"Definition of Marriage" Lecture

Photo Courtesy of JohnCorvino.com.

On Friday, September 9, the OU department of philosophy welcomed speaker, writer and philosopher John Corvino to speak at OU’s campus to address an audience of around 100 students and faculty members.

The department of philosophy invites four or five speakers per year as a part of their colloquium. Graduate students and faculty members of the department choose the speakers.

“We had two people suggest Corvino and that’s what brought him to our attention,” said Martin Montminy, philosophy department professor.

Montminy added that 45-50 people typically attend an event made up of mostly philosophy faculty and grad students, but they expected more of a general audience to attend Corvino’s lecture and were surprised by the turnout.

Corvino’s lecture was over his paper called “The Definition of Marriage,” which was taken from an approaching book he is co-authoring with Magie Gallagher, “Debating Same Sex Marriage.”

According to his website, Corvino has produced books, multiple columns, a DVD and lectured for professional organizations, government contractors, churches, and hundreds of college and university audiences.

Though he has spoken at multiple venues, some close to Corvino had shown uncertainty about him speaking at OU.

“Some friends of mine expressed concern that I was speaking about issues related to gay marriage in Oklahoma. To which my respone was ‘well, how bad could it be, their state song is a show tune,’” Corvino said in his opening remarks.

Corvino’s lecture over the subject of same-sex marriage is a thought provoking one. Corvino says it is his goal to get people to think more clearly about the issues of same-sex marriage.

“With this paper, I want people to understand that while the "Definitional Objection" raises some interesting philosophical questions, ultimately it is a distraction from the more pressing moral question of how to treat gay and lesbian individuals, couples, and their families.”