Grades are Posted

The deadline is here and I have posted grades based on what papers I have in my records. If you check your grade and find it not what you expected email me and ask. It could be something you sent me got lost in cyber space.

Regarding my classes for Fall 2012: Another semester is over! And I have some last minute points to award. Actually, I have quite a lot of papers still to grade. Just now I at least tried to reply to each still in my inbox so you know what I received but it will be days before I can get through everything. Hopefully you will all have your responses by Wednesday. Remember if you still have work outstanding to get things to me before Sunday night at midnight. Please have a good holiday season. See you next semester.

Tuesday the quiz question for my Intro to Philosophy sections was which of the three philosophers I introduced today was your favorite? Quine, Rorty, or Dennett (or Badiou)? Last Thursday's question was which movie do you want to see on the final session? So far Monty Python Meaning of Life has the most votes. Several for Iris (but there have been some negative votes against Iris).

Monday evening the quiz question for Intro to Humanities II is: What did you think of the TED talk presentation on using computer gaming to solve the world problems?

Thursday the quiz question for my Intro to Philosophy course was which movie should we watch on our final session?

Monday evening's quiz question for Intro to Humanities II was "What did you think of Sam Harris' argument in the TED talk we watched?" On Tuesday the quiz question this week for my Intro to Philosophy sections is: What did you think of the movie Lincoln (if you have seen it)?

The quiz question for my Intro to Humanities II course for Monday evening this week was what do you think was the main lesson we learned from World War II?

For both sections of my Intro to Philosophy course on Thursday we covered Marx and the quiz question was do you think we are going to have a revolution soon? For Truth, Beauty, and Goodness the question concerned the play Waiting for Godot. Are you waiting for Godot?

The quiz question for my Intro to Philosophy sections on Tuesday was: who do you think is the most beautiful person in the world? The quiz question for my Truth Beauty Goodness course on Tuesday evening was: Is drinking until you are drunk immoral? Is drinking while pregnant immoral given what we know today about the effects on the fetus?

Thursday's quiz question for my two Intro to Philosophy classes was a fill in the blank question based on a phrase by J. S. Mill. "Better to be a dissatisfied human than a happy pig, better to be a dissatisfied (what) than a happy (what). (I am just going on my rough memory of the phrase in case it doesn't match Mill's text exactly.) My quiz for the Thursday night TBG course was: who won the Ms. America Pageant in 2012? But more to the point concerns the issue of what you think about such contests? Are they fair measurements of real beauty?

Monday evening's quiz question for HUM 212 was: what is your impression of Impressionism? Tuesday's quiz for my Intro to Philosophy classes was: who do you think is going to win the election? (Please answer before the polls close to see if you guessed correctly.)

The following request is from a UAA student doing a research project. Please participate if you can: Dear fellow UAA student, My name is Bryan Arnold. I am a journalism and public communications student here at UAA. I am conducting a study for my JPC research class and am inviting you to participate in a short survey about the use of social media by UAA students to follow the 2012 U.S. presidential elections. If you do decide to participate, you will answer a short 10-15 minute survey. The survey is completely confidential and voluntary. You can choose whether or not you want to be in the study. Students who decide to participate will be eligible to win a $25 Amazon gift card. If you would like to participate, please follow the link at the bottom of the page. If you have any questions about the survey, please feel free to contact my professor, Dr. Joy Chavez Mapaye or me. Our contact information is below. Survey link: http://uaa.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_2mnF47shJcMY62h Sincerely, Bryan Arnold Email – barnold10@uaa.alaska.edu Phone – (907) 947-0229 Joy Chavez Mapaye, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Journalism and Public Communications Email – jcmapaye@uaa.alaska.edu Phone – (907) 786-4195

The quiz question for my Intro to Philosophy sections today Thursday November 1 concerned an imaginary dilemma (based on a real case). The situation is that you are coming home from work in traffic on a dark night in Detroit (some students are familiar with the place where this happened) and the traffic is so bad everyone is just sitting in their cars stuck three lanes across. There is a beautiful young woman in the car next to you. Behind her is a car with three ugly guys who are upset with her. They get out of their car and start pounding on her car trying to get at her. You are convinced that if they can get the car open they will kill her. 1st question: what is your moral obligation - to interfere or not? 2nd question: what do you imagine you might really do in such a situation? (In the real case no one helped her and she ran for her life, jumping off a bridge to get away from them and she drowned in the river.) For my Truth Beauty Goodness class the question was, did you think Steven Pinker's argument was persuasive? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ramBFRt1Uzk

For Intro to Humanities II Monday evening October 29 the question was what is your favorite waltz? The quiz question for my Intro to Philosophy classes on October 30 was: Prove that you were here today.

