History of Philosophy II

The quiz question today was what is Phenomenology? Today what becomes more and more obvious is that each philosopher is actively engaged in discourse with others who are immediate predecessors as well as contemporaries, and those from the past are still part of the engagement. We discussed Romanticism some today referring to Isaiah Berlin's work (one of my favorites) The Roots of Romanticism. What is Romanticism? A tip of the hat to Beethoven who incorporated Schiller's Ode to Joy in his 9th Symphony is in order here. Was this musically the first Romantic piece? That is certainly an impossible answer to get right since it is viewed differently by different critics. But what was Romanticism? An attachment to emotion? But for our main topic Edmund Husserl was the philosopher in the syllabus for today and that introduces phenomenology. Back to the things themselves! My favorite author that used the phenomenological method was Van Der Leeuw

Introduction to Philosophy

Today we finished up with Hume - so to speak - and then moved on to Kant and attempted to see if Kant answered Hume. We conclude that yes, he did. Metaphysics marches on banners waving and flags flying! So we look at Kant's "Copernican Revolution" in thought and come to realize that phenomena appears the way it does to us because of the nature of our minds. (I always think it is funny that this "revolution" is called Copernican since it is actually just the opposite and best expressed I think by the Einstein Cone. Since he views things categorically including morality - we have the categorical imperative - which leads to the first quiz question: what would be your moral imperative in this case? To intervene or not to intervene? Second part of this question: what do you imagine you would actually do? The second quiz question was to respond with what you think about Sam Harris' argument in this TED talk.

Introduction to Logic

We spent the evening doing proofs from the same exercise that the test next class will come from. It was funner than anything! The quiz question was to do problem 2 on page 412.

History of Philosophy II

Today we continued on discussing Sartre and a little of Camus. The video that was playing at the start of class of the interview with Sartre is here. There is also an interesting video about Camus here. My cognitive map is posted here. (though the dang image is messed up and overlays the paragraph). The index for my Quest pages is here. I argued that Existentialism essentially pushes people to the bottom left portion of my map and this explains the general sense of depression associated with the Western European (though not British or American) frame of mind. The pragmatists were very different and we started going over Peirce and James and the quiz question for the day was: Do you think of yourself as a pragmatist? Since I do not have my notes linked to the syllabus I thought it good to remind everyone that I do have notes posted under class notes from my main web page.

Introduction to Humanities II

First a reminder to everyone that can come to some or all of the events for the 9th Undergraduate Philosophy Conference here is the web site for the events. Next I briefly mentioned a new (2012) biography of Robert Oppenheimer by Ray Monk. Apart from some very interesting aspects of it (I am only up to around page 80 so far) what surprised me was how short the chapter of this big book was dedicated to his college days. A short chapter really. Yet his life was so much more - and took up so much more book. So I thought I would use that to remind everyone that is in the middle of slogging through their undergraduate years that while this time might seem long to you now, but in the big picture of your whole life it will be short. It certainly seems that way to me too. And it was so long ago! Impressionism was our theory to think about today and it was the second time we looked at this, so many of the points I would make seemed already made. But we used it to explore some other things including Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Iphigenia. The quiz question today was if the community required you to sacrifice one of your children for the good of the state would you do it?

History of Philosophy II

Picking up where we left off with Nietzsche we reviewed the concept of the Ubermensch, the phrase God is Dead, Eternal Return - some of this brought up artists who try to impose their will to power on others - here I mentioned Madonna and Oppenheim. Notice the art work on the UAA campus Image Intervention We moved on to look at Heidegger. Notice also this famous film: Der Triumph des Willens To set this up I reminded the class of Hegel's juxtaposition of Being and Nothingness in his Logic. Heidegger writes his response to this in his main book: Sein und Zeit. Sartre writes his book Being and Nothingness in response to Being and Time. The quiz question was a reaction to the laughter of Sartre's conclusion in No Exit that Hell is other people. Is hell other people in your view?

9th Undergraduate Philosophy Conference this week!

