The main concern this morning was in considering the Quotation / Paraphrase / Summary / Reference exercise.
One minor point that many students missed is that in MLA bibliographic form University Presses are abbreviated, so in the bibliography for Always Coming Home, the publisher should be listed as "U California P" or "U of California P", not "University of California Press." The place of publication, also, should be a city whenever that information is provided, so in this case it is Berkeley (Berkeley is a sufficiently well-known place that you need not write "Berkeley CA"). Although it is true that this book was printed in the USA, the place of publication should not be listed as "USA" -- although of course Berkeley is in the USA -- but again, in the most specific location known, down to the level of city (do not include the street address of the publisher, even though that may be available).
A more considerable point is the distinction between a direct quotation, a paraphrase, and a summary.
The distinction becomes more clear if we understand the use of each in the context of a research essay.
Use a direct quotation in those instances where the idea or information expressed in some passage by another author is, first, so important to the support of your thesis as to require inclusion, and second, so beautifully or efficiently worded that it could not possibly be expressed in different words and retain its meaning. Cite the author's last name and page number and link the citation to a bibliographic entry in your "works cited" page.
If, however, the idea or information in the passage is essential to your argument, but could easily be expressed in different words that would be more your own style, change the wording, but include the idea or information. In this case, you are paraphrasing -- rewording the idea or information. You MUST include a citation with the author's name and page number, linked to a bibliographic ending in your "works cited" page, but you must not use quotation marks around the expression of the idea or information.
If you find that a long passage by another author includes ideas or information which are important to your topic, but to paraphrase or quote from the passage directly would take up too much space in your essay, and besides you can condense the idea in the long passage into a few phases or sentences, then make that condensation, using your own wording (if you do use a few words or phrases from the original passage you are condensing, place those in quotation marks). This is called a summary. It is different from a paraphrase in that a paraphrase is approximately the same length as the passage it rewords, while a summary will be briefer, often much briefer, than the passage it condenses. Summaries should be cited, like paraphrases, and if the summary is of material from several pages and you have included some direct quotations, those quotations must be cited individually to indicate the pages on which the phrase quoted occurs.
A reference is essentially an extremely condensed summary; it might be a one- or two-sentence summary of an entire essay, story, poem, novel, etc. Depending on the length of the material referenced, you will either simply include the author's name, or also include page references, but to practice safe scholarship, do include a citation even for a reference.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
24.i.08 Ethics
Began class this evening with the following items on my card:
1. topic selection and questionnaire (for the descriptive ethics project) due
2. review the above to refine as needed
3. In Epictetus: What is Epictetus' method? With what problems is he particularly concerned? What are his basic principles?
4. If you have a copy of Plato: Five Dialogues, begin reading "Euthyphro" and "Meno". Compare the dialogues. How is the process followed in the "Euthyphro" like or unlike that in the "Meno". How are piety and virtue related? Would Socrates' approach to problems be irrelevant today? Explain your responses.
A question was raised about the distinction between method, problem, and principle.
Method is the general approach, the mental toolkit used, to investigate morality. A method may work descriptively (to say what a morality is) or prescriptively (or "constructively" or "creatively": to say what a morality should be). A descriptive method might be logical or rational, in which a problem is analyzed, that is, divided into parts which are then categorized according to some standard. Another type of descriptive method is intuitive, in which one is supposed to have a "moral sense" of the rightness or wrongness of various elements of a moral problem. Both rational/logical methods and intuitive methods may also be prescriptive. Another prescriptive method might be called apodeictic (sometimes spelled apodictic): a method of pronouncement as of universal, unquestionable law.
A problem, or issue, or situation, could be general or specific, simple or complex, but it is, essentially, an act or group of acts which might be perceived as having moral weight. Think "math problem", like "if n = m+1, what is the value of m in the following problem: n+m=31?" An example of a moral problem might be:
A man, completely and sincerely devoted to his wife, learns that she has a rare, degenerative disease. The man and his wife seek treatment for the disease, but their insurance money runs out. Because of her illness, the woman must leave her job, and eventually she is bedridden. Her husband is challenged to care for her and hold his job, and he finds that he must cut back his hours, further reducing the family income. Then the man learns from a pharmacist of a cure for the disease, which has been shown to be almost 100% effective, but which is extraordinarily expensive. In fact, the pharmacist has a stock of the drug on hand, but since the husband cannot pay, and now has no insurance, she refuses the drug to the husband. Then the husband learns that the security system at the pharmacy is broken and the back door is unlocked. Taking care to cover his tracks, the husband enters the pharmacy and takes enough of the drug to cure his wife (in his community, this is considered theft). He is not discovered, and although the drug is found missing, he is never prosecuted. His wife recovers, returns to her job, and within a year, the couple find that they have enough money to pay the pharmacist for the drug they took. So, one day, using unmarked bills, the husband returns to the pharmacy and leaves the money on the counter while purchasing another product.
Now, alright, this is a far-fetched story in some ways, but it sets up a series of questions:
Everything has turned out happily. In the end, no one is the worse for the events: the wife is recovered, the husband is back at work, and the pharmacist has her profits. Does this end justify the means -- stealing? Is stealing ever acceptable?
Did the man steal?
Is it right for a person to be denied care which is readily available because he or she cannot pay? At what point is it reasonable (morally upright) to deny care? Under what conditions?
Should the man have sought medical treatment for his wife, or was her illness merely part of the will of God or an act of Nature which should not have been questioned?
Should the wife, seeing that her husband was n danger of losing his job, resigned herself to her fate, and perhaps even committed suicide to save her husband from the hardships he faced?
Should the pharmacist have negotiated some sort of payment plan with the husband, or simply given the drug out of charity, despite its high cost?
Was the man justified in his actions because of the injustice of the insurance in not paying for his wife's treatments?
This is not an exhaustive list of questions which could be drawn from this problem.
The way questions about a problem are formulated, and the way they are interpreted or treated is the method.
In examining a problem, certain principles, or basic general notions, can be extracted or applied.
Some examples of general principles:
the value of an act is in the act itself
the value of an act is in the intent which underlies the act
the value of an act is imposed by outside forces (for examples, the will of the gods, or community standards)
the value of an act is not objective, but is an emotional judgement applied by some perceiver
Those principles define the basic criteria or morality.
Once those criteria are established, other principles, which often seem like laws, can be extrapolated or applied.
For examples:
Act only in such a way that you could wish that everyone would do the same thing (I am thinking here of Kant's categorical imperative, which is more properly stated "act only according to that maxim which you could at the same time will to be a universal law").
Do not steal.
Do not deny care from those in need.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
A husband is obligated by his marriage vows to sacrifice everything for his wife.
Governments are formed to protect the rights of the governed.
All humans are endowed with the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Seek the greatest possible good for the greatest possible number.
You may not agree with all -- or even any -- of these principles. And they may contradict each other. But they are principles, which may be abstracted or drawn out from a series of problems compared one with the other, or, once principles have been formulated, they may be applied to multiple instances.
A problem is a specific issue or situation, or it may be more general, like a topic ("euthanasia" or "partial-birth abortions" or "military conscription") -- in any case, a method may be applied to it using principles, or principles drawn from it again by using some particular method.
Having given a talk on the distinction between methods, problems, and principles paralleling that given here, I circulated through the room, spending about fifteen minutes with each student discussing the topics and questionnaires. The problem here is that, while the exercise is a fine one, there is not sufficient time to prepare adequately and review to refine before the due date. Although fifteen minutes is probably a reasonable conference time, that gives only six conferences in a full class session, but there are thirteen students enrolled in the course; the conferences must be shortened; general comments or repeated comments should be made once; this requires careful preparation on my part. Also, for the process to work well, the students must have their work, and their best work, ready at the due date.
In this assignment, I think probably a fixed model of the layout and possible forms for questions should have been distributed. In future courses using this exercise, that should be done.
In this course, I am grading at the end of the project, although the various elements of the project represent specific percentages of the whole. I did not prepare or distribute rubrics for the topic selection sheet or for the questionnaire; rubrics should be prepared to make grading straightforward.
I am requesting students to rework their topics and questionnaires, and then to submit all the materials for the project together as a portfolio on the due date for the last element of the project; I will then grade the project as a whole, and within that project the individual elements of the project. I did, however, offer to students the possibility of receiving a grade on individual elements of the projects if they thought that that would be valuable. As of yet, none have requested grading on the individual elements.
Barring the need for shorter conference times (perhaps a stop watch would be useful) and rubrics for the elements of the projects, I felt that the class was a success.
1. topic selection and questionnaire (for the descriptive ethics project) due
2. review the above to refine as needed
3. In Epictetus: What is Epictetus' method? With what problems is he particularly concerned? What are his basic principles?
4. If you have a copy of Plato: Five Dialogues, begin reading "Euthyphro" and "Meno". Compare the dialogues. How is the process followed in the "Euthyphro" like or unlike that in the "Meno". How are piety and virtue related? Would Socrates' approach to problems be irrelevant today? Explain your responses.
A question was raised about the distinction between method, problem, and principle.
Method is the general approach, the mental toolkit used, to investigate morality. A method may work descriptively (to say what a morality is) or prescriptively (or "constructively" or "creatively": to say what a morality should be). A descriptive method might be logical or rational, in which a problem is analyzed, that is, divided into parts which are then categorized according to some standard. Another type of descriptive method is intuitive, in which one is supposed to have a "moral sense" of the rightness or wrongness of various elements of a moral problem. Both rational/logical methods and intuitive methods may also be prescriptive. Another prescriptive method might be called apodeictic (sometimes spelled apodictic): a method of pronouncement as of universal, unquestionable law.
A problem, or issue, or situation, could be general or specific, simple or complex, but it is, essentially, an act or group of acts which might be perceived as having moral weight. Think "math problem", like "if n = m+1, what is the value of m in the following problem: n+m=31?" An example of a moral problem might be:
A man, completely and sincerely devoted to his wife, learns that she has a rare, degenerative disease. The man and his wife seek treatment for the disease, but their insurance money runs out. Because of her illness, the woman must leave her job, and eventually she is bedridden. Her husband is challenged to care for her and hold his job, and he finds that he must cut back his hours, further reducing the family income. Then the man learns from a pharmacist of a cure for the disease, which has been shown to be almost 100% effective, but which is extraordinarily expensive. In fact, the pharmacist has a stock of the drug on hand, but since the husband cannot pay, and now has no insurance, she refuses the drug to the husband. Then the husband learns that the security system at the pharmacy is broken and the back door is unlocked. Taking care to cover his tracks, the husband enters the pharmacy and takes enough of the drug to cure his wife (in his community, this is considered theft). He is not discovered, and although the drug is found missing, he is never prosecuted. His wife recovers, returns to her job, and within a year, the couple find that they have enough money to pay the pharmacist for the drug they took. So, one day, using unmarked bills, the husband returns to the pharmacy and leaves the money on the counter while purchasing another product.
Now, alright, this is a far-fetched story in some ways, but it sets up a series of questions:
Everything has turned out happily. In the end, no one is the worse for the events: the wife is recovered, the husband is back at work, and the pharmacist has her profits. Does this end justify the means -- stealing? Is stealing ever acceptable?
Did the man steal?
Is it right for a person to be denied care which is readily available because he or she cannot pay? At what point is it reasonable (morally upright) to deny care? Under what conditions?
Should the man have sought medical treatment for his wife, or was her illness merely part of the will of God or an act of Nature which should not have been questioned?
Should the wife, seeing that her husband was n danger of losing his job, resigned herself to her fate, and perhaps even committed suicide to save her husband from the hardships he faced?
Should the pharmacist have negotiated some sort of payment plan with the husband, or simply given the drug out of charity, despite its high cost?
Was the man justified in his actions because of the injustice of the insurance in not paying for his wife's treatments?
This is not an exhaustive list of questions which could be drawn from this problem.
The way questions about a problem are formulated, and the way they are interpreted or treated is the method.
In examining a problem, certain principles, or basic general notions, can be extracted or applied.
Some examples of general principles:
the value of an act is in the act itself
the value of an act is in the intent which underlies the act
the value of an act is imposed by outside forces (for examples, the will of the gods, or community standards)
the value of an act is not objective, but is an emotional judgement applied by some perceiver
Those principles define the basic criteria or morality.
Once those criteria are established, other principles, which often seem like laws, can be extrapolated or applied.
For examples:
Act only in such a way that you could wish that everyone would do the same thing (I am thinking here of Kant's categorical imperative, which is more properly stated "act only according to that maxim which you could at the same time will to be a universal law").
Do not steal.
Do not deny care from those in need.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
A husband is obligated by his marriage vows to sacrifice everything for his wife.
Governments are formed to protect the rights of the governed.
All humans are endowed with the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Seek the greatest possible good for the greatest possible number.
You may not agree with all -- or even any -- of these principles. And they may contradict each other. But they are principles, which may be abstracted or drawn out from a series of problems compared one with the other, or, once principles have been formulated, they may be applied to multiple instances.
A problem is a specific issue or situation, or it may be more general, like a topic ("euthanasia" or "partial-birth abortions" or "military conscription") -- in any case, a method may be applied to it using principles, or principles drawn from it again by using some particular method.
Having given a talk on the distinction between methods, problems, and principles paralleling that given here, I circulated through the room, spending about fifteen minutes with each student discussing the topics and questionnaires. The problem here is that, while the exercise is a fine one, there is not sufficient time to prepare adequately and review to refine before the due date. Although fifteen minutes is probably a reasonable conference time, that gives only six conferences in a full class session, but there are thirteen students enrolled in the course; the conferences must be shortened; general comments or repeated comments should be made once; this requires careful preparation on my part. Also, for the process to work well, the students must have their work, and their best work, ready at the due date.
In this assignment, I think probably a fixed model of the layout and possible forms for questions should have been distributed. In future courses using this exercise, that should be done.
In this course, I am grading at the end of the project, although the various elements of the project represent specific percentages of the whole. I did not prepare or distribute rubrics for the topic selection sheet or for the questionnaire; rubrics should be prepared to make grading straightforward.
I am requesting students to rework their topics and questionnaires, and then to submit all the materials for the project together as a portfolio on the due date for the last element of the project; I will then grade the project as a whole, and within that project the individual elements of the project. I did, however, offer to students the possibility of receiving a grade on individual elements of the projects if they thought that that would be valuable. As of yet, none have requested grading on the individual elements.
Barring the need for shorter conference times (perhaps a stop watch would be useful) and rubrics for the elements of the projects, I felt that the class was a success.
23.i.08 HIS 310 Field Trip
This evening we experimented with an out-of-school experience, meeting at the Prince Street Cafe. I borrowed a laptop from the college so we could refer to the documents in the Avalon Project at Yale. I had begun work on a chronology of significant dates leading up to the War of Independence and was ready to give a talk on that, but we spent most of the class session considering topics for the first writing project, which is to center on some idea or event which influenced the constitution (or the Constitution) of the United States. In the syllabus, I had listed several possible topics.
Students selected the following as tentative topics:
John Locke's theory of government
Native American governmental forms
Cultural unity and diversity in the British colonies in North America.
On Locke, I pointed to "The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, March 1 1669". This is interesting on several points. It is one of two frames of government in North America (the other is Pennsylvania's) that reflect a connection with Locke; this one is directly attributed to him, although it was amended (and this is another very interesting point) by Lord Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley Cooper), who is notable as advocating "moral sense" theory of ethics. Another point of interest is that the "Constitutions" of 1669 present what amounts to a feudal structure for the province, which seems somehow antithetical to Locke's basic position on government. Also, articles 95 through 110 deal with religion in a quite liberal fashion for the period, and these are well worth examining. Article 110 is particularly interesting on another point as well, which may be clear on reading it.
On Native government, I point to William Fenton's The Great Law and the Longhouse: A Political History of the Iroquois Confederacy (Norman: U Oklahoma P, 1998). Another good source for local Native documents is Barry Kent's Susquehanna's Indians (Harrisburg: PHMC, 1984).
On the cultural diversity of the British North American colonies, an excellent starting place is David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (2nd ed, NY: Oxford UP, 1998).
Students selected the following as tentative topics:
John Locke's theory of government
Native American governmental forms
Cultural unity and diversity in the British colonies in North America.
On Locke, I pointed to "The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, March 1 1669". This is interesting on several points. It is one of two frames of government in North America (the other is Pennsylvania's) that reflect a connection with Locke; this one is directly attributed to him, although it was amended (and this is another very interesting point) by Lord Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley Cooper), who is notable as advocating "moral sense" theory of ethics. Another point of interest is that the "Constitutions" of 1669 present what amounts to a feudal structure for the province, which seems somehow antithetical to Locke's basic position on government. Also, articles 95 through 110 deal with religion in a quite liberal fashion for the period, and these are well worth examining. Article 110 is particularly interesting on another point as well, which may be clear on reading it.
