Encounters with Transcendence

Socrates’ statement in the Apology that the unexamined life is not worth living has been one of the major touchstones of my career as a teacher of philosophy, along with his persistent inquiries into the real meanings of those values which he and others held dear. As a colleague of mine recently noted, “Woolman says that philosophy is vain without experience; Socrates says that experience is vain without philosophy.”

Trying to be faithful to both mentors, I shall report three of my own enco...