Drawing upon an article from Hannah Arendt, a 20th-century philosopher, Marx reviewed the ways in which the great philosopher Socrates used teaching methods to provoke thinking. Arendt describes Socrates as a "gadfly, an eel and a midwife." In his address, Marx used Arendt's metaphor to focus on how the College can remain relevant in a constantly evolving society.
Marx challenged the College to follow Socrates' lead in rejecting complacency and dogma in order to provoke thinking. "Socrates was an electric eel who stunned and stopped his prey long enough to force them to think," Marx quoted from Arendt.
Marx described the College as the "Socrates for our society." "The world must be our gadfly," Marx said. "The world is changing and so must we change."
Marx advised the College to experiment with novel ways of viewing problems. "We must be a lab for new solutions and new ways of thinking," he said.
Making a distinction between universities and liberal arts colleges, Marx noted that a tension exists between teaching and research in both types of institutions. However, he said that research universities are increasingly forced into narrow disciplines. "We must resist narrow professionalization and commercialization. Students are not consumers, they are-you are-the future of the world we must envision and make," said Marx.
Marx counselled the college to recognize diversity and individualism and to forge a model community. "[We must] get off the treadmill of careerism … We must find the breathing space to think … for we are society's place for reflection," he said.
Marx asked whether thinking ensures morality, concluding that it does not. "We can and have thought our way into terrible evil," he said. "Thinking must be based on the application of ideals-ideals of the inclusive 'we' … of a general interest in solidarity."
As students and faculty filed out of the chapel after the address, many reflected on the speech. "[It was] a tiny bit rigid but excellent and thoughtful," said Oren Krinsky '07. "I thought it was a powerful message," said Nitya Viswanathan '07.
As part of the convocation ceremony, Marx conferred honorary degrees on Professor of Philosophy Jyl Gentzler, Professor of Chemistry Helen Oi-Lun Leung and Professor of Political Science K. Uday Sinha Mehta.