On Native government, I point to William Fenton's The Great Law and the Longhouse: A Political History of the Iroquois Confederacy (Norman: U Oklahoma P, 1998). Another good source for local Native documents is Barry Kent's Susquehanna's Indians (Harrisburg: PHMC, 1984).
On the cultural diversity of the British North American colonies, an excellent starting place is David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (2nd ed, NY: Oxford UP, 1998).
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
23.i.08 The Experiment Continues
Woke this morning to find the lower back pain which was extreme yesterday afternoon had diminished, although it is still present. A new challenge presented itself in dizziness, which made movement about, showering, dressing, preparing breakfast, &c. "interesting".
I had prepared a notecard listing assignments for FVC 102 last evening before leaving the college at 8:30, and when I arrived in the classroom I wrote the contents on the board:
1. Quotation exercise due.
2. work on topic refinement continues as needed -- begin research on topics toward writing of THESIS -- due the 4th -- that's 11 days away.
3. A WEEK FROM TODAY: 5/4s presentation
4. select a poem by 25.i.08 -- 9 days to memorize and present (will need to complete the sheet [write out responses on the sheet] as preparation). [A bit of a senior moment here: I was thinking that this class session, the first of the week's, was Monday (confusion brought on by the MLKJr Day holiday), so I thought in terms of another class on "Wednesday", i.e. Friday the 25th. Still, it's fine for the students to have a deadline for selection of a poem, and Friday is as good a day as any.]
All students in the section were present but one. I believe that none of them had word-processed their assignments due today; I checked the syllabus and realized that it was merely an assumption on my part that all of the written assignments would be word-processed. This points to a correction which must be made on future syllabi; also a corrigendum making this requirement should be distributed at the next class session.
Because I did prefer that the students' work be word-processed (and I explained why: 1) it is neater, even though I do believe that handwriting is an important craft to develop through practice; 2) much written work should be presented word-processed, therefore the greater the students' experience of word-processors the more likely the students are to learn efficient word-processing; 3) MLA format, in which the assignment was to presented, is essentially a word-processing format), the students asked whether they could go to the library. This was fine, and fine, too, because this gave students the opportunity to work on their selection of poems.
The quotation / paraphrase / summary / reference exercise has obviated some basic troubles in some students' work. The next question within the experiment is, "How should work on revision of assignments, being carried forward simultaneously by the students but at different rates, be prioritized by the instructor?"
The goal of the course, in part, is to ensure that students understand the basics of MLA formatting -- this is merely mechanical -- but also that they should understand the concepts underlying the format: the distinction, for example, between a direct quotation and a paraphrase, between an edited quotation and a direct quotation....
One question raised during the exercise is the difference between a "summary" and a "reference"; I should be able to articulate this more clearly. Admittedly, the boundary between these is hazy - as also is the boundary between paraphrase and summary. But to grade students on these points without clear definition may be unfair.
Unhappily, because of the MLKJr Day holiday, we will not meet again this week, but that gives me a chance to review all of the student work collected today.
I will struggle to refrain from writing anything on the student work proper, but will photocopy the submissions and meet with the students on Monday during class session to identify any corrections which must be made.
Overall, I felt the session was useful, and the students were generally focused on their work. Despite student comment last semester that having multiple exercises concurrently is confusing, in this situation it seems to be the only way to ensure that everyone is working toward her or his project at an individually productive rate.
I had prepared a notecard listing assignments for FVC 102 last evening before leaving the college at 8:30, and when I arrived in the classroom I wrote the contents on the board:
1. Quotation exercise due.
2. work on topic refinement continues as needed -- begin research on topics toward writing of THESIS -- due the 4th -- that's 11 days away.
3. A WEEK FROM TODAY: 5/4s presentation
4. select a poem by 25.i.08 -- 9 days to memorize and present (will need to complete the sheet [write out responses on the sheet] as preparation). [A bit of a senior moment here: I was thinking that this class session, the first of the week's, was Monday (confusion brought on by the MLKJr Day holiday), so I thought in terms of another class on "Wednesday", i.e. Friday the 25th. Still, it's fine for the students to have a deadline for selection of a poem, and Friday is as good a day as any.]
All students in the section were present but one. I believe that none of them had word-processed their assignments due today; I checked the syllabus and realized that it was merely an assumption on my part that all of the written assignments would be word-processed. This points to a correction which must be made on future syllabi; also a corrigendum making this requirement should be distributed at the next class session.
Because I did prefer that the students' work be word-processed (and I explained why: 1) it is neater, even though I do believe that handwriting is an important craft to develop through practice; 2) much written work should be presented word-processed, therefore the greater the students' experience of word-processors the more likely the students are to learn efficient word-processing; 3) MLA format, in which the assignment was to presented, is essentially a word-processing format), the students asked whether they could go to the library. This was fine, and fine, too, because this gave students the opportunity to work on their selection of poems.
The quotation / paraphrase / summary / reference exercise has obviated some basic troubles in some students' work. The next question within the experiment is, "How should work on revision of assignments, being carried forward simultaneously by the students but at different rates, be prioritized by the instructor?"
The goal of the course, in part, is to ensure that students understand the basics of MLA formatting -- this is merely mechanical -- but also that they should understand the concepts underlying the format: the distinction, for example, between a direct quotation and a paraphrase, between an edited quotation and a direct quotation....
One question raised during the exercise is the difference between a "summary" and a "reference"; I should be able to articulate this more clearly. Admittedly, the boundary between these is hazy - as also is the boundary between paraphrase and summary. But to grade students on these points without clear definition may be unfair.
Unhappily, because of the MLKJr Day holiday, we will not meet again this week, but that gives me a chance to review all of the student work collected today.
I will struggle to refrain from writing anything on the student work proper, but will photocopy the submissions and meet with the students on Monday during class session to identify any corrections which must be made.
Overall, I felt the session was useful, and the students were generally focused on their work. Despite student comment last semester that having multiple exercises concurrently is confusing, in this situation it seems to be the only way to ensure that everyone is working toward her or his project at an individually productive rate.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
22.i.08 Ethics: Notes on the Handbook of Epictetus
Epictetus Encheiridion
c 1 Epictetus’ initial statement about what we can and cannot do reflects in a certain way the three basic categories of moral acts:
those required, commanded, necessary
those permitted but not required
those forbidden
consider Epictetus’ statement about acting moderately (¶2)
Q.: Is this a reflection of the Aristotelian mean?
The Aristotelian mean: do all in moderation – find the middle ground between excess and deficieincy. In some respects this seems as though it would appeal to Epictetus. However, he does have a sense of
1) the necessity of force in certain conditions
2) askesis: the discipline of an athlete. (Hence the English “ascetic”).
This latter is really central to Epictetus’ understanding.
c1 ¶1 He describes if not defines “things up to us”:
free
unhindered
unimpeded – essentially he is giving synonyms rather than presenting three different parts of the definition.
Q: what makes these acts free? Epictetus seems to concentrate on the will – although he may not use the term.
c1¶3 Phantasia – “the immediate experience of sense or feeling”
Distinguish the moral significance of supposing that some experiences at least may be what they seem to be.
White mentions the skeptics – this school proposes that nothing is which is experienced can be assumed to be real.
c2 Desire & aversion
Partially this may be a matter of White’s translation, but I have the strongest sense that Epictetus’ conclusion are Buddhist. It is possible – even likely -- that Buddhist ideas had some currency in the Graeco-Roman world. Desire and Aversion are two points of experience from which the Buddhist is counseled… on the other hand, Epictetus is not counseling the elimination of desire and aversion, but the application of desire and aversion to points over which one can have control. This again points to Epictetus’ focus on will.
c 2: “for the time being eliminate desire completely”.
This is an important point: Epictetus does not argue for the complete elimination of desire, but for its complete but temporary elimination. The condition of desire is proper understanding until one has achieved proper knowledge, desire will inevitably lead to trouble. I suppose the litmus test of proper knowledge is that when one has it, to desire something will not lead to an unhappy result.
unfortunate – failing to get what one wants
misfortunate – getting what one doesn’t want.
c 3 The askesis here is simple but not easy. Begin with what is easier and work up to the more difficult.
c 4 the askesis here is to discern classes of situation – those which are under our control and those which are not under our control.
c 5 Judgements – attitudes. This is the locus of upset. But there – judgments / attitudes are purely “up to us”. We are generally very read to perceive these as imposed. But Epictetus’ (the Stoic) position is that here – in attitudes – we have control. To Epictetus, the locus of control is the “soul”, which to him means not only the life-force, but the will, the consciousness, and in large part what we might b more inclined to call the “mind” rather than the “soul”.
“Uneducated” – Epictetus points to Paideia, the process of education. Werner Jaeger examined the Greek concept of paideia at length in his three-volume work entitled, of all things, Paideia. Jaeger’s thesis is in part that paideia is fundamentally moral training; surely Epictetus’ concern is centered here.
Cf. White’s discussion of what knowledge is required on 4.
“Uneducated person accuses others; partly educated person accuses himself; fully educated person accuses no-one” echoes Lao Tzu c 41 “When the highest type of men hear Tao,/ they diligently practice it./ When the average type of men hear Tao,/ They half believe in it. / When the lowest type of men hear Tao, They laugh heartily at it” (tr Chan 1963).
Those who have a high degree of understanding have equanimity.
c 7 is reminiscent of some of Jesus’ teachings in the Gospels, and some commentators have argued that Jesus was himself a Stoic, or at least influenced by Stoicism: this is far from impossible, and indeed the influence at least seems likely. Jesus often argues that it is better to concentrate on what is truly important, which is the life of the soul, rather than on the body – like Epictetus, Jesus sometimes carries this to extremes (see Mt 8.22 and 12.46ff for examples).
c 8 could be interpreted in a “panglossian” way, that is, it could seem as though Epictetus is arguing that this world is the best of all possible worlds.
c9 The implication of this chapter is that ‘you” is not the body. See also c 53, last quotation. This mind/body dualism is notable – we may well question what the “I” is that is distinguished from the body.
Q.: Consider whether situations exist in which illness or injury DO effect the will.
c 10. Stoic virtues:
self control – to deal with temptation
endurance – to deal with hardship
patience – to deal with abuse.
Compare these virtues with those enumerated by Paul in I Cor 13.13: faith, hope, and love.
The Stoic virtues allow one to distinguish between reality and appearance.
c 11 “given back” – we are just passing through life – yet what we take and give back is the material existence – yet there is it seems something which is individual; therefore moral considerations are meaningfully applied to individual acts. If all – including selves or selfhood – were corporate or mutual, no accountability could be expected of the individual.
c 12 Begin with small things. The Greek term for “to make progress” here, “prokoptein” is based on the verb “koptein”, which is roughly cognate of the English “chop”, so “prokoptein” is “to chip away”. Slowly but surely, one reduces the problem bit by bit, stroke by stroke.
c 13 If people think you amount to something, distrust yourself. This sounds a bit grim, but here as elsewhere Epictetus is particularly concerned that one not adopt the ideas of others without testing them, and to be careful not to place confidence in anything outside of oneself.
c 14: Want not to fail to get what you desire. Another way to put this is: want to succeed to get what you desire. This comes back to Epictetus’ emphasis upon really clearly visualizing what is involved in achieving the aim, and keeping that aim always in front of one as a target. Do not allow anything to stand in the way of a program you have set yourself.
c 15: Here in the situation of the banquet, it seems as though etiquette has been applied broadly and made into an ethical principle: wait your turn, and when your turn comes do not extend it.
c 16 Sympathize outwardly, but do not be caught up internally. See too, c 31: “It is always appropriate to make libations and sacrifices and give first fruits according to the custom of one’s forefather, in a manner … neither slovenly nor careless, nor indeed cheaply nor beyond one’s means” (21). This echoes something of the Confucian ethical theory that one should act outwardly in accordance with tradition, while inwardly remaining free from attachment. There is also some sense here of the motto “when in Rome do as the Romans” – but this motto should not be taken to mean that internally one changes from one position to another, only that one should respect the traditions of whatever community in which one finds oneself.
Note, too, that here Epictetus argues for a mean between excess and deficiency.
c 17 The notion of being actors performing a play which we have not written is echoed, for example, in Shakespeare (As You Like It 2.7). Epictetus here as elsewhere does not elevate the human to a position of direction of natural order: we must rather accommodate ourselves to the natural order as it is.
c 18 “All signs are favorable if I wish [because] it is up to me to be benefited by whichever of them turns out to be correct.” Although here we may be distracted by the notion of “signs” or omens, which we generally construe as being “unscientific”, “irrational”, and “superstitious” – which seems to be outside of what we expect from Epictetus – the basic gist is well in keeping with Epictetus’ philosophy; if there are meaningful signs in events, they show something outside of ourselves, and therefore they do not impact that over which we have control. That which is outside our control we deal with through our reactions, so it really doesn’t matter how things happen – in any case we must deal with our reactions to them. I am reminded of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition: Rule 34: “War is good for business.” Rule 35: “Peace is good for business”.
c 19 Only enter contests you can control if you wish to be victorious. Despise what is not up to us.
c 1 Epictetus’ initial statement about what we can and cannot do reflects in a certain way the three basic categories of moral acts:
those required, commanded, necessary
those permitted but not required
those forbidden
consider Epictetus’ statement about acting moderately (¶2)
Q.: Is this a reflection of the Aristotelian mean?
The Aristotelian mean: do all in moderation – find the middle ground between excess and deficieincy. In some respects this seems as though it would appeal to Epictetus. However, he does have a sense of
1) the necessity of force in certain conditions
2) askesis: the discipline of an athlete. (Hence the English “ascetic”).
This latter is really central to Epictetus’ understanding.
c1 ¶1 He describes if not defines “things up to us”:
free
unhindered
unimpeded – essentially he is giving synonyms rather than presenting three different parts of the definition.
Q: what makes these acts free? Epictetus seems to concentrate on the will – although he may not use the term.
c1¶3 Phantasia – “the immediate experience of sense or feeling”
Distinguish the moral significance of supposing that some experiences at least may be what they seem to be.
White mentions the skeptics – this school proposes that nothing is which is experienced can be assumed to be real.
c2 Desire & aversion
Partially this may be a matter of White’s translation, but I have the strongest sense that Epictetus’ conclusion are Buddhist. It is possible – even likely -- that Buddhist ideas had some currency in the Graeco-Roman world. Desire and Aversion are two points of experience from which the Buddhist is counseled… on the other hand, Epictetus is not counseling the elimination of desire and aversion, but the application of desire and aversion to points over which one can have control. This again points to Epictetus’ focus on will.
c 2: “for the time being eliminate desire completely”.
This is an important point: Epictetus does not argue for the complete elimination of desire, but for its complete but temporary elimination. The condition of desire is proper understanding until one has achieved proper knowledge, desire will inevitably lead to trouble. I suppose the litmus test of proper knowledge is that when one has it, to desire something will not lead to an unhappy result.
unfortunate – failing to get what one wants
misfortunate – getting what one doesn’t want.
c 3 The askesis here is simple but not easy. Begin with what is easier and work up to the more difficult.
c 4 the askesis here is to discern classes of situation – those which are under our control and those which are not under our control.
c 5 Judgements – attitudes. This is the locus of upset. But there – judgments / attitudes are purely “up to us”. We are generally very read to perceive these as imposed. But Epictetus’ (the Stoic) position is that here – in attitudes – we have control. To Epictetus, the locus of control is the “soul”, which to him means not only the life-force, but the will, the consciousness, and in large part what we might b more inclined to call the “mind” rather than the “soul”.
“Uneducated” – Epictetus points to Paideia, the process of education. Werner Jaeger examined the Greek concept of paideia at length in his three-volume work entitled, of all things, Paideia. Jaeger’s thesis is in part that paideia is fundamentally moral training; surely Epictetus’ concern is centered here.
Cf. White’s discussion of what knowledge is required on 4.
“Uneducated person accuses others; partly educated person accuses himself; fully educated person accuses no-one” echoes Lao Tzu c 41 “When the highest type of men hear Tao,/ they diligently practice it./ When the average type of men hear Tao,/ They half believe in it. / When the lowest type of men hear Tao, They laugh heartily at it” (tr Chan 1963).
Those who have a high degree of understanding have equanimity.
c 7 is reminiscent of some of Jesus’ teachings in the Gospels, and some commentators have argued that Jesus was himself a Stoic, or at least influenced by Stoicism: this is far from impossible, and indeed the influence at least seems likely. Jesus often argues that it is better to concentrate on what is truly important, which is the life of the soul, rather than on the body – like Epictetus, Jesus sometimes carries this to extremes (see Mt 8.22 and 12.46ff for examples).
c 8 could be interpreted in a “panglossian” way, that is, it could seem as though Epictetus is arguing that this world is the best of all possible worlds.
c9 The implication of this chapter is that ‘you” is not the body. See also c 53, last quotation. This mind/body dualism is notable – we may well question what the “I” is that is distinguished from the body.
