Philosophy with a jolly cup of wine:

The first time I met him, it was after days of scurrying about, looking for someone to help me transfer to the Philosophy department. I needed information on the due process and someone to introduce me to my new environment. I was finally given a concrete name: Hector Hyuke.

 His office is down in Chardon’s lower lobby- the one facing the inner courtyard and Student Center. The ceiling was low and the space seemed tight in that “basement floor” and the walls were lined with scribbles: phrases ranging from the wise and knowledgeable, the silly and whimsical, to the inarticulate and even profane. Most of them, however, were grounded in deeper knowledge- something that couldn’t be said about most of the things lining the walls around the rest of the university. Looking at them and thinking about the ideas behind them makes for good intellectual exercise- it truly deserves its place in the humanities buildings.

 I think it’s safe to say that I was able to recognize him well before a formal introduction. Tall and aging -still looking like his youth refused to fully recede from his body- with curly and somewhat unkempt gray hair, the philosopher had a knowing glint behind his warm gaze that gave it all away. I felt much more at ease almost instantaneously as I’d gone to shake his hand and he invited me to his office before students could swarm him during his office hours. They say one’s environment mimics the very nature of your spirit and the office seemed to do him justice: small yet spacious, it had two large bookshelves lined to the brim with books. The space in front of the desk was open enough to accommodate a small group of students for a lively philosophical discussion. It was a small haven for wisdom, just as it is within the mind of a philosopher.

 Hector Hyuke is a full professor in the Mayaguez UPR campus, graduated Bachelor of Arts in both History and Philosophy in 1976 and a Master of Arts in Philosophy in 1977. He later attained a Doctor of Philosophy in 1987 in New York’s Columbia University. He is currently involved with the topic of Ethics and Technology and gives several courses including: Philosophy of Techology, Contemporary and Modern Ethics, and Introduction to Philosophy: A Theoretical Approach.

 Like many students, he hadn’t graduated with the same major he enrolled in. Professor Hyuke started off with a major in Architecture, though he’d soon switch to Business Management. It was during the latter that he was required to take a course in Philosophical Logic. This utterly astonished him, that there was actually a field that specialized in the systematic and rigorous argument. He fell in love, and couldn’t seem to let it go. In the end, the young Hector Huyke graduated with a double-major in History and Philosophy and continued his post-graduate studies in the latter.

 He not only serves as a professor, but coordinates the courses with the department students. Philosophy is a department that only consists of about 30 students, which means they can’t afford to host all of the courses at the same time and must divide and coordinate them with the student body. Professor Hyuke, along with his colleage, Prof. Juan Sanchez Alvarez serve as the bridge between the student and administrative bodies in order for the order of things to run as smoothly as possible and their students can graduate on time and as planned.

 He also hosts a bi-montly discussion with a group of students. I have attended to two of these discussions, taking place in a small square in a quiet corner of town. Half of it is brightly lit and in the middle stands a small monument in honor of the great man, Jose de Diego. Few people ever pass by this tiny corner of the town, and it’s conveniently placed across the street from a small bar, where the professor and several students take care to buy a cup of wine to drink and sit back and relax over a philosophical discussion. The excitement of these dialogues are by no means a small thing- the ethics of a machine that helps people make moral choices or the hypermodernism or post-modernist state of society.

 These dialogues, taking place at 8-o’clock in a Thursday night would last for several hours; the two I’ve attended took two and a half and three and half hours. During that most recent one, it was close to midnight by the time I reached my apartment- and I don’t regret staying until the last second. It is glorious to see a handful of students discuss such complex subjects, comment on them and debate the other’s present on their interpretations. The atmosphere is cool, liberating and such a relief from what might be a frustrating week. You may even attend the meeting and not have read the text- in fact, you may not even be the only one. It’s all done for fun- class is over, let us all sit back with a cup of wine and talk the night away with friends and comrades! What a glorious way to mark the end of the week.

Advertisement