Please check the schedule of events and attend as many as you can: http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/philosophy/undergraduate_philosophy_conference/index.cfm

Introduction to Philosophy

Quiz question one was: if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it does it make a sound? Quiz question two was: how do you know you have a persistent self? The first question is a great and famous question that arises from a study of Berkeley's philosophy - he was both an empiricist in agreement with John Locke on how we know things, but also an idealist believing that esse is percipi - or to be is to be perceived. All of reality was spirit in the mind of God (but as I interpret it in light of how the vocabulary changed - all is energy in complex relationships - though the mind of God must then also be considered the complete collection of energy in the universe. But that may very well be what he was thinking. It certainly ties in with Leibniz and his conception of the Monad. The second question comes from Hume's analysis of knowledge as an empiricist and pointing out that we can never observe the self - since the self is the observer. Good luck with that.

Making Learning Visible

I attended what will be the last session of Making Learning Visible for this semester this morning and updated my Blackboard folders for those participating. My next step is gathering the data I need to show how my selected course progressed this semester and then I can post my data and reflections. All of this will eventually be collected into a presentation - a poster - which will be finished after Fall Semester next year.

Introduction to Logic

We continued working on symbolic logic this evening going over the eight valid argument forms and then doing the first half of the equivalence rules.We did example along the way. As we went further I sped up a bit and some folks got lost. The best thing for this is doing exercises over the week so you can see how they work. The more you do the better you will get - just like exercise. The quiz question was a problem from the text - page 408 problem 2. Have a good week!

Introduction to Humanities II

Today the quiz question was: what is the difference between depression and despair? Our theory to explore today was Romanticism. After discussing it a bit using Isaiah Berlin as my text - (see the link for writing assignment five) we looked at quite a few examples of it in musical drama. Verdi, Puccini, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Mahler (is Mahler an example?) we listened to diva after diva dying either alone or with her beau.

Pragmatic Encroachment

Just to keep this in mind: pragmatic encroachment.

History of Philosophy II

In response to the question concerning the legality of the Communist Party I had quite a lot of interesting responses. My own experience here in Anchorage convinces me that while it is not illegal, no one wants to openly admit to being Communist. We have instead a national organization that seems to be the most active part of the party today in the US that I have seen The National Labor Federation. Here in Anchorage the member organization is called the Alaska Workers Association. The leadership of that organization has asked me several times if they could do presentations in my philosophy classes. I have always said no since their presentation would not fit into the syllabus and would be inappropriate for other reasons as well. But it strikes me that they no longer refer to themselves as communists. There must be a reason. Today we spent most of the time talking about Kierkegaard. The movie I mentioned as drawing an interesting parallel in my mind at least was Fanny and Alexander. Was Soren's life a series of such contrasts? Looking at the text we had fun discussing the first stage on life's way - the aesthetic life. For the second stage I talked about Agamemnon and mentioned this movie: Iphigenia. For the third stage Soren used the story of Abraham and the sacrifice of his son. The quiz question today was what is the difference between depression and despair? We then began talking about Nietzsche but did not get very far.

Introduction to Humanities II

Today we greeted everyone that survived Spring Break! We had already covered Marxism before which was the theory we were to discuss and apply to Eighteenth Century Art, so we started by asking what everyone thinks of in regards to Communism. I talked about my experiences in Communist East Berlin while I was stationed in West Berlin from 1980-1982. It was clear from my experiences there that Communism does not work. We talked a little about Frances Fukuyama and this led to a discussion about whether Free Market Capitalistic Representative Democracies are the best human civilization can reach. Then we looked at Rococo Art in the Eighteenth Century and noted the extravagance reflected in the art associated with the wealthy class. Is that sort of contrast going on now? When we look at the way the so called 1% spend their money do we see a new "Rococo" period in art? If so, it makes you wonder if a new "French Revolution" is on its way. The quiz question today was why do the wealthy not seem to have a moral sense of discipline regarding the extravagant use of their wealth in a society with increasingly disenfranchised people?

Die Winterreise

Die Winterreise turned out to be quite interesting. I am not sure what to think about the visual effects. Dress in white and stand against a mostly white video sequence so you seem to become part of the scenery? That works actually. I picture myself in a white suit standing in front of a screen of ballet dancers so it looks like my head is on one doing physically almost impossible things. Or racing down a steep ski slope? More food for the imagination. But what about Schubert? I just happened to be reading Martha Nussbaum in the auditorium prior to Kevin's lecture and read that most Americans do not have compassion for the poor because they feel that the poor have brought their difficulties on themselves because of their laziness. If that is so, it would be hard to feel compassion for the main "character" in the song cycle since he is infatuated with a woman that does not feel the same for him. In which case, there being many fish in the sea, he ought to get over her and move on. But he never does. Carving her name in the ice. On a tree. Shedding tears in the snow that will melt and flow by her house. Hoping for a letter! Expressing her change of heart? Jeesh. The Romantics. What can I say? Getting there and enjoying the show - was it opera? - was only part of the fun last night. It was snowing when we left, and when we got there, and it was a full blizzard when we left. So much so that visibility was gone on the drive home and it was a pretty harrowing experience. We are still amazed we made it. Die Winterreise!