Q.: Consider whether situations exist in which illness or injury DO effect the will.
c 10. Stoic virtues:
self control – to deal with temptation
endurance – to deal with hardship
patience – to deal with abuse.
Compare these virtues with those enumerated by Paul in I Cor 13.13: faith, hope, and love.
The Stoic virtues allow one to distinguish between reality and appearance.
c 11 “given back” – we are just passing through life – yet what we take and give back is the material existence – yet there is it seems something which is individual; therefore moral considerations are meaningfully applied to individual acts. If all – including selves or selfhood – were corporate or mutual, no accountability could be expected of the individual.
c 12 Begin with small things. The Greek term for “to make progress” here, “prokoptein” is based on the verb “koptein”, which is roughly cognate of the English “chop”, so “prokoptein” is “to chip away”. Slowly but surely, one reduces the problem bit by bit, stroke by stroke.
c 13 If people think you amount to something, distrust yourself. This sounds a bit grim, but here as elsewhere Epictetus is particularly concerned that one not adopt the ideas of others without testing them, and to be careful not to place confidence in anything outside of oneself.
c 14: Want not to fail to get what you desire. Another way to put this is: want to succeed to get what you desire. This comes back to Epictetus’ emphasis upon really clearly visualizing what is involved in achieving the aim, and keeping that aim always in front of one as a target. Do not allow anything to stand in the way of a program you have set yourself.
c 15: Here in the situation of the banquet, it seems as though etiquette has been applied broadly and made into an ethical principle: wait your turn, and when your turn comes do not extend it.
c 16 Sympathize outwardly, but do not be caught up internally. See too, c 31: “It is always appropriate to make libations and sacrifices and give first fruits according to the custom of one’s forefather, in a manner … neither slovenly nor careless, nor indeed cheaply nor beyond one’s means” (21). This echoes something of the Confucian ethical theory that one should act outwardly in accordance with tradition, while inwardly remaining free from attachment. There is also some sense here of the motto “when in Rome do as the Romans” – but this motto should not be taken to mean that internally one changes from one position to another, only that one should respect the traditions of whatever community in which one finds oneself.
Note, too, that here Epictetus argues for a mean between excess and deficiency.
c 17 The notion of being actors performing a play which we have not written is echoed, for example, in Shakespeare (As You Like It 2.7). Epictetus here as elsewhere does not elevate the human to a position of direction of natural order: we must rather accommodate ourselves to the natural order as it is.
c 18 “All signs are favorable if I wish [because] it is up to me to be benefited by whichever of them turns out to be correct.” Although here we may be distracted by the notion of “signs” or omens, which we generally construe as being “unscientific”, “irrational”, and “superstitious” – which seems to be outside of what we expect from Epictetus – the basic gist is well in keeping with Epictetus’ philosophy; if there are meaningful signs in events, they show something outside of ourselves, and therefore they do not impact that over which we have control. That which is outside our control we deal with through our reactions, so it really doesn’t matter how things happen – in any case we must deal with our reactions to them. I am reminded of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition: Rule 34: “War is good for business.” Rule 35: “Peace is good for business”.
c 19 Only enter contests you can control if you wish to be victorious. Despise what is not up to us.
22.i.08 Ethics: Epictetus
Summary of class notes.
Looking over Epictetus, I am struck by a number of basic points.
First, Epictetus’ distinction between “what is up to us” and “what is not up to us” makes me consider the five basic variables in all moral acts.
Remember, there are basically two classes of acts: moral acts and amoral acts. Moral acts can be determined as being good or evil; amoral acts are indifferent: neither good nor evil.
Amongst moral acts, some are forbidden, some are permitted, and some are required.
Furthermore, moral acts may be conditional or unconditional. That is, there may be certain conditions under which one is forbidden, or permitted, or required to do something – or there may be acts which are unconditionally forbidden or required: acts one must never do under any circumstances whatsoever, or which one must always do.
I’m not sure whether permitted acts can ever be said to be unconditional, but maybe…
For Epictetus, what defines the ground of the forbidden, the permitted, and the required, is accordance with nature.
Nature, to Epictetus, is in part physical nature – the universe, the world as it is; in part nature is also human nature, which steps outside of nature in a sense to observe nature.
Some Stoics – as you will see in White’s introduction to our translation – particularly the earlier Stoics, argued that to be fully morally upright, one needed to have a comprehensive knowledge of the structure of nature (physics – particularly an understanding of cause and effect) and logic, which defines the patterns of nature.
To Epictetus, what is required is that we must know what we can do, and do that only. We must not wish for faculties we do not possess: were we to wish, for example, to fly, most people would understand that as foolishness. But to Epictetus it is just as foolish to wish for honors, or wealth. What one can do is act righteously; perhaps one will win honor or wealth through that. Still, there is no guarantee.
What does it mean to act righteously? To do what one can, and not to wish to do what one cannot, and to do what is permitted (neither required nor forbidden) moderately.
Epictetus’ ideas about what one can and cannot do relate to a fundamental cosmology of change. Remember, cosmology is one of the two main branches of metaphysics (the study of ultimate reality). Ontology is the other one: the study of being: what is, and what is not, what is real, and what is unreal? What is the nature of existence? These are ontological questions. Cosmology is the study of the structure of the existing world, of beings: how do existing things relate one to the other? This is a question both of physical beings and of spiritual beings, for Epictetus.
Notice Epictetus’ definition of gods (it appears as a gloss in c 31): “beings that arrange the universe well and justly” (21). He says nothing of making or creating here. The gods may be eternal, but they may not be the creators of the world. It may be that the world, too, is eternal. If so, it has three eternal elements: soul, matter, and change. Without matter, soul cannot be known: it has no sensitivity, no way of acting. Without soul, matter has no form, no structure. But once soul and matter blend, not only have they sensitivity and form, they also are subject to change and therefore to time. In themselves, they may be eternal, but they cannot be known, except by themselves. So I read the business, at any rate.
The gods structure the universe – and do it well (the Greek word means “with goodness” and also “beautifully”) and justly; and a perfected human (one with full knowledge of, for example, physics and logic) able to make correct decisions, is essentially a god.
It is, then, to the state of godliness that one should aspire.
Epictetus’ idea of the soul is perhaps a bit more complex than some people’s. It is not merely “life spark”, but it involves two basic classes of faculty, rational and affective. The rational faculty is pretty much what we call the mind: thinking, judging, contemplating, analyzing: these are cognitive or rational functions. Affective functions are those that have to do with feelings, with emotions, with fears, desires, aversions.
To Epictetus, we have control of our own cognitive and affective faculties, in short, over our souls – but we do not have control over other peoples’ cognitive and affective faculties.
We can imagine a diagramming of Epictetus vision of the universe: two arcs intersecting; where they meet is the body; one of the circles we may label “the soul” and the rest of the diagram is then that which outside of the soul.
Although we allow others’ opinions and actions to effect our soul, this is not necessary: others may, indeed, have complete control over our bodies, but properly no one else should have any impact whatsoever on our souls, unless we permit that impact.
This would clearly be a godlike state – in fact, not godlike, but godly.
Yet it is to that state that Epictetus aspires. His full concentration seems to be on how to achieve that state, and, although he does not use the term, it seems to me that his primary concern is with the will.
To develop the will, Epictetus points to the development of habit and routine, a kind of craft and art of living, in which those acts which are merely permitted are reduced to a minimum, and kept moderate in their exercise; those things necessary are done without fail, and those things forbidden are strictly avoided.
Forbidden acts may be said to be of two types, physical acts and mental or affective acts: thoughts and feelings. Physically forbidden acts are hardly a problem: they simply cannot be performed. But when one wishes for, or thinks about, acts which cannot be performed, one is in essence performing an immoral act, a forbidden act. It is acting outside of nature to wish for something which cannot be, just as much as it is forbidden by nature for a human to fly (say), or to breathe water.
Similarly, required acts are those which are purely in accordance with human nature. Fundamentally, it is required that one should come to understand the real nature of things, and to control one’s feelings and judgments to the degree that one desires those things which express the will of nature, and feel and aversion to those things that violate the will of nature.
Permitted acts, again, should be kept to a minimum and engaged in moderately.
Looking over Epictetus, I am struck by a number of basic points.
First, Epictetus’ distinction between “what is up to us” and “what is not up to us” makes me consider the five basic variables in all moral acts.
Remember, there are basically two classes of acts: moral acts and amoral acts. Moral acts can be determined as being good or evil; amoral acts are indifferent: neither good nor evil.
Amongst moral acts, some are forbidden, some are permitted, and some are required.
Furthermore, moral acts may be conditional or unconditional. That is, there may be certain conditions under which one is forbidden, or permitted, or required to do something – or there may be acts which are unconditionally forbidden or required: acts one must never do under any circumstances whatsoever, or which one must always do.
I’m not sure whether permitted acts can ever be said to be unconditional, but maybe…
For Epictetus, what defines the ground of the forbidden, the permitted, and the required, is accordance with nature.
Nature, to Epictetus, is in part physical nature – the universe, the world as it is; in part nature is also human nature, which steps outside of nature in a sense to observe nature.
Some Stoics – as you will see in White’s introduction to our translation – particularly the earlier Stoics, argued that to be fully morally upright, one needed to have a comprehensive knowledge of the structure of nature (physics – particularly an understanding of cause and effect) and logic, which defines the patterns of nature.
To Epictetus, what is required is that we must know what we can do, and do that only. We must not wish for faculties we do not possess: were we to wish, for example, to fly, most people would understand that as foolishness. But to Epictetus it is just as foolish to wish for honors, or wealth. What one can do is act righteously; perhaps one will win honor or wealth through that. Still, there is no guarantee.
What does it mean to act righteously? To do what one can, and not to wish to do what one cannot, and to do what is permitted (neither required nor forbidden) moderately.
Epictetus’ ideas about what one can and cannot do relate to a fundamental cosmology of change. Remember, cosmology is one of the two main branches of metaphysics (the study of ultimate reality). Ontology is the other one: the study of being: what is, and what is not, what is real, and what is unreal? What is the nature of existence? These are ontological questions. Cosmology is the study of the structure of the existing world, of beings: how do existing things relate one to the other? This is a question both of physical beings and of spiritual beings, for Epictetus.
Notice Epictetus’ definition of gods (it appears as a gloss in c 31): “beings that arrange the universe well and justly” (21). He says nothing of making or creating here. The gods may be eternal, but they may not be the creators of the world. It may be that the world, too, is eternal. If so, it has three eternal elements: soul, matter, and change. Without matter, soul cannot be known: it has no sensitivity, no way of acting. Without soul, matter has no form, no structure. But once soul and matter blend, not only have they sensitivity and form, they also are subject to change and therefore to time. In themselves, they may be eternal, but they cannot be known, except by themselves. So I read the business, at any rate.
The gods structure the universe – and do it well (the Greek word means “with goodness” and also “beautifully”) and justly; and a perfected human (one with full knowledge of, for example, physics and logic) able to make correct decisions, is essentially a god.
It is, then, to the state of godliness that one should aspire.
Epictetus’ idea of the soul is perhaps a bit more complex than some people’s. It is not merely “life spark”, but it involves two basic classes of faculty, rational and affective. The rational faculty is pretty much what we call the mind: thinking, judging, contemplating, analyzing: these are cognitive or rational functions. Affective functions are those that have to do with feelings, with emotions, with fears, desires, aversions.
To Epictetus, we have control of our own cognitive and affective faculties, in short, over our souls – but we do not have control over other peoples’ cognitive and affective faculties.
We can imagine a diagramming of Epictetus vision of the universe: two arcs intersecting; where they meet is the body; one of the circles we may label “the soul” and the rest of the diagram is then that which outside of the soul.
Although we allow others’ opinions and actions to effect our soul, this is not necessary: others may, indeed, have complete control over our bodies, but properly no one else should have any impact whatsoever on our souls, unless we permit that impact.
This would clearly be a godlike state – in fact, not godlike, but godly.
Yet it is to that state that Epictetus aspires. His full concentration seems to be on how to achieve that state, and, although he does not use the term, it seems to me that his primary concern is with the will.
To develop the will, Epictetus points to the development of habit and routine, a kind of craft and art of living, in which those acts which are merely permitted are reduced to a minimum, and kept moderate in their exercise; those things necessary are done without fail, and those things forbidden are strictly avoided.
Forbidden acts may be said to be of two types, physical acts and mental or affective acts: thoughts and feelings. Physically forbidden acts are hardly a problem: they simply cannot be performed. But when one wishes for, or thinks about, acts which cannot be performed, one is in essence performing an immoral act, a forbidden act. It is acting outside of nature to wish for something which cannot be, just as much as it is forbidden by nature for a human to fly (say), or to breathe water.
Similarly, required acts are those which are purely in accordance with human nature. Fundamentally, it is required that one should come to understand the real nature of things, and to control one’s feelings and judgments to the degree that one desires those things which express the will of nature, and feel and aversion to those things that violate the will of nature.
Permitted acts, again, should be kept to a minimum and engaged in moderately.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
17.i.08 Foundations of Ethics
I guess either the snow conditions or the imminent MLK Jr Day weekend distracted almost half of the class -- 6 students (out of 14) absent! The nine of us remaining had a productive evening spinning out a longish list of possible moral topics.
I'm caught between a vindictive desire to let those absent suffer for missing a productive session and wanting to show the results.
From the board in 405, 6:55 p.m.:
What is goodness? What is evil? What is right to do? Shopping? at Walmart?
How can acts be classified? Is abortion a form of murder? Hypocrisy. Parenting. Discipline.
Discrimination workfare versus welfare braindead people
FBI battle for
property
in China
Olympics
lime wire no ifs ands or buts shoplifting is stealing. Draughts of bitter -- lager -- oh!
the DRAFT! as in conscription! quartering of troops in time of peace underage drinking
discrimination: by what rules should individual acts be judged?
stealing while sucking poppies? -- oh! stealing while STUCK IN POVERTY, yes!
Hazardous drivers driving while inebriated or under the influence of cell phones
stem cell phones
smoking in public
smoking in private
smoking weed
smoking poppies
What is the bottom line?
SEX porn UNDERAGE sex same sex marriage sex workers sex with mothers sex with others sex with animals
animal rights
rights - not all cultures accept the notion of rights WELL WE DO.
Coaching? Well I suppose that could be a moral issue -- oh, POACHING! Yes
and hunting and especially trapping. Rescuing skunks from traps -- there's a morally ambiguous and potentially hazardous situation. Medical insurance: an easy flow of association to that,
Barbies. Gender expectations. War toys, girls and boys wearing pink and camo
Racism and double standards. Some of my best friends are not niggers.
Can I write that? May I write that?
"What is the relationship between etiquette and ethics in five hundred words or fewer"
Consulting oracles (Epictetus says "when you make use of fortune telling..." [In White's translation, published by Hackett, 1983, 21]; what would be the equivalent in 2008, I wonder?) ouija boards? tarot cards? I Ching?
What obligations have individuals to others, and what obligations has society (the mass of individuals or the structure within that mass) to the individual?
Paternalism.
Honesty sunshine
laws
transparency cloning euthanasia
and another topic could be Youth In Asia
Born Into Brothels
or Teletubbies
eating disorders feminism gossip secret New Age games of chance and probability
gambling
resource use
employment
labor versus capital
military appropriations
should we act upon our divine will?
should we act upon divine will?
should we act according to divine will?
Get it straight.
Environmental degradation. Rainforest deforestation. Depilation.
Resource management stewardship biological warfare
chemical warfare
do viruses have rights?
Has smallpox a right to exist? If humans are the natural hosts of smallpox, is it wrong for humans to deny smallpox a home? Is it wrong to offer smallpox a home -- in our enemy's bodies?
Fairness.
What is righteousness? Some would say, living according to natural law, living the way other animals do, or in accord with the forces of nature, the way our ancestors did. Others would say that righteousness is precisely to deny nature, to suppress natural urges and to live in artifice, because this is what shows us to be what we are uniquely: humans, distinct from all other beings. It is righteous to be what we are clearly and distinctly. How can righteousness be both of these at the same time? Does this call the validity of moral questioning into question?
If I write "good night" does that make it good? And what makes a night good, after all?
I'm going to go and see.
I'm caught between a vindictive desire to let those absent suffer for missing a productive session and wanting to show the results.
From the board in 405, 6:55 p.m.:
What is goodness? What is evil? What is right to do? Shopping? at Walmart?
How can acts be classified? Is abortion a form of murder? Hypocrisy. Parenting. Discipline.