Quiz question for my two Intro to Philosophy classes on Thursday is the old favorite: if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it does it make a sound? For my Truth Beauty and Goodness class the question was: What do you consider the most beautiful building in Anchorage? In Alaska? That you have ever seen?

The quiz question for my two Intro to Philosophy classes on Tuesday was: Do you think this is the best of all possible worlds? (We watched the video by Brian Greene on TED where he basically argued the same point as my interpretation of Leibniz' view.) In Truth Beauty Goodness after looking at how several examples of prose create feelings of sadness and happiness, hilarity, and joy, I asked the question what is the saddest you have ever been? Tough question I know. But is this all done through language?

How do different language games (a la Wittgenstein) interact with each other? For example, while we think of various models of the universe as all "true" to the extent that they are accurate, and they enable prediction - especially about future events - the most difficult sort of predictions to make of course, and further that each model is coherent we run up against the difficulty of seeing how they can all be true at the same time. In short, they really are true. But at the same time it is easily apparent that they are in radical conflict. The heliocentric model, the geocentric model, the vacu-centric model, Einstein's Light Cone model, Brian Greene's Frozen River model (from "The Fabric of the Cosmos") and my favorite http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82p-DYgGFjI or if you like really great music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6jBK1ZV-qs&feature=related which look at the Sun's motion through the Galaxy as the frame for the model. I am sure there are many other models that are also true that I am not even thinking about or that have been dreamed about yet. But notice even in the presentations on the Galactic model - great music and all - they make a serious mistake in thinking we have been lied to all these years since the preferred model is true and so all the others must be false! But actually, we do say each model is true and the worst mistake is thinking one model is true and the others false. Following Hegel we can see that the Truth is the Whole - which I interpret to mean our models are never the whole thing we are trying to describe in nature. Rather, we are thinking abstractly in order to think at all and conceptual models are tools that enable us to accomplish the "work" that the tools are designed to enable us to do, but mislead us if we think that is all there is to the phenomena as it is in its entirety - or as it is "in itself". So how do we relate these various complex systems, or models, to one another in a way that it is easy to see how they remain coherent in themselves without interfering with the coherence of each other? How do we see that each is true without thinking other models must be false?

The TBG quiz concerned our favorite poem. I played several performances - Sylvia Plath reading "Daddy", Fiona Shaw doing "The Wasteland", and Billy Collins doing "The Revenant" as well as "For What Binds Us" by Jane Hirshfield http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQb5g5CISn4 - so the question could be taken as which of these did you like best or do you have another that is more your favorite. In general a point of this evening was discussing the relationship between music and poetry, the music in poetry as well as our normal speaking voices, and the connection between music and emotion in the brain. I also read a few selections from "This is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel Levitin http://daniellevitin.com/publicpage/books/this-is-your-brain-on-music/

Intro to Philosophy quiz for Oct 18: Do you think we should have a Constitutional Convention in Alaska with the aim of changing our bicameral house and senate to a unicameral legislature (single house)? http://www.adn.com/john-havelock/ is an article arguing for this.

Quiz questions I have used for Intro to Philosophy this semester so far: What are the limits of religious tolerance that we should accept? (This especially in regards to Spinoza and Jefferson, and the Taliban shooting a little girl who wanted an education.) What do you think our rights should be or what are the inalienable rights that should be in our social contract? (This in regard to Hobbes and the Social Contract). Does the earth go around the sun or does the sun go around the earth? (This in regards to Galileo.) What do you think of the comparison of spirit / matter to energy / mass? Was Aquinas doing physics in describing the nature of the Angels? How persuasive do you think the Ontological Argument is? Have you heard of Saint Augustine before? What have you heard? What do you think of the You-tube videos used in class? If you were a platoon leader in a war zone and ordered to have your platoon avoid being approached by children even to the extent of shooting them to keep them away, would you give that order or how would you deal with the dilemma? Do you think modern educated women are no longer "women"? If there is no eternal soul what would be the goal of life? What do you find the most beautiful thing/ experience? Do you have a soul and what is it? What are the ten commandments?

