Wake Forest Magazine, June 2009 - Past Issues - Wake Forest ...

majors
“
By embracing both,
I find that I have a far
fuller understanding
of the world than
either alone can
give and am much
happier for it.
”
Adam Edwards (’10)
Lexington, North Carolina
Physics and philosophy double major
[as medical research] has little meaning outside its connection
to people and the human condition. Literature provides
unique and varying perspectives on the interactions and
relationships between people, the roles of logic and emotion
in how they live their lives, and the ways in which they
interact with the world around them.”
John Galt, the existential hero of Ayn Rand’s magnum
opus Atlas Shrugged, double majored in physics
and philosophy, just like Wake Forest senior-to-be
Adam Edwards. One of his friends has pointed this out to
him, and although he appreciates the comparision, “I don’t
intend on ‘stopping the motor of the world’ [as Galt did].”
Still, Adam detects an intrinsic, complementary relationship
between the two ostensibly dissimilar disciplines and
hopes to parlay that combination into an academic career,
in effect stopping the motor of the extremely competitive job
market in higher education today.
“Ever since I was a young boy claiming I would be a worldfamous
geologist, I’ve always wanted to study science in some
fashion,” he says. “Once I started reading physics texts in my
early teens, I found that [also reading] philosophy was an
excellent way to maintain intellectual balance.”
Adam is especially interested in axiology (the study of
value) and the modern scientific establishment’s treatment,
“and largely its dismissal,” of it. He hopes one day to teach the
philosophy of science at the college level, but even if that does
not come to fruition, he’s been enriched by the symbiosis.
“By embracing both,” he says, “I find that I have a far fuller
understanding of the world than either alone can give and
am much happier for it.”
June 2009 31