Our Mission
At the MIT Anscombe Society, we urge people to reflect on their attitudes towards sex, marriage, and sexual behavior in general. The group aims to promote the chaste life as the only viable way for man to find the unique balance between romance, physical pleasure, and intellectual and spiritual fulfillment. The Society endorses this lifestyle not through trite slogans, but through intellectual argument and consideration of the complex relationship between man and woman. Moreover, the Society wants to show that the chaste life is not as dull and somber as some make it to be, but on the contrary it is the most beautiful life for a human being who desires freedom and happiness. Finally, the Society welcomes all members regardless of their opinions with regards to chastity because we want to engage everyone in a discussion about sexual ethics. Furthermore, by engaging with those who disagree with the aim of our society, we attempt to clear up any misunderstandings about chastity, and it also helps us to do away with prejudices we have of those who disagree with the chaste life.
Specific Goals
Intellectual. We want students to think hard about sexuality. What is the purpose of sex? How does the purpose of sex fit in the scheme of a flourishing human life? What are the psychological elements of sex that often go unnoticed? We need to ask such questions and many more, and we need to be honest with our answers. The MIT Anscombe Society wants to provide an intellectual buttress for chastity by providing students with philosophical, scholarly, sociological, medical, and scientific articles that relate to the field of sexuality within the proper context of marriage and chastity. Nevertheless, we also welcome dissenting opinions, so that we can have a fair intellectual dialogue and arrive at informed conclusions.
In light of our intellectual goal, our website contains on-line academic articles on sex, marriage, and family. Moreover, as the group grows, we will try to bring guest speakers and lecturers to campus, who will arouse students to question their deeply-held ideas and reflect seriously about sexuality. Finally, we also ask our members to write articles to The Tech, MIT's newspaper, to stimulate MIT students to think about chastity and abstinence.
Support. The society not only aims to stimulate our intellects, but also to strengthen our wills and stabilize our emotions through a support network, in which MIT students who have pledged to live a chaste life help each other in their struggle to do so. Currently, campuses do not provide much support for those students who are chaste, and thus we aim to be one of the first groups on campus to lend a friendly hand to those who feel awkward in living a life different from the rest of their peers.
MIT Anscombe Society 2006