Quiz questions for this semester by class: Intro to Humanities II Do you think that we live in a democracy or a plutocracy? Is there any form of art that you appreciate just for the sake of the art/ how it makes you feel? What did you think of Tremalchio's Feast in the film Fellini's Satyricon? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpMakUEn4hs What did you think of Beethoven's 9th? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8R1f8d1oLI Which picture is your favorite Madonna and Child? What would be your conception of an ideal death? Truth Beauty Goodness What comforts you the most? What makes the movie Avatar so beautiful? Do you think the discussion concerning the nature of the individual was PC? Does the earth go around the sun or does the sun go around the earth? What can't you express in language? How could you prove you were in class? Do you find the Ontological Argument convincing? What are the ten commandments?

Another philosophical week has gone. Meetings for Friday of course and tutoring on Saturday, but the courses are finished until Monday evening. So was much accomplished? I think so. I made inquiries concerning how my use of the materials was appreciated by everyone and the responses are all positive. This week I used a Betty White and Johnny Carson skit about Adam and Eve and tied that in with a reading from Mark Twain - Eve's Diary, all to introduce Augustine's interpretation of what the Fall represented. This followed by the crucifixion scene from The Passion to discuss the sacrifice and how Augustine interpreted that. At one point I also showed the entire TED talk that Steven Pinker gave concerning The Better Angels of Our Nature - and that violence has declined. I argued a main reason for the decline is the growth in acceptance of the main Christian principle of Love.

A note on some previous blogs: when I use the speech to text function of my Nexus the blogs tend to be a bit scrappy - philosophers' names tend to be difficult, for example. I discover some words that make me look grammatically literate drop off. Just saying. Typing this one! Coming from class just now introducing Jesus using the Front Line Jesus to Christ presentation for part of the class. My main emphasis was on the variety of interpretations of who Jesus was and how that is reflected in the variety of religious sects that refer to themselves as Christians. I mention Harold Bloom's "The American Religion" and point out that he considers most sects in the US that call themselves Christians as pagans. (I try to remain neutral in this while still pointing out why he thinks so.) Today, despite my efforts I had one student ask a question that clearly indicates I need to explain further, since she wondered if she should check with a preacher to get a good answer! I asked what preacher? She obviously figured it did not matter, if they were a Christian preacher they would know "the answer". Obviously I did not convey the idea that there would be as many answers as preachers depending on the tradition of the sect and school that they attended. Hmmm. Must work on this. Next class we do my interpretation of Saint Augustine.

(Repaired by typing) This evening in humanities class we never got to cover the videos on the syllabus. The Internet was working fine and so we went over some of the things we could not cover last week.I felt like things went very well and everyone seems to follow what we were covering. We spent most of the time covering the philosophies from Plato and Aristotle up through the post Aristotelians. When we talked about the Cynics I referred to Dionysius. While discussing him I showed the class the picture by Rafael titled the School of Athens. Then I talked about Epicurus which led to a discussion about the Epicurean philosophy. For an example I played portion of the movie by Fellini titled Satyricon. The portion I showed from the movie was Tremalchio's feast. Then we talked about the Stoics and their philosophy with an emphasis on Epictetus. Next, we talked about the Skeptics and after the Skeptics we talked about the neo-Platonists and then right away to talk about Jesus. For the topic of Jesus I showed a portion of the Front Line presentation on Jesus to Christ.

