Perry Mason, the John Sawyer Professor of Philosophy and Liberal Learning, will present a convocation address titled “In Praise of Honor” at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, May 28 in the Carleton College Skinner Memorial Chapel. This convocation will honor faculty and students for their personal and academic excellence over the past academic year. The event is free and open to the public.
Mason’s convocation address will discuss honor in the sense of public esteem. “The motivation for [this speech] is what I perceive as a certain ambivalence we have about seeking and accepting honors and perhaps also about giving honors,” says Mason. In his address, Mason will question the place of honor in moral thought while attempting to reveal why societies bestow and accept honors.
Mason received his B.A. from Baylor, B.D. from Harvard, and M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale. Since coming to Carleton in 1968, Mason has been a member of all of the college’s major staff and faculty committees and also served as vice president for development. His particular areas of interest are metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and ancient Greek philosophy. An outdoor enthusiast who enjoys fly fishing, backpacking, distance running and sailing, Mason also teaches environmental ethics.
For more information and disability accommodations, call Carleton's Office of College Relations at (507) 646-4308.