no real love for their creations. Published in 1968, this novel asked questions that have real significance today as scientists clone animals and attempt to clone humans.

Another thought provok-ing novel is Next by Michael

(Continued on page 5)

The Search for Good Sci-Fi (Spoilers Alert)

Video games, iPods, high defini-tion surround sound television – these are becoming part of the daily life of our generation. Turn on your head-phones, plug them into your Xbox, pick up the controller, and for a few hours you're in another world, oblivious to eve-rything really going on around you. Or do you even know at all what's really going on around you? Could it be that a video game is a more accurate model for the things we experience each day? Could it be that con-scious experience is simply the

effect of chemical reactions in the neurosystem much like the world in the video game is the effect of the Xbox console and game disk? Neurologist Paul MacLean presents us with pages of experi-mental data supporting his hypothe-sis that emotion can be reduced to simply neurological activity re-sponding to various stimuli inside or outside the body. Through countless experi-ments, MacLean and other scien-tists have found that manipulating parts of the brain actually results in particular emotional experiences or even conscious states. For example, MacLean reports that disruptions in

the limbic system can cause one to see objects which are not real, to enter certain emotional states, and to perceive objects differ-ently from the way others do. As you may see, there is a lot at stake in such experi-ments. If the reductionistic stances of certain scientists are correct, the meaning of person-hood itself would be challenged. Could it be that we can-not help but be enclosed in our-selves and our biological and psychological needs, without any real knowledge of or love for anything greater than our-selves?

“:Anything one man can imagine , other men can make real.” —Jules Verne

Vol. IX, Iss. 6

November 25, 2008

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE PSYCHE20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE PSYCHE20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE PSYCHE20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE PSYCHE

St. Clare, pray for us! Page 2

Staff:

Interested in joining our staff? Email us at

notestothegadfly@gmail.com

~Mission Statement~

The Gadfly is an attempt to

“bite the sleeping horse” in the spirit of Socrates. It is a student publication whose purpose is to facilitate discussion concerning campus and cultural issues as

they pertain to students of Fran-ciscan University. It aims to be a forum for open, well-thought out, and honest discussion to-wards the end of knowing and

loving truth in its most robust sense.

Dr. John White Advisor Extraordinaire

Advisor:

Laura Berry (LB) Michelle Blohm (MB) Brian D’Amico (BD)

Emily Davis (ED) Katherine Eddy (KSE)

Layout Editor: Teresa M. Fasanello (TMF)

Amanda Lamuro (AL) Editor in Chief:

Gillian Lamuro (GL) Callie Langworthy (CL) John Mario Levri (JML)

Business Manager: Jessica Kelley (JK) Andy Moe (AM)

The Goodkind Gnostic: Michael C. Pezzulo (MCP) Michael J. Ruszala (MJR)

Mark Schreck (MJPS)

** Please note that the views expressed in the articles do not necessarily represent the

views of the whole staff.

Whovians, Trekies, Fanboys, Misties, and other general Geeks

of the Science Fiction realm, I salute you!

In this culture of boring and useless apathy, is it not in-

spiring and only vaguely frightening to find people so entirely

devoted to a television show or film that they actually identify

themselves by special group title?

Is this not exactly what our culture needs, that and a

good backrub, and yes, maybe, a dash of Catholicism? But

then your beloved editor had a MST3K bumper sticker, has a

poster of Doctor Who, varied editions of all (yes, even the

“new” episodes) the Star Wars films, and a very worn copy of

The Wrath of Khan. “Khaaaaaan!!!!!!!”

Shameful, I know, but there is a certain cathartic value

to revealing all of this and that is why the Scifly has come into

being. Here we can bite the sleeping Tauntaun, if you will, and

release all of our anger against Lukas or invite others to join us

in our weird devotion to a time-traveling alien.

We can also debate the usefulness of computer games or

the moral platform of science fiction.

So enjoy, geeks and non-geeks alike, and to quote a sup-

posedly emotionless alien who seemed to lose it in every epi-

sode for whatever reason, “Long Life and Prosper.”

~The Very Humble Editor

St. Martha, pray for us! Page 3

Professor Quote

of the Week:

“If we grafted a jackass tail on you... Would you be a man or a jackass?”

—Dr. Hildebrand on the difference between intrinsic

and extrinsic unions.

Did your professor

say something

hilarious

recently?

Tell us about it!

Truths Revealed: Star Wars Edition

(straight from the Tauntaun’s mouth)

♦ R2D2 is a girl robot

♦ Yoda is the heinous love child of Kermit

the Frog and Miss Piggy (You never do see

any other Yodas, do you?)

♦ Jedis have to cut their hair with their light

saber�hence the many bald Jedis.

♦ Padme had an IQ of 50.

♦ Emperor Palpatine was just lonely.

♦ Wookies hate Ewoks. Thinks Yankees and

Red Sox. It’s that ugly.

♦ Jabba the Hut lost weight by going on

Jenny Craig’s Meal Plan before filming the

Return of the Jedi.