Easy variability is what is wrong with pre-scientific explanation. David Deutsch explains http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=folTvNDL08A

For a great description of what I use the word "Saved" to mean - as in "Have you ever been Saved?" is from here page 12 and so on: http://books.google.com/books?id=y7yJP67BRz0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=josiah+royce+the+sources+of+religious+insight&source=bl&ots=jmPf7lVrXd&sig=Z1m44ruUvcqyaMNt73QQrenYKSk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3rNWUOuPGq60igLuo4HYBQ&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=josiah%20royce%20the%20sources%20of%20religious%20insight&f=false

Continuing to read http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Human-Evolution-Paleolithic-Axial/dp/0674061438/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347681435&sr=1-1&keywords=robert+bellah and meanwhile adding a dip back into Clifford Geertz http://www.amazon.com/Interpretation-Cultures-Basic-Books-Classics/dp/0465097197/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347681552&sr=1-1&keywords=clifford+geertz+the+interpretation+of+cultures which is the predominant source for the introductory discussion on the nature of religion in RB's book (see page 90 in Geertz). This all ties in beautifully with my discussion piece in HUM 212 and my page http://wsjamison.uaa.alaska.edu/rel.htm Sorry for the nature of this blog of nothing but links but it should be pretty handy for me this week.

Typing this one. About three or four previous were dictated to the Nexus and posted as the Nexus interpreted my speech - so some of the text is obviously wrong. Today I am reading Robert Bellah's "Religion in Human Evolution". Starts with three nice quotations, one by T. Mann (from Joseph and His Brothers), one from Hegel, and one from Mencius. First point I'd like to note is a critique of Richard Dawkins (I love critiques of RD!) concerning his "The Selfish Gene" and how contemporary views favor the organism rather than the gene as the main unit of survival. But this critique immediately strikes me as a bit unfair - and I would rather argue both are simply models of what to notice in evolution rather than thinking one is right and the other wrong. The stronger interpretation is that both models are useful - and probably other models besides. But notice footnote 8 of the Preface RB says RD notes this as his point of view also in his next book "The Extended Phenotype".

reading Harold Bloom's new book the anatomy of influence. One of his quotations is the writing is the defense of melancholy. It seems to me that if writing is a defense off melancholy then that is 1 of the reasons that I do not write very much. when I was a kid, doing the first 3 years of my life, my mother use to walk me alternatively to the Philadelphia Art Museum or to the Philadelphia Zoo almost daily. We lived 3 blocks from the bridge that was just across from the Philadelphia Art Museum so it was a short walk from our apartment. Remember also that this time there were no TVs and as far as I know my family did not have a radio either. I remember the first time we got the radio in the house that would have been many years later since we were in the suburbs then and I remember the puzzling look on my father's face as he sat there listening to the voice coming from that little box. The TV arrived at the same house at about the same time and I remember that very clearly because it almost killed me.as I recall the TV installer had brought the TV and installed the antenna on the roof and was sitting on the couch explaining to my parents how the device work. Meanwhile, I was on the floor heading about on all fours I remember the great rug the walls and the vanilla looking cabinet of the large TV sitting on the floor. Next to the TV was a brown wire with 2 little metal leaves. I recognize it as electrical and thought it needed to be plugged in and I distinctly remember plugging the 75 ohm antenna lead into electric socket. This of course started electric shock coursing through my body and I remember hopping around and looking up at the 3 adults sitting on the couch. My parents we're completely focused on what the installer was saying and he set in the middle of the 2 of them. What I remember was his turning and seeing me and reaching down and grabbing it.but before all this happened we lived 1 Spring Garden Street just across the Schuylkill River from the art museum. And my mother said that she used to walk me they're practically everyday so I must have gotten an early it's a cation in art. That probably explains why even today when I visit the Philadelphia Art Museum I have a very strange feeling of comfort with the place. I somehow remember the feeling of the halls the steps the artwork very atmosphere of the place. Are you even remember the strange ancient elevator with its Gigantic brasss doors.