Discrimination workfare versus welfare braindead people
FBI battle for
property
in China
Olympics
lime wire no ifs ands or buts shoplifting is stealing. Draughts of bitter -- lager -- oh!
the DRAFT! as in conscription! quartering of troops in time of peace underage drinking
discrimination: by what rules should individual acts be judged?
stealing while sucking poppies? -- oh! stealing while STUCK IN POVERTY, yes!
Hazardous drivers driving while inebriated or under the influence of cell phones
stem cell phones
smoking in public
smoking in private
smoking weed
smoking poppies
What is the bottom line?
SEX porn UNDERAGE sex same sex marriage sex workers sex with mothers sex with others sex with animals
animal rights
rights - not all cultures accept the notion of rights WELL WE DO.
Coaching? Well I suppose that could be a moral issue -- oh, POACHING! Yes
and hunting and especially trapping. Rescuing skunks from traps -- there's a morally ambiguous and potentially hazardous situation. Medical insurance: an easy flow of association to that,
Barbies. Gender expectations. War toys, girls and boys wearing pink and camo
Racism and double standards. Some of my best friends are not niggers.
Can I write that? May I write that?
"What is the relationship between etiquette and ethics in five hundred words or fewer"
Consulting oracles (Epictetus says "when you make use of fortune telling..." [In White's translation, published by Hackett, 1983, 21]; what would be the equivalent in 2008, I wonder?) ouija boards? tarot cards? I Ching?
What obligations have individuals to others, and what obligations has society (the mass of individuals or the structure within that mass) to the individual?
Paternalism.
Honesty sunshine
laws
transparency cloning euthanasia
and another topic could be Youth In Asia
Born Into Brothels
or Teletubbies
eating disorders feminism gossip secret New Age games of chance and probability
gambling
resource use
employment
labor versus capital
military appropriations
should we act upon our divine will?
should we act upon divine will?
should we act according to divine will?
Get it straight.
Environmental degradation. Rainforest deforestation. Depilation.
Resource management stewardship biological warfare
chemical warfare
do viruses have rights?
Has smallpox a right to exist? If humans are the natural hosts of smallpox, is it wrong for humans to deny smallpox a home? Is it wrong to offer smallpox a home -- in our enemy's bodies?
Fairness.
What is righteousness? Some would say, living according to natural law, living the way other animals do, or in accord with the forces of nature, the way our ancestors did. Others would say that righteousness is precisely to deny nature, to suppress natural urges and to live in artifice, because this is what shows us to be what we are uniquely: humans, distinct from all other beings. It is righteous to be what we are clearly and distinctly. How can righteousness be both of these at the same time? Does this call the validity of moral questioning into question?
If I write "good night" does that make it good? And what makes a night good, after all?
I'm going to go and see.
16.i.08 Foundations of Verbal Communications
The experiment with Garrison's method is going well so far, I think. On Wednesday I asked the students to consider the topics they had defined on Monday as having the greatest interest and then to write out at least five sub-topics within that topic, then circle one of these subtopics as the most interesting, and then within that subtopic develop about five sub-topics. I asked for them to write out the whole process so that I would be able to see it, since I suspected we would run out of time.
I also provided them with the assignment for the quotation / paraphrase / summary / reference exercise, due next week, and some suggestions about the five/four exercise as well.
The class environment was fascinating to observe. Although students were working on perhaps four different projects --
reading Always Coming Home
writing five/fours
refining their topics
studying the quotation assignment
they were all... working -- either reading or writing. A bit past the half-way point I began to circulate and talk one-on-one with students about refining their topics. In some cases I thought that the students were ready to move on to research, even to outlining their informative essays and formulating theses.
When a question was raised about the terms and ideas in the quotation exercise, I opened this up to class as a whole so that the assignment would be clear; otherwise the atmosphere of the class seemed to be diligent individual work.
Now, I did not get through all of the conferences during the class period; I e-mailed ten students with suggestions for development. One was a bit long, but the rest were a quarter-page or so, and the long e-mail was well-received and led to a string back and forth.
If the conferences can be confined to the class sessions, doubleplusgood, but again, so far Garrison's method seems to be proving itself.
We seem to be blessed with a community of poets. Three students asked to present poems by friends or family members. So long as they can provide the background dispassionately and in reference to the poem rather than to the speakers, this should be fine; if it is not fine, we will talk about why it is not.
Here's a poem for you:
Amphibian
Perhaps now I know
the understanding of those first
amphibians, fish really, elbowing
from the waters onto land
for a few tentative moments
gasping
and then returning
to the comfort of a less-safe sea
The opportunities of the dry land
not yet clearly known but glimpsed
and each time out of the water
known better
slowly
I begin to grasp
the long climb
toward human
being.
21 vi 07
I also provided them with the assignment for the quotation / paraphrase / summary / reference exercise, due next week, and some suggestions about the five/four exercise as well.
The class environment was fascinating to observe. Although students were working on perhaps four different projects --
reading Always Coming Home
writing five/fours
refining their topics
studying the quotation assignment
they were all... working -- either reading or writing. A bit past the half-way point I began to circulate and talk one-on-one with students about refining their topics. In some cases I thought that the students were ready to move on to research, even to outlining their informative essays and formulating theses.
When a question was raised about the terms and ideas in the quotation exercise, I opened this up to class as a whole so that the assignment would be clear; otherwise the atmosphere of the class seemed to be diligent individual work.
Now, I did not get through all of the conferences during the class period; I e-mailed ten students with suggestions for development. One was a bit long, but the rest were a quarter-page or so, and the long e-mail was well-received and led to a string back and forth.
If the conferences can be confined to the class sessions, doubleplusgood, but again, so far Garrison's method seems to be proving itself.
We seem to be blessed with a community of poets. Three students asked to present poems by friends or family members. So long as they can provide the background dispassionately and in reference to the poem rather than to the speakers, this should be fine; if it is not fine, we will talk about why it is not.
Here's a poem for you:
Amphibian
Perhaps now I know
the understanding of those first
amphibians, fish really, elbowing
from the waters onto land
for a few tentative moments
gasping
and then returning
to the comfort of a less-safe sea
The opportunities of the dry land
not yet clearly known but glimpsed
and each time out of the water
known better
slowly
I begin to grasp
the long climb
toward human
being.
21 vi 07
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
15.i.08 A Breakthrough
I've been agonizing about Foundations of Verbal Communications and our proposal of a writing center. I spent I guess about six hours yesterday thinking and writing about student topics, persisting stubbornly in a certain line of thought.
What I need to realize, and make really firm, is that FVC is about
listening
speaking
reading
writing
And not MY listening speaking reading writing but about STUDENTS' listening speaking reading writing.
A student oral comment on the first day of class stung because it was so true: on glancing over the assignments, she said, "this is so lame."
***
Last week I borrowed a copy of "Born Into Brothels" from the college library. I watched the movie Thursday night and was absolutely blown away. With minimal equipment and minimal "teaching", Zana Briski positively transforms not only her photography students, but, in large part, herself, her film-making partner Ross Kauffman, and those who, like myself, are ready to receive the messages of the film.
Then this morning I was reading Connors and Glenn's The New St. Martin's Guide to Teaching Writing (Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 1999), specifically an article from 1974 by Roger H. Garrison entitled "One-to-One: Tutorial Instruction in Freshman Composition" (357-379). I was, again, completely blown away. Garrison identifies with clarity and obvious direct knowledge the flaws of the traditional slog-through-the-student-paper-line-by-line approach (like the instructor spending four times as much effort as the student: who is the learner here?), and then, again with great clarity, identifies a more effective method.
I'm sure someone will ask for evidence of results showing effectiveness, and Garrison does not provide this. But I think it is clear that at this point I at least in teaching FVC am flailing about and it would not be amiss to consider a change in method.
So, I see here a possibility for positive change. I have already asked the students for topics, and on this blog the interested reader can find those topics; they have great potential, but we can now move to greater specificity. The stronger writers (based on my experience of them last semester) are already writing out topics with greater specificity than the weaker writers, who struggled for fifteen minutes or so to come up with topics like "Christianity" or "psychology". These are far too general to generate a meaningful essay. So, we are not ready to move on to composition of theses... the topics must be narrowed.
Last semester I made the mistake (as I see it now) of telling the students what their topic should be. Had I been teaching a different course, this might have been fine. I don't think most of the students "bought" my thesis that literacy and liberation are connected; most of them certainly did not find their own liberation through literacy!
Today I will be meeting with the Deans to discuss the possibilities -- strategically and budgetarily -- of a writing center. Before that happens, I must summarize Garrison's article and think about how I will employ it in my class. I must also work out an assignment for PHL 202: Ethics. So, I have my work cut out for the next hour or so.
What I need to realize, and make really firm, is that FVC is about
listening
speaking
reading
writing
And not MY listening speaking reading writing but about STUDENTS' listening speaking reading writing.
A student oral comment on the first day of class stung because it was so true: on glancing over the assignments, she said, "this is so lame."
***
Last week I borrowed a copy of "Born Into Brothels" from the college library. I watched the movie Thursday night and was absolutely blown away. With minimal equipment and minimal "teaching", Zana Briski positively transforms not only her photography students, but, in large part, herself, her film-making partner Ross Kauffman, and those who, like myself, are ready to receive the messages of the film.
Then this morning I was reading Connors and Glenn's The New St. Martin's Guide to Teaching Writing (Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 1999), specifically an article from 1974 by Roger H. Garrison entitled "One-to-One: Tutorial Instruction in Freshman Composition" (357-379). I was, again, completely blown away. Garrison identifies with clarity and obvious direct knowledge the flaws of the traditional slog-through-the-student-paper-line-by-line approach (like the instructor spending four times as much effort as the student: who is the learner here?), and then, again with great clarity, identifies a more effective method.
I'm sure someone will ask for evidence of results showing effectiveness, and Garrison does not provide this. But I think it is clear that at this point I at least in teaching FVC am flailing about and it would not be amiss to consider a change in method.
So, I see here a possibility for positive change. I have already asked the students for topics, and on this blog the interested reader can find those topics; they have great potential, but we can now move to greater specificity. The stronger writers (based on my experience of them last semester) are already writing out topics with greater specificity than the weaker writers, who struggled for fifteen minutes or so to come up with topics like "Christianity" or "psychology". These are far too general to generate a meaningful essay. So, we are not ready to move on to composition of theses... the topics must be narrowed.
Last semester I made the mistake (as I see it now) of telling the students what their topic should be. Had I been teaching a different course, this might have been fine. I don't think most of the students "bought" my thesis that literacy and liberation are connected; most of them certainly did not find their own liberation through literacy!
Today I will be meeting with the Deans to discuss the possibilities -- strategically and budgetarily -- of a writing center. Before that happens, I must summarize Garrison's article and think about how I will employ it in my class. I must also work out an assignment for PHL 202: Ethics. So, I have my work cut out for the next hour or so.
Monday, January 14, 2008
14.i.08 HIS 310 Empire & Colony -- not!
Well, another dissipate and off-topic class session.
Here's the link to the Avalon Project, which is indeed at Yale:
On the one hand, we did look at the Constitution. I proposed my thesis that the Constitution is the metaphorical DNA of the USA, and in a certain respect also the fossil record of the Revolution, if we understand the Revolution as an ongoing process.
I gave several examples.
Here's the link to the Avalon Project, which is indeed at Yale:
On the one hand, we did look at the Constitution. I proposed my thesis that the Constitution is the metaphorical DNA of the USA, and in a certain respect also the fossil record of the Revolution, if we understand the Revolution as an ongoing process.
I gave several examples.
14.i.08 FVC relating topics to ACH
LeGuin's Always Coming Home is a work of broad scope. Many of the topics identified by students as of special interest are touched upon in some way. The page references are to the U California P edition of 2001.
Mythology, certainly, is to be found here in profusion, so also primitive wilderness survival skills are at least hinted at. "Natural" medicine (see 471 ff), organic farming, and whole food cooking (437 ff) are here.
Coffee is not, but love is (see 493 to start); jazz music is not, but music in general is (see 444 ff); the creation of language is hinted at, and those interested in language should check out 494-523. While James Bond-style espionage is not a feature of ACH, surely Stone Telling's escape from the Dayao counts for something, and 377-386 is worth considering as example of information gathering and use.
Sadly, the difference between film and digital cameras -- whether film or digital is better -- is not represented in ACH; however, philosophically one could find some connections to the attitudes of the Kesh in the idea that film is better. See 314-317, for example; 168, bottom, through 172 (having read 149-153) might be useful. Video games, again, and rock music are not going to be found here. But if you ask what the FUNCTION of video games and rock music may be, you might find something to relate to in ACH. "Playing" is dealt with 480-482, and it's worth examining.
As to Dinosaurs, well... think about this in a BIG way: what can we know about dinosaurs, really? We can extrapolate about their lives through analogy. We may suppose (sometimes quite wrongly -- think of misinterpretations of oviraptor behavior) based upon fossil evidence this or that about dinosaurs, but truthfully we must confess ignorance on many basic points. What LeGuin points out about the difficulties and possibilities of imagination of the future are just as applicable to the study of dinosaurs, which while not ultimately (I think) imaginary, are still very much imaginary beings to us today.
Yellowstone is of interest as the first national park on Earth (1872; formal opening 1890); the notion of control of land, whether by and individual or a community, is touched upon at a number of points in ACH, beginning on 3: "what on earth did they need a wall for?" See 33 ff, the discussion of the location of the bridge. The Serpentine Codex might be worth a look.
When we consider the importance of Israel, again, if we think BIG we might find some connection to the material in ACH. Incidentally, a great treatment of the concept of Israel (as Land, as People, as Law, as God) is found in To Be A Jew by Hayim Halevy Donin (Basic, 1972). There is in this a possibility of play between the attachment to the Valley felt by Stone Telling -- the dramatic tension of her desire to discover something else, to be powerful, and to connect with her father and her desire to connect with the Valley and the culture of the people there -- and the monotheism of the Dayao (Condor people). The Dayao, to me, are reminiscent of desert peoples of Arabia and Syria, like the Arabs and the Jews.
Music's effect on people -- well, there is certainly material here in ACH. The descriptions of the Wakwa (especially of the Moon 242 ff) offer examples. The discussion of Kesh musical instruments (444 ff) is useful as well. While ACH won't give a history of Anarchism (I don't think you'll see anything about the Paris Commune or the Wobblies), it does present some problems anarchists should be thinking of. For example, how can an essentially anarchistic community (see 33 ff for example of the "anarchism" of the Valley) defend itself against a directed, technologically superior assault (see 352 ff, for example)?
Some of the concerns of existentialism versus nihilism I think are explored in the section "How to Die in the Valley", but also in the romantic tale "The Brave Man", in "The Third Child's Story" (275 ff) and "The Visionary" (282 ff).
The Kesh approach to sexuality, marriage, and gender relations may be described as "utopian", although it seems to me to be fairly much in keeping with those observed in actual "primitive" societies. "Gay bashing homophobes" would not do well amongst the Kesh. Consider, for example, the description of Obsidian of Ounmalin on p 35. See also "Kinfolk" in The Back of the Book.
Abortion is mentioned at several points in ACH (notably 349; see also "Some Notes on Medical Practices" in The Back of the Book).
While our terms punk, goth, emo, chic, and so on are not present in ACH, LeGuin does offer some discussion of social labelling and sub-cultural groups (the Lamb Lodge and the Warriors being the chief among them in ACH). See especially 184 ff and Stone Telling's reflections upon the culture of the Dayao in the third section of the novel.
For martial arts there is very little directly; maybe 14: Corruption's use of the paddle.
Mythology, certainly, is to be found here in profusion, so also primitive wilderness survival skills are at least hinted at. "Natural" medicine (see 471 ff), organic farming, and whole food cooking (437 ff) are here.
Coffee is not, but love is (see 493 to start); jazz music is not, but music in general is (see 444 ff); the creation of language is hinted at, and those interested in language should check out 494-523. While James Bond-style espionage is not a feature of ACH, surely Stone Telling's escape from the Dayao counts for something, and 377-386 is worth considering as example of information gathering and use.
Sadly, the difference between film and digital cameras -- whether film or digital is better -- is not represented in ACH; however, philosophically one could find some connections to the attitudes of the Kesh in the idea that film is better. See 314-317, for example; 168, bottom, through 172 (having read 149-153) might be useful. Video games, again, and rock music are not going to be found here. But if you ask what the FUNCTION of video games and rock music may be, you might find something to relate to in ACH. "Playing" is dealt with 480-482, and it's worth examining.
As to Dinosaurs, well... think about this in a BIG way: what can we know about dinosaurs, really? We can extrapolate about their lives through analogy. We may suppose (sometimes quite wrongly -- think of misinterpretations of oviraptor behavior) based upon fossil evidence this or that about dinosaurs, but truthfully we must confess ignorance on many basic points. What LeGuin points out about the difficulties and possibilities of imagination of the future are just as applicable to the study of dinosaurs, which while not ultimately (I think) imaginary, are still very much imaginary beings to us today.