♦ Lightning is kind of the sucker-punch of the

Jedi world.

♦ The Dark Side is actually stronger, but does

not have as good a PR plan.

♦ Darth Vader loves Fig Newtons.

St. Radegunde, pray for us! Page 4

(20,000 Leagues, from page 1)

If so, love, instead of be-ing a desire for the good for the other and for union with them, would become for the most part a chemical reaction bringing about mutual social benefits. Such is what certain sci-entists would have us believe, and at first glance, the experi-ments seem to testify on their be-half. The scientists have com-pleted all the correct steps for a reliable experiment and have had their results replicated by others. The fact is simply this: manipu-lating parts of the brain can result in altered conscious states. But that's just it: empirical data can only give us facts – they can't directly prove philosophical positions. Many scientists insist that as pure scientists, they rely only on the hard facts of the sci-entific method and never on phi-losophical positions. They insist that philosophical positions are just opinions, and thus that it would be unprofessional for a scientist to utilize such positions in his work as a scientist. But a collection of facts without philosophy (by which I mean reason working from first principles on up toward the for-mulation of philosophical posi-tions) only goes so far. The goal of the experimental method is to develop hypotheses and ulti-mately theories within a context where the data make sense. But no matter how much a scientist may deny the validity or importance of philosophical principles, his hypotheses neces-

sarily presupposes certain prem-ises which cannot be proven by any empirical experiment and which themselves come from first principles. In MacLean's case, I be-lieve his hypothesis that emotion is reducible to neurological activ-ity presupposes at least the fol-lowing philosophical positions which can't be shown empiri-cally: materialism (that all that has being is made up of matter), scientism (that all knowledge is arrived at empirically), and the theory of evolution by natural selection. The fact is that the scien-tific method can't be proven by the scientific method. Imagine you're trying to explain traffic lights to a person from the Stone Age who knows nothing about cars. To say that obeying the traf-fic light is required by law is cer-tainly true, but the meaning of the traffic light goes beyond mere traffic law – traffic law arose from an understanding of the common good in the context of modern traffic conditions. Just as you can't fully ex-plain the traffic light only in

terms of traffic law, so the ex-perimental method isn't enough to explain a hypothesis; it has to go beyond science to that branch of knowledge by which reason builds up principles from those first principles automatically grasped by the mind – that branch which studies not only the body, but also the nature of being itself. Such is philosophy. Aristotle provides us with a more suitable framework for interpreting the experimental findings above. In De Anima, Ar-istotle writes that in many cases, objects outside of us are what ultimately cause an emotion and that the bodily processes mediate. Thus, while Aristotle rec-ognized that our emotions depend on the body, he saw the body's faculties not as the ultimate cause of emotion but as a factor which mediates the outside world to us and moves us in accord with it. Thus, within an Aristote-lian framework, we could inter-pret the empirical findings in a whole new light: we could say that even if stimulating part of the brain produces an emotion, this does not mean man has no connection to the world outside. We could hypothesize that according to his nature, man normally responds to certain ob-jects as mediated by his bodily faculties, but that manipulating the brain to bring about an emo-tion represents a malfunction in the mediation process; the brain is tricked into a response when the natural object is not present.

(Continued on page 5)

“The fact is that the scientific

method can't be proven by the

scientific method. Imagine

you're trying to explain traffic

lights to a person from the

Stone Age who knows

nothing about cars”

Get Published! notestothegadfly@gmail.com

St. John, pray for us! Page 5

Crichton. The world of Next is one

in which scientists are constantly looking to genetics for curing drug-addictions, cancer, etc. while others are creating chimps/humans who can talk, have feel-ings, and make moral choices.

The author poses the question of whether a person has any rights to their own genes if they contain the cure for cancer or can they be harvested at will for the greater good.

He also illustrates how genetic mutation in animals can go strangely amiss when, through the manipulation of genetics, the animals become walking adver-tisements for different marketing campaigns. Many of these points appear far-fetched, but so did cloning in 1968.

My personal favorite work of science fiction is a series of novels by Orson Scott Card that begins with Ender’s Game. The series kicks off with the tale

life history of the aliens so that the rest of the human race might come to understand the aliens and prevent such an atrocity from happening again. By doing so, Ender turns himself from Savior of the Human Race to Ender the Xenocide and is remembered throughout history as a despica-ble human being. However, the real question is would the hu-mans have reacted any differently to an alien species which, bearing a very strong resemblance to gi-ant ants, wanted to move into China even if they said please. The humans were quick to con-demn Ender when the threat of the invasion no longer existed.

While there are many aliens to weed through, bogus science to disregard, and strange outfits to make fun of, science fiction does offer some gems that definitely are thought provoking and perhaps worthy of further discussion.

~AL

of Ender as he is thrown into bat-tle school at the tender age of six so that he can be groomed into the military leader who will lead the army to fight an alien race which threatens to destroy the human race.

Throughout the novels, the author deals with different ethical dilemmas such as the ma-nipulation of genetics to create smarter and faster humans and the resulting chaos that ensues.