Okay so maybe it is pretty clear why we still write on paper most of the time since this clearly is not the perfect way of doing it, because it still gets mistakes. I will give it a try and edit the blogs that I've already posted so that they make a little bit more sense and don't say weird things. But I have to admit this is really pretty cool. (This has been edited later!)

this is the third block but I will write using just this text love speech to text device. I'm at the moment did the showing my daughter how this works. I think it's pretty cool myself however, it might bug the heck out of you if you are reading my blog. So my advice to you is not to read my blog if you don't want to see such screwy fryer oil fryer oil trial there you go he he he experiments amen.

this is the second blog that I will write using the speech to text feature of my next 7 I was amazed that I was actually able to publish the last 1 so the last 1 was just a test.but now that I'm actually fascinated with how well this works now I have to come up with something interesting to say we're even I won't want to read my blog. So what should I talk about, if all I'm able to think about at the moment is hell meet my new devices?continuing to give my blog a little bit more of something interesting to say I have to admit that occasionally some of the words do not come across exactly right. Like in the last sentence for example, I use the word how and instead of how the machine rotel route hell well not root cell wrote that's correct how very strange. Testing sprint sprint it's it to talkno someone else is talking this is a very funny machinepepsi.. Will come? Here's the real kicker it's he he he he he he he

it surprises me that we write on paper anymore when we can just speak to our machines and they write everything down for us. This is the first time that I am using my Nexus 7 in order to write this blog but it surprises me that I do not have to correct the device at all it seems to catch everything the first time as I say it. I am engine if I get comfortable with this machines I will be able to speak at my own comfortable pace and be able to write as fast as I think instead of as fast as I type.

Thoughts: a new semester has begun and my classes are terrific. The students seem ever more enthusiastic. I don't know if it is just my feeling or if either I am getting better and introducing things or more of my students are aware ahead of time of how I do things and they look forward to it. Either way, it makes for a nice feeling all around I think. I have the same basic set of courses minus logic this semester. Two Introduction to Philosophy sections, one Truth Beauty and Goodness, and one Introduction to Humanities II. I pushed myself to keep pace instead of falling behind early in the first two classes which often happens and it seemed to work. We are keeping pace with the syllabi in all except TBG where the normal problem of racing through the history of philosophy before starting Quine typically takes more than one session. But we did race through Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas - maybe a little heavy on Aquinas, but it really went well this time. I also gave the pretest this semester for the first time since 2006. So far as I can tell, I did not read them closely, but the results look good with regard to giving me plenty of opportunity to achieve improvements in their scores. Since I also told my classes that I hoped they would do poorly on the pretest and well on the post test they seemed happy to find the questions confusing! They look forward to having an improved post test. And now we have the Labor Day holiday. This is the last chance to read and finish up the summer reading plans.

It has been an interesting summer so far. Classes went well, especially my logic which had a very interactive group. Meanwhile I have spent some time learning more about psychology than I planned. I also have not gotten as far as I expected in Slavoj Zizek's book since it refers to so much else that I had to go investigate in order to follow what he was saying. Most especially it led me to look up Alain Badiou. In doing so I discovered our library had nothing of his works - which looked pretty extensive on Amazon. I ordered and received his book Being and Event which I have also started and have found immensely interesting as well. Meanwhile, inquiring about the library getting some of his works ended up with about twenty new volumes all of which have been put on hold for me as they arrived. I have dabbled in a bunch of them. Tonight reading Badiou's Number and Numbers. These are all too interesting. I clearly have a project to work on the rest of the summer.

I have been reading "Less than Nothing" by Zizek - hopefully will finish around the first hundred pages by bed time. Meanwhile I noticed he has a new lecture/ video on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87dLxMLqs6Y&feature=g-hist In between reading and listening to him I did spend some time picking up sticks and laying them straight today. Then the rain came.

What interests me concerns the nature of the political polarization that is going on. Our book group read "Winner Take All Politics" which amazed me. Since I have been reading Paul Krugman's "End this Depression Now" while also reading Byrne Edsall's "The Age of Austerity". I was hoping Edsall would explain the reason for the Austerity but so far he has described it as a result of the Conservative's hand being strengthened by austerity which they have used to hurt the Democrat's constituents - mostly the have-nots and those who love them. Which actually increases the austerity for those groups. But Edsall seems to assume the austerity is there as an initial given that everyone understands. But Krugman disagrees and considers it primarily political. Which is correct? How much of our point of view colors our ability to understand both sides?