Yellowstone is of interest as the first national park on Earth (1872; formal opening 1890); the notion of control of land, whether by and individual or a community, is touched upon at a number of points in ACH, beginning on 3: "what on earth did they need a wall for?" See 33 ff, the discussion of the location of the bridge. The Serpentine Codex might be worth a look.
When we consider the importance of Israel, again, if we think BIG we might find some connection to the material in ACH. Incidentally, a great treatment of the concept of Israel (as Land, as People, as Law, as God) is found in To Be A Jew by Hayim Halevy Donin (Basic, 1972). There is in this a possibility of play between the attachment to the Valley felt by Stone Telling -- the dramatic tension of her desire to discover something else, to be powerful, and to connect with her father and her desire to connect with the Valley and the culture of the people there -- and the monotheism of the Dayao (Condor people). The Dayao, to me, are reminiscent of desert peoples of Arabia and Syria, like the Arabs and the Jews.
Music's effect on people -- well, there is certainly material here in ACH. The descriptions of the Wakwa (especially of the Moon 242 ff) offer examples. The discussion of Kesh musical instruments (444 ff) is useful as well. While ACH won't give a history of Anarchism (I don't think you'll see anything about the Paris Commune or the Wobblies), it does present some problems anarchists should be thinking of. For example, how can an essentially anarchistic community (see 33 ff for example of the "anarchism" of the Valley) defend itself against a directed, technologically superior assault (see 352 ff, for example)?
Some of the concerns of existentialism versus nihilism I think are explored in the section "How to Die in the Valley", but also in the romantic tale "The Brave Man", in "The Third Child's Story" (275 ff) and "The Visionary" (282 ff).
The Kesh approach to sexuality, marriage, and gender relations may be described as "utopian", although it seems to me to be fairly much in keeping with those observed in actual "primitive" societies. "Gay bashing homophobes" would not do well amongst the Kesh. Consider, for example, the description of Obsidian of Ounmalin on p 35. See also "Kinfolk" in The Back of the Book.
Abortion is mentioned at several points in ACH (notably 349; see also "Some Notes on Medical Practices" in The Back of the Book).
While our terms punk, goth, emo, chic, and so on are not present in ACH, LeGuin does offer some discussion of social labelling and sub-cultural groups (the Lamb Lodge and the Warriors being the chief among them in ACH). See especially 184 ff and Stone Telling's reflections upon the culture of the Dayao in the third section of the novel.
For martial arts there is very little directly; maybe 14: Corruption's use of the paddle.
14.i.08 Foundations of Verbal Communications
So, the SNAFUs of scheduling seem to have been overcome. TF is off to Guatemala to adopt a sister and SS is still sick, I'm guessing, but SN has joined us, so I think we are pretty much all on board.
I forgot again that this section did not receive their first-day lists, so they are bringing copies of Always Coming Home but not of The Tolkien Reader. I must remember to remind them that we will be going back and forth between these for a few weeks.
I wanted to start off with the five/four project (billed as "an opportunity to practice memorization and public speaking; in this case you present a poem of your composition, using LeGuin's Five/four structure. This gives you experience in concision of writing, focused rhetorical expression preparing you for the persuasive essay, but also giving you an "insider's" perspective on rhetoric."
I recited a five/four composed last year by Emily Keener:
"We have an issue
No attention paid
Hum of the static
Remains unresolved"
I said that the five/four project would involve composing one or more than one five/fours, memorizing the poem, and reciting it in front of the class: I said I would ask the students to present the poems several different ways to give different emphases to the lines, and that we would have an opportunity to discuss the meaning of the poem as the poet understood it.
I handed SN the syllabus, the handout on structure in "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", and an index card on which to write his preferred topics; I had, however, forgotten to make copies of the Oral Presentation of Poetry Worksheet, so I directed the students to read over the Five/fours on page 71 of Always Coming Home (U California Press edition).
When I returned from the copy room, I started on a brief presentation on Always Coming Home, beginning by saying that many expected it to be a hard-core feminist / anarchist tract, along the lines of Mary Daly's work. I mentioned LeGuin's earlier work The Dispossessed which is specifically about an anarchist community and its relationship to a capitalist and patriarchal community from which it seceded. I wrote "Gyn/Ecology Mary Daly: a scathing feminist indictment of patriarchy" on the board. Certainly ACH is no Gyn/Ecology (although a comparison could usefully be made).
I asked the students what they thought of ACH -- whether it was like anything they had read before. No, it wasn't. One student said that she found it difficult going at first because places were mentioned which she did not know, but by searching through the book she found maps which helped. She knew it was in California in the future but this didn't help. I asked her how she knew this was in California. She thought it was in the blurb on the back of the book (it's not). She was surprised to find that this was set in the future, but it was so primitive. One thinks of the future as being technological: "robots walking around" as she said.
Of course, this point is important and well worth investigating: expectations of what will happen versus what really happens. But I also remember, and perhaps the students in this section have not read, or read extensively, the great body of literature from the '60s and '70s of science fiction and fantasy set in a future after the collapse of western civilization: often an opportunity to combine ray-guns with magic-users, if the reader will excuse the brevity of expression here.
I suggested that we will investigate ACH as a novel and ask really whether it IS a novel. It does have a structure, though, and I wanted to begin to indicate that to the students. I wasn't really successful because I spent a good deal of time on groundwork. Students may construe this as tangent, but I hesitate simply to roll forward saying, for example, "Always Coming Home is a mock-ethnographic text with a feminist agenda strongly criticizing western technophilia and patriarchy... now, let's move on to our poems."
First, I was distracted in defining words (feminism, patriarchy, anarchy, and amphibole), and in illustrating feminism by giving a feminist critique of "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" (consider the relationship between TB and Goldberry: we have no sense whatever except by subtle innuendo that they have any kind of affection for each other; their relationship can hardly be considered equal; Bombadil essentially steals Goldberry, and we have textual evidence of Goldberry's resistance ("reeds hissed, herons cried, and her heart was fluttering") which might be interpreted as a feint, but could just as easily be read straightforwardly as objection).
Second, in looking at the structure of ACH, I took a bit of a detour examining the amphibole in the title "Towards an Archaeology of the Future", which demanded an examination of amphibole. Rather than simply defining amphibole and moving on, I looked for words with the constituent elements, hoping that we could find the known and work towards the unknown.
Amphibian, amphitheatre... in two, doubled, halved -- amphi-
"Diabolical" was a term we encountered frequently at the beginning of last semester, but no one could clearly recall a definition (I had spent some time in class examining the etymology of it then). -- bol: thrown, rolled: diabolical : thrown through or into the path of someone. Diabolical means therefore "obstructive, damaging, causing one to be diverted".
Amphibole: a phrase which because of its grammar can be interpreted at least two ways.
Since the students did not absorb the lesson on "diabolical" (one of the key terms in "The Unknown Masterpiece", one might argue that etymological examination of terms is not a meritorious pedagogical exercise. I suppose if it is to be retained, the students need to be brought to the point of analyzing terms on their own, investigating without my prompting.
I must consider how to bring forward discussion that will also advance vocabulary without constant interruption on my part. Is it merely "show-offery" on my part to work through etymologies? Would it not have been a better use of class time to define "amphibole" and then move along, or, better, to have avoided the term altogether?
No, no, no.
No: I am modelling a way to analyze words, and to work from known words and word elements to unknown words. This is the only practical way to increase technical vocabulary. The next question is, can students be brought into the action more, and if so, how?
No: I am not a dictionary. If all that is needed is quick acquisition of the word for the nonce, the students should be bound to bring dictionaries (which they should, in fact). The next question is, how can students be encouraged to bring dictionaries?
No: Students cannot acquire vocabulary without encountering new terms. The next question: should acquisition of vocabulary be merely technical within the field presented, or more broad, and how broad can it be before it is "impertinent"?
***
In presenting feminism, I found it necessary to speak of patriarchy -- a term apparently unknown to the students. So I outlined "-archies":
monarchy, oligarchy, plutarchy (and of course I could have added others), anarchy...
To illustrate patriarchy I spoke of the inequities of female/male salaries and social status generally, the numbers of women representatives in our government. This is not a matter of law -- legally, women may be said to have equality -- but in fact, women constitute a minority. I asked how many students' mothers had changed their names when they married (I assumed their mothers had married, though maybe I should not have) -- the vast majority of them had. I said that if they adopted their husband's names, this was an example of patriarchy.
The Kesh (in ACH) are matriarchal (conceived generally); a man leaves his mother's house, and moves into his wife's or mother-in-law's home.
We shall have to return to this theme, examining the text in class (this was one of the student comments at mid-term and on the final assessments last term).
The structure of Always Coming Home is centered on the novel "Stone Telling", with interspersed supplementary or explanatory material.
The plan of the supplementary material is loosely formed on the needs of the reader to understand the novel. The more strictly explanatory material (such as the glossary and the descriptions of the World and Sun dances is at The Back of the Book (as explained in "A First Note"); the remaining material is maybe more supplementary or deepening rather than explanatory.
Periodically (at 53, 95, 147, 239, 314, 339, 486, and 506) LeGuin addresses the reader using the guise of "Pandora", who is portrayed as a sort of ethnographer interviewing various Kesh "informants". At times (as at 314 ff) these "Pandora" sections express specifically the concerns of the author: "This is... an Up Yours to the people who ride snowmobiles, make nuclear weapons, and run prison camps by a middle-aged housewife, a critique of civilisation possible only to the civilised, an affirmation pretending to be a rejection, a glass of milk for the soul ulcered by acid rain, a piece of pacifist jeanjacquerie, and a cannibal dance among the savages in the ungodly garden of the farthest West" (316).
The "Pandora" sections allow a kind of "mediation" between the reader and the text which is often comic and "postmodern" in its effect. There is a sort of wink at the reader; "I know the Kesh don't really exist and may never exist, and I know that you know that I know this. I'm not trying to foist this off on you as though it were "channeled" or "revealed". I'm not proposing that we all rush off and become Kesh. This is fiction. But it is neat, isn't it?"
The name "Pandora" is significant, and is certainly not used randomly. Pandora is the first woman (the Greek "Eve"), wife of Epimetheus ("Afterthought") the brother of Prometheus ("Forethought"). Pandora's famous box (a jar in the Greek versions) was filled with all sorts of evils, of course -- but at the bottom was hope. LeGuin plays with this mythology particularly at 147-8.
I asked the students to read the first part of Stone Telling for class next time (I had made this assignment on the last day of class last semester, but only about five of the students had read this).
The first section is introductory material -- through the beginning of the story of "Stone Telling". The general understanding that this story is set in the future is established, but the reader is also presented with the notion of the way the story is developed: it is a kind of imaginative work like that of archaeologists, who reconstruct in their imaginations from what pieces of evidence they can find. in LeGuin's case, the evidence is not of what was, but of what may be. She says this is difficult, but not so hard as one might suppose. "The past, after all," she notes (xi), "can be quite as obscure as the future."
Since archaeology is the study of the past, there is a paradox in LeGuin's proposal simultaneously of an "archaeology of the future" in the sense of an archaeology to be employed in the future and an archaeology in the sense of an examination on archaeological principles of events which yet may be. Part of the key to this paradox lies in LeGuin's assertion that "[a]ll we ever have is here, now" (ix).
The small essay "Towards an Archaeology of the Future" includes most of the specific references to historical or literary material. By and large, though, "our world", the experience of 20th century America, is left out of ACH, or it is seen through the very different vision of the Kesh (see, for example, "A Hole in the Air", 154 ff). Occasionally, as in the introduction of "Chandi" (226) a reference is made to "our world": "The resemblance of the plot to one of the great biblical stories is striking; but so are the differences." The reference here is to Job. Also, on the same page, LeGuin-Pandora mentions Homer (the Greek poet). But while a knowledge of these (actual) cultural references will enrich the reader's experience of the (invented) Kesh, it is not necessary. The dig at Sartre on 240-241 is so subtle and minor it is really on the lines of an in-joke. The reference to Tolkien on 509 is another. Not to find them is no obstacle to an understanding of the "point" of ACH.
I forgot again that this section did not receive their first-day lists, so they are bringing copies of Always Coming Home but not of The Tolkien Reader. I must remember to remind them that we will be going back and forth between these for a few weeks.
I wanted to start off with the five/four project (billed as "an opportunity to practice memorization and public speaking; in this case you present a poem of your composition, using LeGuin's Five/four structure. This gives you experience in concision of writing, focused rhetorical expression preparing you for the persuasive essay, but also giving you an "insider's" perspective on rhetoric."
I recited a five/four composed last year by Emily Keener:
"We have an issue
No attention paid
Hum of the static
Remains unresolved"
I said that the five/four project would involve composing one or more than one five/fours, memorizing the poem, and reciting it in front of the class: I said I would ask the students to present the poems several different ways to give different emphases to the lines, and that we would have an opportunity to discuss the meaning of the poem as the poet understood it.
I handed SN the syllabus, the handout on structure in "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", and an index card on which to write his preferred topics; I had, however, forgotten to make copies of the Oral Presentation of Poetry Worksheet, so I directed the students to read over the Five/fours on page 71 of Always Coming Home (U California Press edition).
When I returned from the copy room, I started on a brief presentation on Always Coming Home, beginning by saying that many expected it to be a hard-core feminist / anarchist tract, along the lines of Mary Daly's work. I mentioned LeGuin's earlier work The Dispossessed which is specifically about an anarchist community and its relationship to a capitalist and patriarchal community from which it seceded. I wrote "Gyn/Ecology Mary Daly: a scathing feminist indictment of patriarchy" on the board. Certainly ACH is no Gyn/Ecology (although a comparison could usefully be made).
I asked the students what they thought of ACH -- whether it was like anything they had read before. No, it wasn't. One student said that she found it difficult going at first because places were mentioned which she did not know, but by searching through the book she found maps which helped. She knew it was in California in the future but this didn't help. I asked her how she knew this was in California. She thought it was in the blurb on the back of the book (it's not). She was surprised to find that this was set in the future, but it was so primitive. One thinks of the future as being technological: "robots walking around" as she said.
Of course, this point is important and well worth investigating: expectations of what will happen versus what really happens. But I also remember, and perhaps the students in this section have not read, or read extensively, the great body of literature from the '60s and '70s of science fiction and fantasy set in a future after the collapse of western civilization: often an opportunity to combine ray-guns with magic-users, if the reader will excuse the brevity of expression here.
I suggested that we will investigate ACH as a novel and ask really whether it IS a novel. It does have a structure, though, and I wanted to begin to indicate that to the students. I wasn't really successful because I spent a good deal of time on groundwork. Students may construe this as tangent, but I hesitate simply to roll forward saying, for example, "Always Coming Home is a mock-ethnographic text with a feminist agenda strongly criticizing western technophilia and patriarchy... now, let's move on to our poems."
First, I was distracted in defining words (feminism, patriarchy, anarchy, and amphibole), and in illustrating feminism by giving a feminist critique of "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" (consider the relationship between TB and Goldberry: we have no sense whatever except by subtle innuendo that they have any kind of affection for each other; their relationship can hardly be considered equal; Bombadil essentially steals Goldberry, and we have textual evidence of Goldberry's resistance ("reeds hissed, herons cried, and her heart was fluttering") which might be interpreted as a feint, but could just as easily be read straightforwardly as objection).
Second, in looking at the structure of ACH, I took a bit of a detour examining the amphibole in the title "Towards an Archaeology of the Future", which demanded an examination of amphibole. Rather than simply defining amphibole and moving on, I looked for words with the constituent elements, hoping that we could find the known and work towards the unknown.
Amphibian, amphitheatre... in two, doubled, halved -- amphi-
"Diabolical" was a term we encountered frequently at the beginning of last semester, but no one could clearly recall a definition (I had spent some time in class examining the etymology of it then). -- bol: thrown, rolled: diabolical : thrown through or into the path of someone. Diabolical means therefore "obstructive, damaging, causing one to be diverted".
Amphibole: a phrase which because of its grammar can be interpreted at least two ways.
Since the students did not absorb the lesson on "diabolical" (one of the key terms in "The Unknown Masterpiece", one might argue that etymological examination of terms is not a meritorious pedagogical exercise. I suppose if it is to be retained, the students need to be brought to the point of analyzing terms on their own, investigating without my prompting.
I must consider how to bring forward discussion that will also advance vocabulary without constant interruption on my part. Is it merely "show-offery" on my part to work through etymologies? Would it not have been a better use of class time to define "amphibole" and then move along, or, better, to have avoided the term altogether?
No, no, no.