One of the many interest-ing points the author raises is the problem of communication be-tween completely different spe-cies. Having completely annihi-lated the enemy who appeared hell-bent on wiping out the hu-mans, Ender discovers that the aliens were attempting to com-municate with the humans all along but lacked the means to do so (they had insect-like bodies and no vocal chords or written language, etc.; yes, it is science fiction).

He then writes a kind of

(20,000 Leagues, from page 4) For Aristotle, man is a rational animal, and within this framework, we could further come to understand that emotion in man is not only higher than

that of non-rational animals be-cause man has a layer of more highly evolved brain tissue, but because emotion takes on new meaning and expression on ac-count of his rationality. Even though many of man's psychological characteris-tics find their rooting in the neu-rosystem, man's spiritual nature draws even these up into the per-sonal realm in a way which does

not happen for non-rational ani-mals. Such a view is in fact fully compatible with the results of the empirical data above and is both true to experience and al-lows us to defend the dignity of the human person. But in sum, stating that human emotions are nothing but neurological activity goes beyond the domain of sci-ence – it is based on a philosophi-cal position and must be refuted with the help of philosophical principles. ~ MJR

(Search for Good Sci-Fi, from page 1)

What’s on your

resume?

Write for the Gadfly!

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us! Page 6

No, this is not an article on the current state of the health center here at Franciscan University. I know that a lot of people have a score to settle with the place, especially during this cold and flu season, but I have always found that the service they provide is pretty good for their size and available resources. Rather, this article is a sort of prescription for the men and women of this campus when it comes to entertainment. Let’s face it, American television and movies have really been on the decline over the past decade or so and will continue to deteriorate until our Communication Arts majors make it out into the workplace. In the interim between then and now, I would like to suggest that the entertainment-starved stu-dents of our University set their sights on the classic series of Brit-ish science fiction, Doctor Who. Okay, before you turn the page and pass your humble author off as an absolute geek, at least hear me out on the basic premise of the show. Doctor Who follows the exploits of a mysterious man who is known only as “the Doctor” and who spends his days traveling to some of the most exotic locales that you’ll ever see. Along the way, he picks up ordinary men and women who ac-company him as his “companions”

What this campus really needs right now...is a doctor!

and get him in to and out of all sorts of trouble. It all sounds very normal until you take into account the fact that the Doctor’s really a humanoid alien who travels through time and space in a ship that’s perpetually disguised as an old British telephone booth. Okay, so the show is a nerd’s dream come true and your beloved author is an absolute geek, but he’s not the only one. The show ran for decades in Britain in the years fol-lowing World War II and was re-cently brought back to life in an updated version that continues to grow in popularity around the globe. While the old show was indeed pretty cheesy and hampered by a budget that even a college student couldn’t live off of, the new series is surprisingly riveting. While still struggling in the special effects department, these recent episodes are carried along by amazingly well-written story-lines that can be enjoyed on many levels. This depth of interpretation is what, ultimately, led me to sug-gest this show to you all. Although Doctor Who is a secular show from a very secular country in Europe, a lot of the show’s content and themes are distinctly Christian and, I’d venture, downright Fran-ciscan.

The Doctor himself is the model Steubenville student, al-ways ready to meet someone new, sacrifice himself for the good of others, or share intimate parts of his life story with people he’s only just met. Taking to heart Fulton J. Sheen’s claim that “life is worth living,” the show’s central theme is the undeniable value of every life. The important characters in almost every episode are ordinary men and women who do extraordi-nary things after meeting the al-most messianic figure of the Doc-tor. This is not to say that the show is completely without moral fault, as it does often overstep some boundaries and forget that life is not only meant to be lived, but to be lived well. Such ethical missteps are not to be passed over lightly, but confronted head on in an effort to better understand how someone can defend such a position and why, ultimately, they are misled in doing so. In the end, I would still like to heartily encourage you all to give Doctor Who a try. To para-phrase the Doctor’s nemesis, the Master, what this campus really needs, right now, is a Doctor! ~RM

Pop Culture SeminarPop Culture SeminarPop Culture SeminarPop Culture Seminar

“Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!” —”The Planet of the Apes” (1968)

St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us! Page 7

Foot of the Cross Household

♦ Best at Hookah

♦ Best at Fundraising

Warriors of Light Household

♦ Best at Super Smash Brothers

AMDG household

♦ Best at Painting Faces

The Disciples Household

♦ Make a mean apple fritter

♦ Best fighters

Lamb of God Household

♦ Have the most adorable initia-

tion process

Living Stones

♦ Have the name most like a rock

band

Lions of Judah

♦ Have the most obvious lack of a

possible adorable initiation process

The Brothers of the Eternal Song House-

hold

♦ Most likely to be found in mass

In His Image Household

♦ Have the most annoying secrecy

code word thing

The Little Flowers Household

♦ Best cardigan

Well, I have learned a lot and I hope you

have too. And please if you feel your

household was underrepresented or mis-

named or just plain libeled, write to us.

There is always room for a little healthy

competition. ~GL

That Healthy Sense of Competition