This paper is from 1993 but still strikes me as very pertinent especially as it contrasts Rawls and Nozick on Justice. It also has a wonderful description of liberals and conservatives - pro and con - that seems to really describe the psychological profiles very well. http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/tetlock/Vita/Philip%20Tetlock/Phil%20Tetlock/1992-1993/1993%20Liberal%20and%20Conservative%20Approaches%20to%20Justice.pdf

Welcome to Philosophy

Welcome to Introduction to Philosophy! As of May 21, 2012 we start a new summer session. I have things on various places - Blackboard, here on my blog, and sent directly via email. I have no idea which you might find the easiest way to communicate, so I am trying all of them. Please have a look at the syllabus posted here: http://wsjamison.uaa.alaska.edu/201501.htm and let me know if you have any questions. This is the correct link for both sections 501 and 591. Everything can be accomplished using the Internet and the text books. Thank you for sending an email message to me verifying your enrolment. If you do not have your email address updated on Blackboard please do that since I use the email function in Blackboard to email the whole class at least occasionally. You should send in materials on a regular basis following the schedule posted in the syllabus with the first set due June 2. Late work will lose points. I will send replies with comments and the comments are only helpful if you get them before you go on to do more work, so please do not send in everything all at once! You can send work in early if you like but please remember that I have to read everything and think about my replies to you. If your initial efforts are wonderful I will say so, if not I will say so and you have the opportunity to add to your work in response to my comments. All work must be complete by the end of the session – July 30th - to count towards the course grade. Incompletes will not be given except under circumstances that meet UAA policy. Some of the questions you may have for me: If the link from Blackboard does not work you can go directly to the syllabus from my web page at http://wsjamison.uaa.alaska.edu How to answer the short essay papers? I suppose the best way to answer this is to say: These are not meant to be difficult research papers! I am looking for your own views on the topics covered by the readings as well as an indication that you read the materials and understood them. All in all I should be getting 26 separate 150 word papers sent in, as sets of two, over the course for this requirement. Please title each essay with the number of the assignment, for example set 1 is 101 and 102. I would expect that your views would reflect thoughts you had from reading the materials. The topics blend into one another and each includes a lot of ideas on the topic. I am sure you may feel overwhelmed with the possibilities of things you could say. Do not worry! Say what you think is most interesting about the topics. Just go for it. Try not to think too hard about what I might be looking for as the right answer, but instead say what you are really thinking about the topics. Dialogue: To participate in the dialogue: log in to Blackboard and go to the course 201 section 501 or 591 as your case might be and then go to the discussion board that should be under Communications. This way everyone can respond when they have a chance and you can even start a new threaded conversation. The main reason for this dialogue is so everyone in the class may interact with the other students. Since this is a distance course and there is no time set aside anyplace for us to meet, if you would like to get to know the other students and hear some of their views about the topics this seems to be the most productive way. Because there are two sections this summer and you will only see the dialog in your section I am suggesting in addition you might want to log into my blog and also engage everyone with your thoughts there. But remember that is a freebee and I will basically have no way of keeping track of who is who there (unless you use your real names) so the Blackboard dialog is what I can use for grading purposes. But it should be interesting to see what opportunity this might provide. The blog is a public forum and not just for those registered in classes as is Blackboard. The dialogue questions are posted at http://wsjamison.uaa.alaska.edu/dia.htm and there are links to the topics there that you should check out before typing your response on Blackboard and my blog. To begin with everyone may want to give a brief description of who they are. If you are interested in my BRIEF description of myself I have it posted at http://wsjamison.uaa.alaska.edu/myhist.htm but if everyone is so brief no one will be able to read all of them! You should also begin thinking about your term paper since ten weeks is not very much time to do a term paper along with everything else you must be doing during a summer in Alaska! Don’t forget the term paper is worth 25% of the grade! You can also go to this page for frequently asked questions: http://wsjamison.uaa.alaska.edu/faq2.htm.

Email versus paper quizzes

Instead of paper quizzes, having quiz questions answered by email later has given most the opportunity to say much more than I used to get. This is terrific! Why was I afraid of asking for more writing? Clearly most people love the opportunity to express themselves on these philosophical questions.