No: I am modelling a way to analyze words, and to work from known words and word elements to unknown words. This is the only practical way to increase technical vocabulary. The next question is, can students be brought into the action more, and if so, how?
No: I am not a dictionary. If all that is needed is quick acquisition of the word for the nonce, the students should be bound to bring dictionaries (which they should, in fact). The next question is, how can students be encouraged to bring dictionaries?
No: Students cannot acquire vocabulary without encountering new terms. The next question: should acquisition of vocabulary be merely technical within the field presented, or more broad, and how broad can it be before it is "impertinent"?
***
In presenting feminism, I found it necessary to speak of patriarchy -- a term apparently unknown to the students. So I outlined "-archies":
monarchy, oligarchy, plutarchy (and of course I could have added others), anarchy...
To illustrate patriarchy I spoke of the inequities of female/male salaries and social status generally, the numbers of women representatives in our government. This is not a matter of law -- legally, women may be said to have equality -- but in fact, women constitute a minority. I asked how many students' mothers had changed their names when they married (I assumed their mothers had married, though maybe I should not have) -- the vast majority of them had. I said that if they adopted their husband's names, this was an example of patriarchy.
The Kesh (in ACH) are matriarchal (conceived generally); a man leaves his mother's house, and moves into his wife's or mother-in-law's home.
We shall have to return to this theme, examining the text in class (this was one of the student comments at mid-term and on the final assessments last term).
The structure of Always Coming Home is centered on the novel "Stone Telling", with interspersed supplementary or explanatory material.
The plan of the supplementary material is loosely formed on the needs of the reader to understand the novel. The more strictly explanatory material (such as the glossary and the descriptions of the World and Sun dances is at The Back of the Book (as explained in "A First Note"); the remaining material is maybe more supplementary or deepening rather than explanatory.
Periodically (at 53, 95, 147, 239, 314, 339, 486, and 506) LeGuin addresses the reader using the guise of "Pandora", who is portrayed as a sort of ethnographer interviewing various Kesh "informants". At times (as at 314 ff) these "Pandora" sections express specifically the concerns of the author: "This is... an Up Yours to the people who ride snowmobiles, make nuclear weapons, and run prison camps by a middle-aged housewife, a critique of civilisation possible only to the civilised, an affirmation pretending to be a rejection, a glass of milk for the soul ulcered by acid rain, a piece of pacifist jeanjacquerie, and a cannibal dance among the savages in the ungodly garden of the farthest West" (316).
The "Pandora" sections allow a kind of "mediation" between the reader and the text which is often comic and "postmodern" in its effect. There is a sort of wink at the reader; "I know the Kesh don't really exist and may never exist, and I know that you know that I know this. I'm not trying to foist this off on you as though it were "channeled" or "revealed". I'm not proposing that we all rush off and become Kesh. This is fiction. But it is neat, isn't it?"
The name "Pandora" is significant, and is certainly not used randomly. Pandora is the first woman (the Greek "Eve"), wife of Epimetheus ("Afterthought") the brother of Prometheus ("Forethought"). Pandora's famous box (a jar in the Greek versions) was filled with all sorts of evils, of course -- but at the bottom was hope. LeGuin plays with this mythology particularly at 147-8.
I asked the students to read the first part of Stone Telling for class next time (I had made this assignment on the last day of class last semester, but only about five of the students had read this).
The first section is introductory material -- through the beginning of the story of "Stone Telling". The general understanding that this story is set in the future is established, but the reader is also presented with the notion of the way the story is developed: it is a kind of imaginative work like that of archaeologists, who reconstruct in their imaginations from what pieces of evidence they can find. in LeGuin's case, the evidence is not of what was, but of what may be. She says this is difficult, but not so hard as one might suppose. "The past, after all," she notes (xi), "can be quite as obscure as the future."
Since archaeology is the study of the past, there is a paradox in LeGuin's proposal simultaneously of an "archaeology of the future" in the sense of an archaeology to be employed in the future and an archaeology in the sense of an examination on archaeological principles of events which yet may be. Part of the key to this paradox lies in LeGuin's assertion that "[a]ll we ever have is here, now" (ix).
The small essay "Towards an Archaeology of the Future" includes most of the specific references to historical or literary material. By and large, though, "our world", the experience of 20th century America, is left out of ACH, or it is seen through the very different vision of the Kesh (see, for example, "A Hole in the Air", 154 ff). Occasionally, as in the introduction of "Chandi" (226) a reference is made to "our world": "The resemblance of the plot to one of the great biblical stories is striking; but so are the differences." The reference here is to Job. Also, on the same page, LeGuin-Pandora mentions Homer (the Greek poet). But while a knowledge of these (actual) cultural references will enrich the reader's experience of the (invented) Kesh, it is not necessary. The dig at Sartre on 240-241 is so subtle and minor it is really on the lines of an in-joke. The reference to Tolkien on 509 is another. Not to find them is no obstacle to an understanding of the "point" of ACH.
Friday, January 11, 2008
10.i.08 Foundations of Ethics
In Foundations of Ethics I am hoping to improve on what I perceived as the tremendous failure of Overview of Philosophy last semester (I just received the student reviews of that course, and their assessment of the experience is much different from mine: the seemed to think the course was roughly a "B", where I gave it a "D". We look for different things in a course, I guess). One of my great concerns was the lack of structure resulting from no textbooks, but the trick in Foundations of Ethics will be to ensure that the focus remains on ethical issues and ethical principles, rather than on historical context, literary criticism, or any other distractions which might arise in reading these texts.
I need to seriously and diligently address the ongoing student complaint about tangents (I've heard it since 1991). Another complaint I frequently encounter is that there is not enough student engagement in discussion.
I asked students to prepare responses to the following:
Why did you take this course rather than another?
What does "ethics" mean to you?
What do you expect to gain in / from this course?
What do you expect from the instructor?
What do you expect from the class environment (esp. other students)?
What specific skills or information do you wish from this course?
List five (5) topics you would be disappointed to miss in this course -- circle the one most important to you and underline the second most important.
Name one topic you most want not to be discussed in the course.
Most of the class period was spent working on the responses.
When I had collected them, I distributed the syllabi; we reviewed the syllabi generally; one student pointed out to me at the end of class that a due date for the first project was listed as today. If they prepare it in class next class session, though, I will be able to return it to them with five days before the next project is due. They did preliminary work on the project in answering my questions.
Before I covered the syllabus, though, I outlined the meaning of several basic terms I will be using over the course of the semester.
First, Ethics I shall use in a technical sense to mean "the study of moral systems to articulate principles of moral valuation". I outlined the distinction between principle (base-line or foundational ideas from which other ideas are generated, and upon which further ideas are logically dependent) and issues or problems (actions or situations to which principles are applied analytically or prescriptively). The definitions I gave in class were worded slightly differently. I was pleased that quite a few students whipped out notebooks and wrote down... well, something, but I presume the terms I was discussing.
I explained further that I distinguish ethics and morality: morality is what ethics studies. To further explain this concept, I started with actions. Actions may be divided into two classes: voluntary actions and involuntary actions. As generally understood, ethics considers only voluntary actions. I suggested that in this course I will not be considering moral valuation of non-human actions. Even if bonobo behavior (for example) may be morally assessed, that will not be a focus of this course. So, while non-human and indeed even inanimate actions exist, only human, and furthermore only human voluntary actions will be considered. I did note that there might be exceptions to this general rule.
"Moral" as an adjective refers to "having to do with actions considered right or wrong", and this is contrasted by "amoral". ("Immoral" is a term I will generally attempt to avoid, but its meaning is essentially "morally wrong").
We could profitably spend some time considering the terms "right" and "wrong" and how they are applied to valuation of actions, but I did not engage any discussion Thursday evening, but very quickly outlined the relationships of terms:
more / moral: an action construed as having moral weight, as having to do with right or wrong (plural forms: mores, morals). These terms refer to individual behaviors, but in essence no valuation of behaviors is made outside of a system of behaviors.
Such a system is called a "morality" (more than one, "moralities"). Maybe more correctly or precisely a morality is a system of behaviors construed as having moral weight. It is possible to abstract or analyze principles from a morality, and a morality may be consciously and deliberately based upon principle. Generally speaking, conscious articulation has occurred in a morality, but the principles may not always be completely rational.
I spoke briefly about the guidelines for this course: while I do not object to witnessing in principle, this course is not to be a pulpit for unattributed ideas. I gave a simple overview of my experience of religion as a basis of my thought, and suggested to students that I felt very passionately about the need for better sympathy for others' views. I said something along the lines of: "I don't mind if you want to witness for the gospel, but tell us that you're doing that -- do it consciously and openly. If you want to turn the wheel of the dharma, that's fine, but don't sneak it in: tell us that that's your intent. This course is not designed to be a catechism class. I'm not going to tell you what you should believe or should do -- even though I have pretty clear ideas about what one should do and what one should believe."
We have still to make the required readings of the disabilities section and the plagiarism section of the syllabus, but I did cover the change to the attendance policy.
Student responses to the survey:
Why did you take this course rather than another?
... this course feels more interesting than the other choices.
... it was an evening class and ... I have more interest in Ethics than the other classes offered.
... to further enhance my knowledge on the subject of Ethics. We touched on the subject in Philosophy and I found those courses interesting so I was hoping this one will be ... equally... interesting.
I didn't have much of a choice in taking this class, however, the course does sound interesting.
I took this course because I am interested in ethics.
It was the only night class available and I have had you once before.
General ethical info, I already learned math in high school.
...I've never really took into account what I thought of something and it seemed like an interesting topic.
Ethics sounds intereting because I sometimes question my morals.
I don't really know the basis of Ethics and what its all about.
I signed up for this course because it was a requirement for my liberal arts credits, and also the fact that I've been intrigued by philosophy mostly because it is a challenge.
...partly because I've taken most of the courses that were offered this semester. However, learning about ethics could prove to be more interesting than my first thought.
I signed up for this course because I needed 3 credits and I didn't want a Friday class. I have no pre-existing interest in philosophy.
I hoped, that by taking this class, I will get a good grasp on the differences between moral and ethics. Its always been unclear to me.
I choose this course because it appeared to be the most relevant to me and my life due to the fact that I analyze everything around me.
...because I liked your P.S.C & A. class [Philosophy Art Craft Science].
I've never had an ethics class, and it interested me. Plus I didn't want another lit. class.
A. don't really have a good understanding on what ethics is B. Because I had a scheduling conflict for another day I needed to pick up extra credits.
It sounded like the liberal arts class that I would be more interested in than all the others. And I like quirky teachers. [Too bad, that.]
What does "ethics" mean to you?
To me, Ethics is another word for questions
... a personal code of right and wrong
... the study of right & wrong, morals; the study of morality
"Ethics", to me, are a set of rules based on morality. The rules can apply to anything from business, to everyday life.
-- I always look a ethics as "right and wrong".
*I don't know?
...the morals that people have. Knowing how to act in certain situations.
...what you and other see as being right and wrong.
... the discussion and study of morals or what's morally right.
...not a whole lot -- I don't know a lot about it.
... certain things in this world that relate to daily life, or things that are further examined about life in general.
...values/morality...
... a set of ideas or values that guide your actions and opinions.
...guideline for people to know what is right and wrong.
...ethics means to find an understanding of our modern culture and why we react to problematic issues the way we do.
...find out what's right and bad.
...a moral code, right and wrong and different people's views on what is right or wrong.
Ethics to me is someone who has good morals or has good habits in a social setting.
...right & wrong, morals, decision making.
What do you expect to gain in this course?
Nothing so far. To push us further than our minds might not handle [sic].
A working knowledge of the history of ethics.
... a better understanding of what "ethics" is.
Truthfully, I'm not quite sure what to expect to gain from this course. I do think that the knowledge I gain on the subject will help me in some way (I don't know how yet).
I expect to gain an understanding of what ethics involves.
I expect to gain more knowledge on ethics and with you as an instructor I know you are knowledgeable and will teach me things. [Aw, shucks.]
I expect to gain information and better understanding about what ethics is, and for the instructor to guide the class through that.
... a more expansive knowledge of what people see as ethics and where it started.
...to questions and examine my morals and see what everyone else's are.
I expect to gain knowledge and understanding about the term ethics. What it means and how it may apply to everyday life.
I am not really sure what to expect from this class. I hope to learn about interesting parts of philosophy that I've been taught before to refresh my mind. I'm glad to be learning more about Plato.
I hope to gain different perspectives on ethical issues whether they are currently controversial or not. I also hope to hear the opinions of the instructor and students. As or the readings it should be an interesting take reading "older" works.
I suppose a basic knowledge of philosophy as it applies to ethics would be ideal.
... a better understanding on the topics of ethics.
... a further understanding of human reactions and actions.
I will like to hear more lectures from you and also want to use the blogs again (for comments or questions).
...To gain the credits, along with the knowledge of the subject.
... better explanation of what ethics is.
... to learn the meaning of "ethics" more thoroughly.
What do you expect of the instructor, and from the class environment?
Some silence during class.
Heated debate, chairs being thrown, crying. I want/hope the readings aren't too dry.
I hope the instructor will move slowly and clearly through this, because I feel I am coming into this course blindly.
This seems like it might be a very discussion oriented class.
I expect a lively environment with lots of input from classmates.
I expect the environment to be courteous to others and if they aren't paying attention, at least be quiet.
From the readings and class I would like the discussions and asking of others what they would do in this situation.
...lots of opinions and discussion.
...class discussions, questions.
What I expect from you is to teach me the beauty in philosophy and give me as much knowledge as you have in this subject manner [dear, dear!]. What I believe i should be doing in class is reading the texts, taking notes, in order to understand what is going on. I feel that the other students in the class should do the same.
I expect the instructor to convey somewhat academic subject matter in a way that makes sense to those of us who don't study it already. Ideally the class environment would provide opportunity for discussion of the readings, so we can get many different view points.
I expect u to be open to questions and bring us, the students, milk and cookies every other week :)
Good conversation, points, thoughtfulness and consideration.
I expect to hear personal thoughts and relevant to our life. I am hoping that this glass will explore serious and in depth conversations. I am hoping that this class will explore serious and in-depth conversations.
Maybe we can visit other people's blogs and write comments.
... I just expect the instructor to teach well.
... being able to feed off my peers' thought to gain my own ideas about ethics.
Mostly debating, discussion, perhaps reading from texts and then discussion.
What specific skills or information do you wish from this course?
Well, you always seem to broaden my vocabulary which is good and there is always a guarantee that you will talk of something which I have never known before. You are a walking encyclopedia, so far.
The ability to see the gray areas in life.
I want to learn about what makes things good and evil, how to judge them, etc.
This is my first ethics class, therefore any information is more that I currently know.
I have no experience with this and therefore don't know what to expect.
To gain better/stronger knowledge in the world of ethics is what I hope to gain.
I would like to learn about Plato more and other people of the time of the history of philosophy. I would be disappointed if I did [not? learn about Plato, Aristotle, and things that involve life itself and why we need to learn about philosophy and its importance.
...not sure surprise me ha ha
Anything because I don't know the subject all that well.
I am eager to see how ethics may or may not play a role in my career.
I don't specifically wish anything, mostly because I'm not quite sure that all of the topics will be.
I don't know what skills or infor specifically and I don't know what topics might even fit into this course. I hope the class as a whole participates more in discussions, if any, and that the topics in someway relate to the subject, ethics.
I have no idea what skills to hope for.
I need to seriously and diligently address the ongoing student complaint about tangents (I've heard it since 1991). Another complaint I frequently encounter is that there is not enough student engagement in discussion.
I asked students to prepare responses to the following:
Why did you take this course rather than another?
What does "ethics" mean to you?
What do you expect to gain in / from this course?
What do you expect from the instructor?
What do you expect from the class environment (esp. other students)?
What specific skills or information do you wish from this course?
List five (5) topics you would be disappointed to miss in this course -- circle the one most important to you and underline the second most important.
Name one topic you most want not to be discussed in the course.
Most of the class period was spent working on the responses.
When I had collected them, I distributed the syllabi; we reviewed the syllabi generally; one student pointed out to me at the end of class that a due date for the first project was listed as today. If they prepare it in class next class session, though, I will be able to return it to them with five days before the next project is due. They did preliminary work on the project in answering my questions.
Before I covered the syllabus, though, I outlined the meaning of several basic terms I will be using over the course of the semester.
First, Ethics I shall use in a technical sense to mean "the study of moral systems to articulate principles of moral valuation". I outlined the distinction between principle (base-line or foundational ideas from which other ideas are generated, and upon which further ideas are logically dependent) and issues or problems (actions or situations to which principles are applied analytically or prescriptively). The definitions I gave in class were worded slightly differently. I was pleased that quite a few students whipped out notebooks and wrote down... well, something, but I presume the terms I was discussing.
