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Page 4/The Battalion/Friday, April 10, 1987
A&M philosophy prof dabbles
in Peace Corps, military ethics
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By Doug Driskell
Reporter
Books on Plato, Marx, Dewey and
Hegel all are within reach of a man
who has helped put the Peace Corps
in Africa, advised the Joint Chiefs of
Staff on military ethical problems,
and started the growing philosophy
department at Texas A&M.
The rotund man sits behind a
desk with the rough draft of the
manuscript for his latest research
project in front of him. He sports
clip-on suspenders and wears black
framed glasses.
“I tell my students if they don’t
talk, I will,” Dr. Manuel Davenport
of the philosophy department says
with a laugh. “I’m like nature — I
will fill a vacuum, mostly with hot
air.”
The slow, deliberate speaker leans
forward and moves his rough draft
aside. This semester he has taken a
faculty research leave to study the
relationship between pacifism and
militarism.
He became interested in this
relationship in 1981 as a visiting pro
fessor at the Air Force Academy.
“I was teaching military ethics,
and the cadets kept asking me about
pacifism,” Davenport says. “They
had never heard anything good
about a pacifist. So what I started to
do was to look into pacifism and
make the best case for it.
“Surprisingly the cadets respected
the pacifist, but they disagreed with
them. In a way they liked the ideals
but knew they were unachievable.”
Although Davenport enjoys talk
ing about militarism and pacifism,
he has a startling conclusion about
human nature.
“I think there is real evil in the
world,” he says. “I am not a person
who believes that human nature is
perfectable.
ourselves
Right?”
up
in the meantime.
After teaching for 10 years and
establishing the Colorado State Uni-
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“I don’t think that by means of ed
ucation and TV ads we are going to
solve all human problems,” lie says,
chuckling.
“I think from time to time human
nature is going to produce people
like Hitler and Stalin,” he says.
Leaning back in his chair, he con
cludes, “I tend to quote humorist
James Thurber who said, ‘People are
no damn good.’ I would like to be
lieve the pacifists (who believe peo
ple are perfectable) are right. I wish
they were. I hope they are. If they
are, then some day we will have
peace on earth — if we do not blow
versity philosophy department, Da
venport came to A&M in 1967. He
specifically came to start a philoso
phy department — to organize it
and develop a major.
A profile written on A&M sug
gested that the school neither has
nor wants a philosophy department,
Davenport says with a laugh. And
legend has it that former A&M Pres
ident James Earl Rudder called in
the academic vice president and said
that although he didn’t know exactly
what a philosophy department was,
he wanted one at A&M.
A&M really didn’t know exactly
what the purpose of philosophy at a
university was in 1967, Davenport
recalls.
Rudder believed philosophy was
something one learned and then
went out and did — something prac
tical, Davenport says. Philosophy
would help anybody do a better job,
but one does not go out and do phi
losophy.
“Philosophy has practical value in
its application,” he says. “This was
the hardest thing to sell to the stu
dents and alumni at A&M.”
Davenport says people tended to
judge the department on how many
majors it had.
“We should not have too many
majors, but there should be a lot of
people taking philosophy courses,”
he says.
Davenport has applied his philo
sophical studies through his mem
bership in the Joint Services Confer
ence on Professional Ethics. He was
the first civilian member of the con
ference, which works through the
National Defense University advis
ing the Joint Chiefs of Staff on ethi
cal problems in the military.
“We meet once a year and do
studies on subjects such as terror
ism,” he says. “Unfortunately, our
recommendations are not always
taken.
“Anybody with a little bit of com
mon sense knows how to deal with
terrorism, and it is discouraging
when Reagan does it hack-asswards.
Reagan had it right at first. What
happened in Libya is almost a text
book application of studies that have
been made in this conference in
Washington. I think it was dumb to
go after Gadhafi’s home and kill his
baby girl. That makes us look bad. A
quick air strike on a
good way to combat t
The twice-tenurec
took part in the Peace
ity study under the 1
ministration.
“Our job was to find the countrie
for the pilot projects of the Peao
Corps,” Davenport says. “My job wa
to find the best place in Africa.”
Daven pot t selected N w
is still productive today
years later, he returned
and found it still flourishiti
places, although failing in c
“I was against putting t
Corps in a small country called (
>n. It was very pro-French a
they did not
port says
“It turned out that they had
Peace Corps there, and shortly
they had to abandon the pt
Some of the volunteers even
each,” he says,
nines, and that makes
\&M. Five years ago 11
another love of misl
Having studensi
and getting them inters]
me is interesting.”
•upon will continue L]
until the fall of 1987, whet]
ume teaching,
ill be doing more lead]
ore research,’’ he says]
i his future plans. Tilt ■'he Lady
•ii\ much the same.iffBost thief
in this semester I will useitifoimance
next semester."
By
BThe He
evenings c
Rudder At
its perform
■ VVednesc
jhiih incl
)n Qui:
UT regents postpone vote on new chairman
Call Battalion
Classified 845-2611
•; -
SMITHVILLE (AP) — University of Texas re
gents Thursday postponed a vote on a new chair
man until their June meeting. The postpone
ment motion came from one of Gov. Bill
Clements’ new appointees, Sam Barshop of San
Antonio.
“I think the members should have more infor
mation before we vote on this,” Barshop said.
Clements has told Jess Hay, former Gov. Mark
White’s chief fund-raiser, that Clements wants
Hay out of the influential chairmanship. Clem
ents has said he and Hay did not “communicate.”
Another new appointee, W.A. “T ex” Moncrief
of Fort Worth protested the delay, saying he
thought the election of the chairman should be
held T hursday.
The Moncrief motion was overruled by Hay,
who said the board had its own t ales on election
of officers.
T he vote to postpone was 4-3 with a third
Clements’ new appointee, Louis Beecherl of Dal
las, abstaining.
Senate confirmation of the three new regents
was held more than a week after Beecherl told
Committee he t
Hinutes. 1
both night:
lengths con
About 1,
Je Thursc
sponsored
Pei forming
Wrdnesdav
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