This publication holds one faith: that the pursuit for truth is an arduous path.
Such a claim seems obvious, since the alternative is absurd. To say we have already reached the whole truth—or soon will—requires an extraordinary level of confidence. Yet some hold to their dogmas with unshakeable certainty. Convinced their principles are beyond question, they see no reason to restrain themselves in forcing their visions into reality.
From their point of view, though, this seems perfectly consistent. If they candidly had no doubt in their ideals, that they can and will achieve the highest good, why tolerate alternatives? Any hesitation permits unnecessary evil. In this case, to be moderate in the face of injustice will be a sign of weakness not virtue; to spend energy on other tasks would be dereliction. If they truly feel certain that their grand plans can rid us of all the world’s evils, it would seem very foolish to not fully commit to that axiom.
But as a great jurist said, "Certitude is not the test of certainty." History has shown many dearly beloved prejudices to be wrong, and it seems very likely that many of our current dogmas will suffer the same fate. In the last century alone, a great number of orthodoxies, both old and newly established, have been proven to be fallible. Experience—through failure and success alike—upends what we once believed and often diverges entirely from what we imagined.
It is with great fortune that this unorganized process has inclined us towards better societies. Most obviously, the natural sciences and technology have developed to the point where we enjoy such lavish conveniences that would make the average person the envy of the Stuarts. Societies, too, have become more refined to a point where the average person enjoys an unprecedented amount of autonomy to pursue their own ends. The astronomer gazes at the stars, the poet fashions ironies, the theologian envisions a greater world—all disciplines pressing against the limits of what is known.
The divide between our minds and reality has narrowed. Such an achievement has become possible because of our collective participation in this experimentation of ideas, where knowledge becomes valued more than any pile of gold.
Herein lies the mission of our publication: to uphold the liberal arts tradition in its truest sense—as a pursuit of truth across all disciplines. Still young enough to resist rigid prejudice and old enough to think independently, we students are uniquely positioned to take up this inquiry.
No field is excluded. The sciences, the humanities, even the vocational disciplines that seem to rival us all contribute to the grand experiment of knowledge. What begins as theory often becomes practice, and what feels narrow today may later prove indispensable.
Our purpose is not to rival the institution that raised us, but to extend its mission. Davidson has been our intellectual nursery, where living, arguing, failing, and trying again have shaped us toward a fuller mind, body, and spirit. The college gathers students from across the world, and we are immeasurably stronger for the passions and ideas that sharpen one another. In this diversity—and in the spirit of the liberal arts—we learn most when confronted with difference, and we draw closest to truth by engaging voices unlike our own.
Because we love Davidson, we aim to carry forward its liberal arts tradition: to cross artificial boundaries between disciplines, to bind thought to experience, and to keep the public good in view. The world is infinitely complex, and human beings perhaps even more so. The promise of the liberal arts is that no discipline is irrelevant in the search for truth.
This mission lives in the smallest encounters that shape us. The late-night debates in dorm rooms, the questions wrestled over a shared meal, the sudden clarity in seminars—all of these are not diversions from learning but its living heart. Our publication will reflect the same spirit: drawing from every corner of student life. Grand ideologies and passing fragments alike become part of our common search for truth. Here, no voice is a waste, and none shall go unheard. Each voice builds upon the last and brings us ever closer to the truth.