I explained further that I distinguish ethics and morality: morality is what ethics studies. To further explain this concept, I started with actions. Actions may be divided into two classes: voluntary actions and involuntary actions. As generally understood, ethics considers only voluntary actions. I suggested that in this course I will not be considering moral valuation of non-human actions. Even if bonobo behavior (for example) may be morally assessed, that will not be a focus of this course. So, while non-human and indeed even inanimate actions exist, only human, and furthermore only human voluntary actions will be considered. I did note that there might be exceptions to this general rule.
"Moral" as an adjective refers to "having to do with actions considered right or wrong", and this is contrasted by "amoral". ("Immoral" is a term I will generally attempt to avoid, but its meaning is essentially "morally wrong").
We could profitably spend some time considering the terms "right" and "wrong" and how they are applied to valuation of actions, but I did not engage any discussion Thursday evening, but very quickly outlined the relationships of terms:
more / moral: an action construed as having moral weight, as having to do with right or wrong (plural forms: mores, morals). These terms refer to individual behaviors, but in essence no valuation of behaviors is made outside of a system of behaviors.
Such a system is called a "morality" (more than one, "moralities"). Maybe more correctly or precisely a morality is a system of behaviors construed as having moral weight. It is possible to abstract or analyze principles from a morality, and a morality may be consciously and deliberately based upon principle. Generally speaking, conscious articulation has occurred in a morality, but the principles may not always be completely rational.
I spoke briefly about the guidelines for this course: while I do not object to witnessing in principle, this course is not to be a pulpit for unattributed ideas. I gave a simple overview of my experience of religion as a basis of my thought, and suggested to students that I felt very passionately about the need for better sympathy for others' views. I said something along the lines of: "I don't mind if you want to witness for the gospel, but tell us that you're doing that -- do it consciously and openly. If you want to turn the wheel of the dharma, that's fine, but don't sneak it in: tell us that that's your intent. This course is not designed to be a catechism class. I'm not going to tell you what you should believe or should do -- even though I have pretty clear ideas about what one should do and what one should believe."
We have still to make the required readings of the disabilities section and the plagiarism section of the syllabus, but I did cover the change to the attendance policy.
Student responses to the survey:
Why did you take this course rather than another?
... this course feels more interesting than the other choices.
... it was an evening class and ... I have more interest in Ethics than the other classes offered.
... to further enhance my knowledge on the subject of Ethics. We touched on the subject in Philosophy and I found those courses interesting so I was hoping this one will be ... equally... interesting.
I didn't have much of a choice in taking this class, however, the course does sound interesting.
I took this course because I am interested in ethics.
It was the only night class available and I have had you once before.
General ethical info, I already learned math in high school.
...I've never really took into account what I thought of something and it seemed like an interesting topic.
Ethics sounds intereting because I sometimes question my morals.
I don't really know the basis of Ethics and what its all about.
I signed up for this course because it was a requirement for my liberal arts credits, and also the fact that I've been intrigued by philosophy mostly because it is a challenge.
...partly because I've taken most of the courses that were offered this semester. However, learning about ethics could prove to be more interesting than my first thought.
I signed up for this course because I needed 3 credits and I didn't want a Friday class. I have no pre-existing interest in philosophy.
I hoped, that by taking this class, I will get a good grasp on the differences between moral and ethics. Its always been unclear to me.
I choose this course because it appeared to be the most relevant to me and my life due to the fact that I analyze everything around me.
...because I liked your P.S.C & A. class [Philosophy Art Craft Science].
I've never had an ethics class, and it interested me. Plus I didn't want another lit. class.
A. don't really have a good understanding on what ethics is B. Because I had a scheduling conflict for another day I needed to pick up extra credits.
It sounded like the liberal arts class that I would be more interested in than all the others. And I like quirky teachers. [Too bad, that.]
What does "ethics" mean to you?
To me, Ethics is another word for questions
... a personal code of right and wrong
... the study of right & wrong, morals; the study of morality
"Ethics", to me, are a set of rules based on morality. The rules can apply to anything from business, to everyday life.
-- I always look a ethics as "right and wrong".
*I don't know?
...the morals that people have. Knowing how to act in certain situations.
...what you and other see as being right and wrong.
... the discussion and study of morals or what's morally right.
...not a whole lot -- I don't know a lot about it.
... certain things in this world that relate to daily life, or things that are further examined about life in general.
...values/morality...
... a set of ideas or values that guide your actions and opinions.
...guideline for people to know what is right and wrong.
...ethics means to find an understanding of our modern culture and why we react to problematic issues the way we do.
...find out what's right and bad.
...a moral code, right and wrong and different people's views on what is right or wrong.
Ethics to me is someone who has good morals or has good habits in a social setting.
...right & wrong, morals, decision making.
What do you expect to gain in this course?
Nothing so far. To push us further than our minds might not handle [sic].
A working knowledge of the history of ethics.
... a better understanding of what "ethics" is.
Truthfully, I'm not quite sure what to expect to gain from this course. I do think that the knowledge I gain on the subject will help me in some way (I don't know how yet).
I expect to gain an understanding of what ethics involves.
I expect to gain more knowledge on ethics and with you as an instructor I know you are knowledgeable and will teach me things. [Aw, shucks.]
I expect to gain information and better understanding about what ethics is, and for the instructor to guide the class through that.
... a more expansive knowledge of what people see as ethics and where it started.
...to questions and examine my morals and see what everyone else's are.
I expect to gain knowledge and understanding about the term ethics. What it means and how it may apply to everyday life.
I am not really sure what to expect from this class. I hope to learn about interesting parts of philosophy that I've been taught before to refresh my mind. I'm glad to be learning more about Plato.
I hope to gain different perspectives on ethical issues whether they are currently controversial or not. I also hope to hear the opinions of the instructor and students. As or the readings it should be an interesting take reading "older" works.
I suppose a basic knowledge of philosophy as it applies to ethics would be ideal.
... a better understanding on the topics of ethics.
... a further understanding of human reactions and actions.
I will like to hear more lectures from you and also want to use the blogs again (for comments or questions).
...To gain the credits, along with the knowledge of the subject.
... better explanation of what ethics is.
... to learn the meaning of "ethics" more thoroughly.
What do you expect of the instructor, and from the class environment?
Some silence during class.
Heated debate, chairs being thrown, crying. I want/hope the readings aren't too dry.
I hope the instructor will move slowly and clearly through this, because I feel I am coming into this course blindly.
This seems like it might be a very discussion oriented class.
I expect a lively environment with lots of input from classmates.
I expect the environment to be courteous to others and if they aren't paying attention, at least be quiet.
From the readings and class I would like the discussions and asking of others what they would do in this situation.
...lots of opinions and discussion.
...class discussions, questions.
What I expect from you is to teach me the beauty in philosophy and give me as much knowledge as you have in this subject manner [dear, dear!]. What I believe i should be doing in class is reading the texts, taking notes, in order to understand what is going on. I feel that the other students in the class should do the same.
I expect the instructor to convey somewhat academic subject matter in a way that makes sense to those of us who don't study it already. Ideally the class environment would provide opportunity for discussion of the readings, so we can get many different view points.
I expect u to be open to questions and bring us, the students, milk and cookies every other week :)
Good conversation, points, thoughtfulness and consideration.
I expect to hear personal thoughts and relevant to our life. I am hoping that this glass will explore serious and in depth conversations. I am hoping that this class will explore serious and in-depth conversations.
Maybe we can visit other people's blogs and write comments.
... I just expect the instructor to teach well.
... being able to feed off my peers' thought to gain my own ideas about ethics.
Mostly debating, discussion, perhaps reading from texts and then discussion.
What specific skills or information do you wish from this course?
Well, you always seem to broaden my vocabulary which is good and there is always a guarantee that you will talk of something which I have never known before. You are a walking encyclopedia, so far.
The ability to see the gray areas in life.
I want to learn about what makes things good and evil, how to judge them, etc.
This is my first ethics class, therefore any information is more that I currently know.
I have no experience with this and therefore don't know what to expect.
To gain better/stronger knowledge in the world of ethics is what I hope to gain.
I would like to learn about Plato more and other people of the time of the history of philosophy. I would be disappointed if I did [not? learn about Plato, Aristotle, and things that involve life itself and why we need to learn about philosophy and its importance.
...not sure surprise me ha ha
Anything because I don't know the subject all that well.
I am eager to see how ethics may or may not play a role in my career.
I don't specifically wish anything, mostly because I'm not quite sure that all of the topics will be.
I don't know what skills or infor specifically and I don't know what topics might even fit into this course. I hope the class as a whole participates more in discussions, if any, and that the topics in someway relate to the subject, ethics.
I have no idea what skills to hope for.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
10.i.08: Foundations of Verbal Communications II
In this class I had three goals:
1) to distribute and review the syllabus
2) to solicit from students five topics each of sufficient interest to carry through the entire semester
3) to present the worksheets for the rhetorical analysis of poetry project, and to model the project myself.
I managed to meet these goals, despite starting the class twenty minutes late. There were two carry-overs from the scheduling conflicts which arose (or rather came to my attention) on Tuesday the 8th. But these were resolved, in the end, and I was able to proceed with class.
The students discovered a typographic error in the text of the syllabus which proved quite amusing.
The third paragraph of the syllabus should have read, in part: "We expand the work on the physical aspects of public presentation: posture, enunciation, projection, gesture, and expression. As preparation for the two major (and graded) oral presentations, expect to engage in a good deal of class discussion and practice. Some of the practical exercises are a bit silly."
However, the first sentence included a spelling error -- not, though, caught by spell check, for in fact the spelling was correct, but the meaning of this passage was greatly changed -- "pubic" for "public". So, we had great fun considering the importance of posture, projection, gesture, and expression in a pubic presentation, how presentations might be preparations for oral presentations, just how important not only discussion but practice might be in preparing pubic presentations, and it certainly should not be a surprise to realize that such "practical exercises" would be "a bit silly"... As J.G. Bennett said in a similar situation, "sometimes one makes a joke without meaning to".
After class, I showed the unedited document to one of the art history instructors, the dean of students, the registrar, and the librarians -- and not one of them caught the error without being specifically directed to it.
Kudos to the FVC students!
Most of the students in the class were inmates with me last semester -- we have lost three students, and one simply chose not to attend today -- but one new student looked more than a bit concerned by the proceedings of the class. It is difficult to be the new person in a group of thirteen who all know each other and have little "in jokes" an so on. We will have to work diligently to welcome and incorporate the new student, who was in another section of FVC in the fall.
I asked students to read the legal requirements in the syllabus, but we will have to return to the syllabus on Monday. I did present a general notion of the reason for the collection of topics. What I did not develop in my explanation was that I hoped to tie the students' interests in to material in our texts The Tolkien Reader and Always Coming Home.
I distributed blank worksheets for the rhetorical analysis of poetry project and modelled the project by giving a brief biographical sketch of Tolkien and then partly reciting, partly singing (with guitar accompaniment) and partly reading "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" in the eponymous collection in The Tolkien Reader. I also distributed a structural analysis of the poem.
The topics the students presented to me suggest a much more interesting and exciting group of students than even I suspected. I have not included student names here, but have indicated with boldface students' number one choices and with italics their number two choices.
Language -- particularly Shakespearean but language in general as well.
Gay bashing homophobes/racists fuck them all
brain functions -- how it works, how it makes people who they are
Mythology -- Celtic, specifically; pan-Celtic
Ancient history, Celtic specifically
Primitive wilderness survival skills
natural / Ayurvedic medicine
organic farming
whole food cooking
Steiner education
Martial arts!
Christianity
Holocaust
psychology
languages
cultures
The effects and uses of caffeine
the social rules of labels such as Punk, Goth, Emo, Chic, Snob, Gear Heads
How the human mind works on topics of learning language
Development of human language through the years
clothing designs
Vegetarianism
the death penalty
closed minded people
animal rights
homophobic/racist people
abortion
freedom of religion (Christian belief)
animal rights/vegetarian
marriage/gays (do not believe)
gay relationships
adoption
respect of today's generation
abortion
how race affects society
dinosaurs (arguments on extinction warm/cold blooded)
Yellowstone Park
Importance of Isreal [apparently, not so important as to merit spelling it correctly]
the difference between film and digital cameras
music
why film is better [than digital, I presume]
video games [even if they use digital images... sorry]
rock music
coffee -- around the world
love -- true love and how the world's obscured it
jazz music -- its influence, growth, genius, etc.
creation of language
James Bond / espionage -- how it's shaped modern culture
music in general
the development of different kinds of musical instruments
why do women wear make-up? (And other stuff about people wanting to change)
Illustration -- how'd it develop and why's it important?
Animals, specifically rabbits
Yoga
theatre -- live theatre, I mean
video games [multiple second choices here -- I concentrate on YOGA]
public view on beauty
the affect [sic] music has on people
environmentalism and deforestation
religion and how it affects [sic]people
school districts eliminating art and music departments
war & fighting, violence
how our culture affects children and people
[psychology] -- how people's experiences affect their lives, etc.
[phobias] and how [they] affect [sic] people
music's affect [sic] on people
history of anarchism [this student did not mark a first and second choice, so I used the first and second in the list as first & second respectively]
capitalism vs socialism
existentialism and nihilism
That means that 5 out of 13 students included something about MUSIC as one of their topics. Two of these listed the effect of music, one listed music and then specified rock, another specified jazz, another listed music in general but them also the development of musical instruments. Still, I think we have a common ground for discussion and shared research.
4 out of 13 students included some interest in language: language in general, languages, development of language and the way the "mind works on topics of learning human language", creation of language. I think again here is a potential discussion and shared research ground.
4 students expressed some interest in either gays or homophobes. Perhaps this could be deferred to the behavioral and social science block next year. Same with the 3 students who expressed interest in race (it's the same group of students).
3 students indicated either vegetarianism or organic farming and whole foods cooking.
3 students mentioned religion, two specifically pointing to Christianity.
2 students pointed to martial arts or yoga.
2 students included abortion as a topic.
2 students pointed to caffeine or coffee. I wonder whether that is a commentary on Achtermann?
An intriguing group of topics, and I think some real possibilities for dialogue. A good start to the semester!
1) to distribute and review the syllabus
2) to solicit from students five topics each of sufficient interest to carry through the entire semester
3) to present the worksheets for the rhetorical analysis of poetry project, and to model the project myself.
I managed to meet these goals, despite starting the class twenty minutes late. There were two carry-overs from the scheduling conflicts which arose (or rather came to my attention) on Tuesday the 8th. But these were resolved, in the end, and I was able to proceed with class.
The students discovered a typographic error in the text of the syllabus which proved quite amusing.
The third paragraph of the syllabus should have read, in part: "We expand the work on the physical aspects of public presentation: posture, enunciation, projection, gesture, and expression. As preparation for the two major (and graded) oral presentations, expect to engage in a good deal of class discussion and practice. Some of the practical exercises are a bit silly."
However, the first sentence included a spelling error -- not, though, caught by spell check, for in fact the spelling was correct, but the meaning of this passage was greatly changed -- "pubic" for "public". So, we had great fun considering the importance of posture, projection, gesture, and expression in a pubic presentation, how presentations might be preparations for oral presentations, just how important not only discussion but practice might be in preparing pubic presentations, and it certainly should not be a surprise to realize that such "practical exercises" would be "a bit silly"... As J.G. Bennett said in a similar situation, "sometimes one makes a joke without meaning to".
After class, I showed the unedited document to one of the art history instructors, the dean of students, the registrar, and the librarians -- and not one of them caught the error without being specifically directed to it.
Kudos to the FVC students!
Most of the students in the class were inmates with me last semester -- we have lost three students, and one simply chose not to attend today -- but one new student looked more than a bit concerned by the proceedings of the class. It is difficult to be the new person in a group of thirteen who all know each other and have little "in jokes" an so on. We will have to work diligently to welcome and incorporate the new student, who was in another section of FVC in the fall.
I asked students to read the legal requirements in the syllabus, but we will have to return to the syllabus on Monday. I did present a general notion of the reason for the collection of topics. What I did not develop in my explanation was that I hoped to tie the students' interests in to material in our texts The Tolkien Reader and Always Coming Home.
I distributed blank worksheets for the rhetorical analysis of poetry project and modelled the project by giving a brief biographical sketch of Tolkien and then partly reciting, partly singing (with guitar accompaniment) and partly reading "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" in the eponymous collection in The Tolkien Reader. I also distributed a structural analysis of the poem.
The topics the students presented to me suggest a much more interesting and exciting group of students than even I suspected. I have not included student names here, but have indicated with boldface students' number one choices and with italics their number two choices.
Language -- particularly Shakespearean but language in general as well.
Gay bashing homophobes/racists fuck them all
brain functions -- how it works, how it makes people who they are
Mythology -- Celtic, specifically; pan-Celtic
Ancient history, Celtic specifically
Primitive wilderness survival skills
natural / Ayurvedic medicine
organic farming
whole food cooking
Steiner education
Martial arts!
