Majors Seminar Class Notes

AUG 30

First Day Notes:

• Welcome: introductions
• Goals -- becoming better philosophers, developing philosophical voice, improving expression

• About the course

• Previous versions and influences -- problems of method and style in philosophy.
• Philosophy and creative writing - parallels bt writers' workshop classes and seminars
• Applied philosophy -
• Philosophy as personal vocation -

• Structure of this course

• Websites in the course: alfino.org --> courses.alfino.org & wiki.gonzaga.edu/faculty/alfino

• fill out Roster Information
• Note on wiki editing

• Course Resources

• Break

• Philosophical ice breaker

• The Writing & Performing Philosopher

• Link to some of my current interests: [1]

SEP 6

1. Writing and Philosophy

Let's thinking about Stafford's view of writing as discovery in relation to both the NYT piece and the Dillard piece. How do these two pieces engage philosophy?

2. Discussion of Lakoff and Johnson chapter, "How Philosophical Theories Work"

This reading gives us an introduction to some of the "embodied consciouness" literature from it's early days. We'll track both the view and it's rhetoric. Note the rhetoric of the sample chapter as well and the reviewers.

Break

3. Philosophical Method, Progress in Philosophy, and Defining Philosophy

We'll do some philosophy together here by outlining and evaluating some positions on these three topics and their interrelationships.

• Look at some list of philosophical methods:

• • General List of Philosophical Methods

• Philosophical Methods for Philosophy Majors
• Baggini's TOC --

• Do philosophers' have unique methods, unique goals, or neither?
• What does progress mean for a discipline or form of inquiry? (ask parallel questions: Has there been progress in physics? In the novel? In film?

4. Browsing in Philosophy

A variety of search tools can help you find interests, pursue them, and join active philosophical communities.

SEP 13

Misc notes

• schedule student meetings
• NIC conference: [2]

Writing, Seeing, Highlighting Experience, Speculating

• Overbye, Staffor, Dillard

Method: Embodied Mind, Early Statement

• Lakoff and Johnson, chapters 1 and 24, reviews.
• Baggini and Fosl - TOC

Dennett & Crawford

Dennett

• Fox and Grapes: Taking a few steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. Again the fox took a few paces back and tried to reach them but still failed. Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and said, "They're probably sour anyway," and proceeded to walk away. It's easy to despise what you cannot have.
• Chines Room argument. [3]

NOV 22

• Thanksgiving Week: Optional Meeting Time