Start of Spring Break

I know there are still some who have classes today but this is my first day of spring break so I have lots of things to do. Already did some of them! But my reading list is awesome and I can't wait to get to it. But first a trip to the Anchorage Museum to see all the art from the Anchorage School District on display! I will take videos and post them on my Youtube page.

Introduction to Philosophy

Today we talked a little about Hobbes conception of the state of nature and the social contract. Then we followed my notes on Spinoza who is an absolutely stunning philosopher for lots of reasons. We then moved on to Locke and Jefferson, again following my posted notes. Last we went over my notes for Leibniz. We also reviewed the test questions for the essays due the week after next. (Next week is Spring Break).

Introduction to Humanities II

Today the theory we briefly discussed was the Semiotic. The art assigned was the Baroque. We followed the notes I have posted and talked about C.S. Pierce, who I briefly contrasted with George Lakoff who we have previously discussed. The Baroque art was Handel's Messiah - the Hallelujah Chorus. Of interest is the way the music emphasizes the message of the music - King of Kings for ever and ever. Contrast this with living in a democracy! To envision how music might be used to transform the political passions of people I read some of Martha Nussbaum's book Political Emotions where she begins with the argument that Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro espoused the principles of equality and fraternity that would within a few years be the main ideas behind the French Revolution. Could music really have this kind of impact? To think about this I asked what kind of meaningful moments in contemporary art are most significant for you? I thought of when Anakin becomes Darth Vader.

History of Philosophy II

Today we briefly talked about some of Richard Wagner's work thinking about how Schopenhauer influenced him. We focused on the Ring and his introduction of (or heavy use of) leitmotifs. Next we looked briefly at Auguste Comte founder of Sociology and Positivism. He was a great influence on John Stewart Mill as was Jeremy Bentham. There were two quiz questions today. The first was regarding a quote by Mill: Better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. Better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than ....what? What was interesting was there seemed to be a split between those who would rather be a happy pig than a dissatisfied human and those who would not! Amazing. The second quiz question was what is your favorite leitmotif? Have a great Spring Break everyone!

Snow

I have just realized the psychological impact having all these windows in my office has on me when it is snowing out. It makes me tired! Imagine watching a little (comparatively) screen and trying to type when behind it there are three and one half huge windows looking out over Eagle River and the whole view is full of snow falling falling falling.

Introduction to Humanities II

Have you slain your Jabberwock? Today the theory we discussed was Feminism and I used my lecture notes from a presentation I did in 2000. But things have changed and Feminism is even more out of vogue today than it was in 2000 when I said Feminism is Dead. The art to investigate through the eyes of the feminist was Northern Renaissance. This felt like a dull thud in class since there seems to be little to critique. There ought to be but what? So instead we talked about the Tim Burton movie Coraline, Alice in Wonderland, and even a bit on the movie Brave, all of which demonstrate that female characters are taught to control their own lives. But I did discuss Jane Austen also, and it is intriguing that she recommends women act stupid around men if they want to control the situation. How does that work?

History of Philosophy II

More on Hegel - it is hard to move on past Hegel since he is still so significant almost everything can be viewed as a reaction to Hegel one way or the other. Kierkegaard to the one direction, Marx to the other, both rebelling against a view of Hegel they received by studying with Frederick Schelling - who has quite a history of friendship and enmity with Hegel. Soren Kierkegaard stresses the individual, Marx stresses the social. But we especially see Hegelianism in our own contemporary arguments over what a person is. But then we moved a bit into an analysis of Schopenhauer who was a student of Hegel - and another rebel against Hegel himself. In this case, it seems his work is somewhat pre-Kantian since he argues that the Will is the thing in itself. This is essentially something like fate and a great way to view the impact of his ideas here on culture is to see the work of Wagner. The quiz question was to review the story of the Ring of the Niebelungen and describe what you think of the story.