Christianity
Holocaust
psychology
languages
cultures
The effects and uses of caffeine
the social rules of labels such as Punk, Goth, Emo, Chic, Snob, Gear Heads
How the human mind works on topics of learning language
Development of human language through the years
clothing designs
Vegetarianism
the death penalty
closed minded people
animal rights
homophobic/racist people
abortion
freedom of religion (Christian belief)
animal rights/vegetarian
marriage/gays (do not believe)
gay relationships
adoption
respect of today's generation
abortion
how race affects society
dinosaurs (arguments on extinction warm/cold blooded)
Yellowstone Park
Importance of Isreal [apparently, not so important as to merit spelling it correctly]
the difference between film and digital cameras
music
why film is better [than digital, I presume]
video games [even if they use digital images... sorry]
rock music
coffee -- around the world
love -- true love and how the world's obscured it
jazz music -- its influence, growth, genius, etc.
creation of language
James Bond / espionage -- how it's shaped modern culture
music in general
the development of different kinds of musical instruments
why do women wear make-up? (And other stuff about people wanting to change)
Illustration -- how'd it develop and why's it important?
Animals, specifically rabbits
Yoga
theatre -- live theatre, I mean
video games [multiple second choices here -- I concentrate on YOGA]
public view on beauty
the affect [sic] music has on people
environmentalism and deforestation
religion and how it affects [sic]people
school districts eliminating art and music departments
war & fighting, violence
how our culture affects children and people
[psychology] -- how people's experiences affect their lives, etc.
[phobias] and how [they] affect [sic] people
music's affect [sic] on people
history of anarchism [this student did not mark a first and second choice, so I used the first and second in the list as first & second respectively]
capitalism vs socialism
existentialism and nihilism
That means that 5 out of 13 students included something about MUSIC as one of their topics. Two of these listed the effect of music, one listed music and then specified rock, another specified jazz, another listed music in general but them also the development of musical instruments. Still, I think we have a common ground for discussion and shared research.
4 out of 13 students included some interest in language: language in general, languages, development of language and the way the "mind works on topics of learning human language", creation of language. I think again here is a potential discussion and shared research ground.
4 students expressed some interest in either gays or homophobes. Perhaps this could be deferred to the behavioral and social science block next year. Same with the 3 students who expressed interest in race (it's the same group of students).
3 students indicated either vegetarianism or organic farming and whole foods cooking.
3 students mentioned religion, two specifically pointing to Christianity.
2 students pointed to martial arts or yoga.
2 students included abortion as a topic.
2 students pointed to caffeine or coffee. I wonder whether that is a commentary on Achtermann?
An intriguing group of topics, and I think some real possibilities for dialogue. A good start to the semester!
9.i.08 Spring term begins: Revolution and Constitution
Last night: Wednesday 9.i.08
HIS 301: Revolution and Constitution
I have been looking forward to this class, and was overjoyed to see the small enrollment, because it means greater specificity and mobility for the class.
My basic thesis (expressed in the syllabus) is that the American Revolution is not limited to the American War of Independence, but is rather an ongoing process, the record of which is the Constitution of the United States of America. A useful metaphor here is the Constitution as the DNA of the revolution; just as events impact DNA and cause alterations in the code which then institutes new forms, just so events impact the Constitution and institute new forms within the society to which the Constitution refers.
I asked the students to prepare brief responses to the following questions:
Why did you take this course rather than another? What do you expect to gain from the course? What do you expect from the instructor? What do you expect to gain from the class environment?
I also asked them to list specific concerns they have for or about the course, particularly listing skills or information they wish to gain.
Here are the students' responses (slightly edited):
I'm taking this course because I feel that it is important to know and study the constitution. The subject itself intrigues me. I want to gain the ability to know the constitution and its relevance in politics and society today. I am hoping that the course material is presented in a way that is as interesting as the name of the course itself. Open discussion of the topics presented, I feel, [is] important.
I was interested enough [in] the content of the class as opposed to the other courses offered also I've taken all the other courses (except for film history). What do I expect to gain? A better understanding of the time period and sequence of events. What do I expect from the instructor? To present the information, [and maybe] go into detail about certain events. What do I expect from the class environment? I don't expect anything. I'm awful at dates. As of now I don't know much about the revolution or constitution, but I guess that's why I'm here.
I felt it of interest to learn more about our country's history since I know very little. I feel everyone should learn some American history. A knowledge of how we progressed. A solid understandable breakdown of ideas and information.
I chose this course b/c I've always been interested in our history, but failed to grasp our rights fully, in the political sense. More thorough knowledge of how our society has achieved its present reality. I guess just a more informed insight -- maybe breaking down the fundamentals? It's important to understand how we (as a country) function through the government. It's embarrassing that I understand/remember so little of it, so I wanted to remedy that.
Why am I taking this course? I want to gain an understanding of American history, and it seemed like a good choice. What I expect to gain, again, is a better understanding of the concepts and ideas of this county which I happen to belong to. I would expect your insights and superior knowledge of the subject matter to help us understand and learn in the class. I would expect some class participation to make it more interesting. I hate silent classes. I don't like to talk constantly, but some debating and group discussion would be nice.
I also answered these questions myself: Because I'm paid for it. Because I really enjoy the subject and think it's essential knowledge for USAmericans. I want to gain a clearer understanding of what young folks KNOW about the US Rev. and Constitution & what they BELIEVE about it. What I expect from the students is active engagement with scholarship and citizenship. In the class environment, I'm looking for collegiality, given the background of the students. The skills I am looking to develop are facilitation and discussion, listening, and information about the constitution itself and court cases relative to constitutional law.
I thought the student responses were, first, pretty much what I expected, but also usefully pointed in the direction of conceptualization rather than mere memorization.
When I first proposed the course, I wanted it to be listed as MDS (Multi-disciplinary studies) because I didn't want to scare folks away with the label "history". But perhaps this course can be so intriguing that word gets around and history courses become a fun thing. But for administrative reasons we labelled it HIS, and sure enough, enrollment was low.
This is fine, in a sense; it means we can ditch the echoing classroom and find some tables to commandeer in a local coffee shop and create a different sort of learning environment. I particularly want to do this for four reasons:
1) I am curious to see what effects the coffee shop environment has on learning.
2) I want to promote the college as a "forward-looking" institution, and the public exposure of such a class as Rev & Const could be useful to the school.
3 I want to make a conscious and conscientious link to the role of coffee shops and other public houses to the independence movement, and similar institutions to other movements in the revolution.
4) I like coffee shops.
I talked briefly about the idea of meeting elsewhere, but I did not outline all the reasons above; I also asked for the students to meet in the regularly scheduled room on Monday.
I am a bit concerned about the... how can I say this... variability of the students' capacities for independent work. This is a 300-level course, but there is no prerequisite course providing information, so if I ask the students to prep anything I shall have to ensure that the quality of it is sufficient to carry the presentations built from it.
If we meet at the Prince Street Cafe and I borrow a laptop. I believe I will be able to use the wifi internet there to access on-line resources such as the Avalon project, providing us with documentation as needed. This is really exciting in its possibilities.
I will have to test the capacities of laptops tomorrow or Monday.
I had the students take a pre-test on the Constitution; the results were generally poor, which is indeed what I expected.
If I may rant for a moment: here we have voting-age people whose understanding of the basic structure of government of their country (which after all in its written form is not more than twenty-five or thirty pages long) is poor -- and these are "educated" people. We need to amend this situation. Constitutional literacy cannot really be brought about by a single-day celebration: that is a typical congressional band-aid. How about a consistent emphasis upon excellence in education, backed with sufficient (hell, even excess) funding?
While I'm at it, how about funding pre-schools and elementary schools MORE than high schools and colleges? It's at that basic level that the problems arise. If a person is still functionally illiterate when he or she emerges from elementary school, how can we expect success for her or him in high school? This is a national crisis, and frankly, if we can't solve this one, it won't matter how we do against international terrorism, or how well we secure oil reserves. But if we can resolve our educational woes, we should be able to resolve just about everything else.
I realize I'm biased - but it's the right bias.
Oh, yeah, one more thing. High school and elementary school day schedules should be switched. Put the elementary-school kids into the classrooms at dawn. Bring the high-schoolers in about 9. They'll still be sluggish, but they'll be better for the extra hour or so of sleep. Frankly, I think no school for adolescents should be admitting kids much more before 10 a.m. But, as my daughter says, "that's just me".
So, the students in Rev and Const think that the American Revolution = the War of Independence. This is typical, and troubling. Often students understand the civil rights movement to be over and done with; they think that women's rights have been resolved by the 19th amendment; they think that slavery can never exist again because of the 13th, or that secession is no longer an option. So, there is a lot of work ahead. The question is, where should the work begin?
This class session, I spent time asking the students to define "constitution" and "revolution". When I asked students to name revolutions, they came up with this list:
the American revolution (a bit obvious, since I had it already written on the board)
the rock 'n' roll revolution (which led to a fruitful discussion of the ubiquitous use of "revolution" to advertise new products)
the French Revolution
Matt Doyle suggested the meaning of revolution as "a new beginning" (as opposed to an old beginning).
Dan Cooke suggested that revolutions are often rebellions. He also noted that revolutions are radical changes. We then discussed the term "radical".
After suggesting that the French revolution was in fact a series of revolutions, I added the Russian Revolution (which was also a series), and just at the end of the period Jessica Andrascik added the Industrial revolution.
I distributed copies of the syllabus and of the Constitution of the United States of America, requesting that the students bring these documents with them regularly to class.
I did not review the syllabus, and so will need to do this on Monday.
Next class session I will begin to present a basic outline of the sequence of events in the American revolution up to the founding of the United States. I do think some sense of dates is important, and I will have to think about how important.
Over all, I felt the class session was successful.
HIS 301: Revolution and Constitution
I have been looking forward to this class, and was overjoyed to see the small enrollment, because it means greater specificity and mobility for the class.
My basic thesis (expressed in the syllabus) is that the American Revolution is not limited to the American War of Independence, but is rather an ongoing process, the record of which is the Constitution of the United States of America. A useful metaphor here is the Constitution as the DNA of the revolution; just as events impact DNA and cause alterations in the code which then institutes new forms, just so events impact the Constitution and institute new forms within the society to which the Constitution refers.
I asked the students to prepare brief responses to the following questions:
Why did you take this course rather than another? What do you expect to gain from the course? What do you expect from the instructor? What do you expect to gain from the class environment?
I also asked them to list specific concerns they have for or about the course, particularly listing skills or information they wish to gain.
Here are the students' responses (slightly edited):
I'm taking this course because I feel that it is important to know and study the constitution. The subject itself intrigues me. I want to gain the ability to know the constitution and its relevance in politics and society today. I am hoping that the course material is presented in a way that is as interesting as the name of the course itself. Open discussion of the topics presented, I feel, [is] important.
I was interested enough [in] the content of the class as opposed to the other courses offered also I've taken all the other courses (except for film history). What do I expect to gain? A better understanding of the time period and sequence of events. What do I expect from the instructor? To present the information, [and maybe] go into detail about certain events. What do I expect from the class environment? I don't expect anything. I'm awful at dates. As of now I don't know much about the revolution or constitution, but I guess that's why I'm here.
I felt it of interest to learn more about our country's history since I know very little. I feel everyone should learn some American history. A knowledge of how we progressed. A solid understandable breakdown of ideas and information.
I chose this course b/c I've always been interested in our history, but failed to grasp our rights fully, in the political sense. More thorough knowledge of how our society has achieved its present reality. I guess just a more informed insight -- maybe breaking down the fundamentals? It's important to understand how we (as a country) function through the government. It's embarrassing that I understand/remember so little of it, so I wanted to remedy that.
Why am I taking this course? I want to gain an understanding of American history, and it seemed like a good choice. What I expect to gain, again, is a better understanding of the concepts and ideas of this county which I happen to belong to. I would expect your insights and superior knowledge of the subject matter to help us understand and learn in the class. I would expect some class participation to make it more interesting. I hate silent classes. I don't like to talk constantly, but some debating and group discussion would be nice.
I also answered these questions myself: Because I'm paid for it. Because I really enjoy the subject and think it's essential knowledge for USAmericans. I want to gain a clearer understanding of what young folks KNOW about the US Rev. and Constitution & what they BELIEVE about it. What I expect from the students is active engagement with scholarship and citizenship. In the class environment, I'm looking for collegiality, given the background of the students. The skills I am looking to develop are facilitation and discussion, listening, and information about the constitution itself and court cases relative to constitutional law.
I thought the student responses were, first, pretty much what I expected, but also usefully pointed in the direction of conceptualization rather than mere memorization.
When I first proposed the course, I wanted it to be listed as MDS (Multi-disciplinary studies) because I didn't want to scare folks away with the label "history". But perhaps this course can be so intriguing that word gets around and history courses become a fun thing. But for administrative reasons we labelled it HIS, and sure enough, enrollment was low.
This is fine, in a sense; it means we can ditch the echoing classroom and find some tables to commandeer in a local coffee shop and create a different sort of learning environment. I particularly want to do this for four reasons:
1) I am curious to see what effects the coffee shop environment has on learning.
2) I want to promote the college as a "forward-looking" institution, and the public exposure of such a class as Rev & Const could be useful to the school.
3 I want to make a conscious and conscientious link to the role of coffee shops and other public houses to the independence movement, and similar institutions to other movements in the revolution.
4) I like coffee shops.
I talked briefly about the idea of meeting elsewhere, but I did not outline all the reasons above; I also asked for the students to meet in the regularly scheduled room on Monday.
I am a bit concerned about the... how can I say this... variability of the students' capacities for independent work. This is a 300-level course, but there is no prerequisite course providing information, so if I ask the students to prep anything I shall have to ensure that the quality of it is sufficient to carry the presentations built from it.
If we meet at the Prince Street Cafe and I borrow a laptop. I believe I will be able to use the wifi internet there to access on-line resources such as the Avalon project, providing us with documentation as needed. This is really exciting in its possibilities.
I will have to test the capacities of laptops tomorrow or Monday.
I had the students take a pre-test on the Constitution; the results were generally poor, which is indeed what I expected.
If I may rant for a moment: here we have voting-age people whose understanding of the basic structure of government of their country (which after all in its written form is not more than twenty-five or thirty pages long) is poor -- and these are "educated" people. We need to amend this situation. Constitutional literacy cannot really be brought about by a single-day celebration: that is a typical congressional band-aid. How about a consistent emphasis upon excellence in education, backed with sufficient (hell, even excess) funding?
While I'm at it, how about funding pre-schools and elementary schools MORE than high schools and colleges? It's at that basic level that the problems arise. If a person is still functionally illiterate when he or she emerges from elementary school, how can we expect success for her or him in high school? This is a national crisis, and frankly, if we can't solve this one, it won't matter how we do against international terrorism, or how well we secure oil reserves. But if we can resolve our educational woes, we should be able to resolve just about everything else.
I realize I'm biased - but it's the right bias.
Oh, yeah, one more thing. High school and elementary school day schedules should be switched. Put the elementary-school kids into the classrooms at dawn. Bring the high-schoolers in about 9. They'll still be sluggish, but they'll be better for the extra hour or so of sleep. Frankly, I think no school for adolescents should be admitting kids much more before 10 a.m. But, as my daughter says, "that's just me".
So, the students in Rev and Const think that the American Revolution = the War of Independence. This is typical, and troubling. Often students understand the civil rights movement to be over and done with; they think that women's rights have been resolved by the 19th amendment; they think that slavery can never exist again because of the 13th, or that secession is no longer an option. So, there is a lot of work ahead. The question is, where should the work begin?
This class session, I spent time asking the students to define "constitution" and "revolution". When I asked students to name revolutions, they came up with this list:
the American revolution (a bit obvious, since I had it already written on the board)
the rock 'n' roll revolution (which led to a fruitful discussion of the ubiquitous use of "revolution" to advertise new products)
the French Revolution
Matt Doyle suggested the meaning of revolution as "a new beginning" (as opposed to an old beginning).
Dan Cooke suggested that revolutions are often rebellions. He also noted that revolutions are radical changes. We then discussed the term "radical".
After suggesting that the French revolution was in fact a series of revolutions, I added the Russian Revolution (which was also a series), and just at the end of the period Jessica Andrascik added the Industrial revolution.
I distributed copies of the syllabus and of the Constitution of the United States of America, requesting that the students bring these documents with them regularly to class.
I did not review the syllabus, and so will need to do this on Monday.
Next class session I will begin to present a basic outline of the sequence of events in the American revolution up to the founding of the United States. I do think some sense of dates is important, and I will have to think about how important.
Over all, I felt the class session was successful.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)