2012 Providence College Commencement
May 22, 2012
Providence College President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P., gave the class of 2012 “one last homework assignment.” He asked them to read Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), in which the author talks about reflexive or intuitive (fast) thinking and deliberate thinking. Father Shanley disagreed with the book’s pretense that society doesn’t do enough thinking … at least as that premise pertains to PC. He reminded the graduates and the audience of more than 10,000 that the motto of the Dominican Order is contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere — “to contemplate and to share with others the fruits of that contemplation” — and that PC students are encouraged to think through issues fully, critically, and morally. “I hope and pray that you have absorbed the value of slow thinking in your lives. Read the book slowly, think slowly, and act slowly,” he said. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txMxyjSGPJE]
