Cathal Woods, a graduate teaching associate in philosophy, said he wants his students to learn to think critically because it is an admirable trait.
“I admire people who are really clear thinkers,” he said. “Professionally, I admire really good philosophers, and there are a lot of them in the philosophy department.”
Woods forces his students to recite the following phrase in unison at the start of one of his classes: “Are the premises true? Does the conclusion follow?”
“I do that so they will react like that when they hear an argument, instead of getting caught up with some specious or extraneous sort of emotional response,” he said.
Woods’ favorite philosopher is Aristotle, and his dissertation is on Aristotle’s political theory.
“The Aristotle that we have can be pretty patchy in places, so when I write philosophy I try not to write like Aristotle,” he said. “I try to be more thorough and more perspicacious, but as far as breadth and insight, Aristotle is definitely someone to model yourself after.”
Despite his philosophy to live life in moderation like Aristotle, Woods does have what some would consider to be outspoken opinions.
“I want to see the end of all (sport utility vehicles),” he said.
Woods said he does not see the reasoning behind the majority of SUV use.
“Hummers are an obscene and obnoxious affront to human decency,” he said.
Another of the vies held by Woods is about the television show “Friends.”
“I am happy to see ‘Friends’ go off the air because a lot of the jokes are made by people being stupid, and that’s not really funny to me,” he said. “So if you don’t know that the NFL is a professional league, that’s not really laugh-worthy.”
Don Hubin, professor of philosophy and teaching mentor to Woods, said Woods has a unique sense of humor.
“He has a very dry, understated sense of humor. It sort of sneaks up on you,” he said.
Woods is a staunch supporter of animal rights and is a vegetarian.
“Arguing for animal rights is a respectful thing to do,” he said.
He said he became a vegetarian after hearing other people’s arguments for vegetarianism.
“I taught (vegetarianism) in my class a number of times, and finally, I realized that the preponderance of good arguments seemed to be on the side of vegetarianism,” he said. “So I took it seriously.”
Woods said he will rarely disagree with someone else’s viewpoint.
“It’s hard to say you just disagree flat-out with someone in philosophy because philosophy is where all the undecided issues are worked on,” he said. “So you can say, ‘Well I disagree with someone’s interpretation of Aristotle, but I don’t disagree with them doing it.’
“I don’t say they should just get out of the game or something like that,” he said.
Woods is an avid music fan who runs a Web site, www.olga.net, which is an online guitar archive.
When Woods lived in New Orleans, he was able to listen to a great deal of music.
“In New Orleans, I got to indulge (in listening to music) a lot,” he said. “I went out three or four nights every week.
“And the music is really cheap in New Orleans. You can see great music for less than five bucks,” he said.
Hubin said Woods’ singing skills are superlative.
“He’s a great singer, especially of traditional Irish songs,” Hubin said.
Woods, who is originally from Belfast, came to the United States when he was 23. He lived in New Orleans for two years before coming to Columbus and has been in Columbus for seven years.
“Changing continents is a cultural milepost,” he said. “They do things differently over here than they do in Ireland.”
Woods said he has no huge regrets in life.
“Apart from not picking the winner in the Kentucky Derby, I have no big regrets yet, thankfully,” he said.
He said he does have huge regrets about what other people have done. He wishes Americans had not put President Bush in office, he said.
Woods’ minor regrets include making comments he wishes he could take back.
“I’ve said a lot of dumb things, but I haven’t really hurt anybody,” he said. “I usually just tried to make myself seem good, and those things aren’t strictly speaking necessary.”
He said he is as guilty as anyone in trying to give a false appearance of himself to hide an insecurity.
“I think I have to say things or do things or be other than who I am. That’s certainly an ongoing concern,” he said.
Woods said if someone insults him, he usually tries to figure out why they are insulting him.
“Someone insulting you is often either a result of miscommunication or some insecurity on the part of the person insulting you,” he said. “But sometimes, people will rightly insult you.
“But when people are trying to correct you, they usually take a different tongue than people who are trying to insult you,” he said.
Bill Melanson, a graduate lecturer in philosophy, said Woods is the most stoic person he has ever known.
“He doesn’t ever get rustled,” he said.
