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.