2012 Fall Proseminar Professor Blog

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August 29, 2012

What an interesting group we have for this class! I thought we had a good introductory discussion about philosophy using that prompt. Thanks for tracking all of the things we put on your "to do" list. A couple of notes for next week:

With the Deleuze reading you may feel pretty lost. This is a continental French postmodern philosopher, so the writing is less analytic than, say, Hadot. Just let it wash over you and try to pick out a few things he's saying that seem important. Really, that kind of works with this sort of text early on. With the Hadot reading, take some time to look up terms like "stoicism" and some of the figures. Try jotting down a couple of dates if you don't have this Hellenistic period down yet. Of course, we're after his main thesis, so don't get lost in the historical detail. Just pick up enough to follow the argument.

I didn't emphasize this last night, but you should be using lots of online resources (see the wiki page) to "tenderize" your readings. Spending a few minutes googling or reading an article about your topic often makes the text much easier to digest. (I have "purist colleagues" who would give you the opposite advice -- that you should have a "pure" relationship to the text and not read secondary sources.) You decide, but I really think using secondary material like wikipedia and internet encyclopedias of philosophy is a really good strategy. Don't substitute it for the text, of course.

Also, I usually mention that you have about a six hour workload outside of class for this course. That's normal as far as I know. So please keep track of your prep time. I assign alot of reading, and I want to know how long it's taking you to do and how much your getting from it. It's this whole accountability and teaching thing I'm into. Crazy. But I don't want the course work to take much longer than that either. Maybe you should schedule that reading time in your calendar now. It's going to be wonderful.

I'll bring desert next week, but I would like most of you to post to the wiki with questions, favorite quotes from the reading, objections, links to resources you found helpful in understanding the readings, etc. Post to the in-class notes for next week. That's what good seminarians would do.

Ok, I need to get ready for another class. Please come by the office (Rebmann 203) in the next few weeks to talk about something philosophical or just to get more of an introduction going. I'd enjoy finding out more about all of your interests, and it helps me connect topics and suggest readings for you. Just email me with a time if you aren't too busy.

Looking forward to next week already.

Alfino

September 5, 2012

Thanks for a really good class. I have the sense that we're appreciating the luxury of the class size. After the practice clicker quiz, you might still be somewhat unsure about next week, when they start counting. But remember that the goal here is just to get the reading level up. If you're following the "focus" paragraph on the schedule and understanding the readings, you should do fine on the quiz. If you think a question is to picky, let me know. As far a getting the reading done, I suggest you actually schedule that in your calendar and plan on having a nice treat, like an ice cream sandwich, after completing each reading session. I find that if I don't schedule reading time, everything else in life conspires against it.

Marco, please contact Margaret Fischer Fischer, Margaret <mfischer3@zagmail.gonzaga.edu> for a clicker.

Sarah, sorry to miss you last night. There's an mp3 from the evening. Please see me if you don't feel caught up.

September 12, 2012

3rd class: Science and Scientific Revolution

Thanks again. We've got a nice group here. I think we're doing a good job of seeing our common purpose as philosophers through the diversity that we have as a group. That could really work in our favor as more of our differences of viewpoint emerge (As I hope they do). The workload is challenging, I agree, and it doesn't feel great to miss clicker questions, but I encourage you to take a diagnostic attitude toward the course and your work in it. Figure out when this reading is going to happen and when it does, try to figure out what you need to take away from it. The most common report so far when I ask students to do this is that they don't get to six hours. Beyond logging the time, you've got to make sure you make some notes about what was important about it or that when you're sitting around, you can recall the arguments and claims. At least the main ones.

Where you all are really excelling as a group is in taking our reading knowledge and working with a philosophical problem about it. In other words, in doing philosophy. I think our discussion of the limits of science illustrated that. You all have good philosophical instincts. We'll be doing more of that next week, since with ethics and politics the critical discussion seems to start right away.

Thanks for trying a wiki post on Singer. I gave you the prompts. Lots of people don't like him.

Thanks to Blue for dinner.

Alfino

September 19, 2012

Thanks for a good class, gang. I hope our "coached discussion" was worthwhile for you. I had some second thoughts about the question I asked you to bear in mind, "Are we getting anywhere?" It does have some negative connotations, since it's the sort of thing you think when you're in a discussion that isn't getting anywhere. Maybe a better question would be, "Given my philosophical superpowers, what can I contribute to this discussion (what "moves" can I make) that will help the group find understanding and insight?" I think this moves us toward Socrates' image of philosophical discussion as like midwifery, like delivering a baby. I don't think our topic next week lends itself to doing this exercise again right away, but I hope you'll take some time to think about your "reflective persona" in discussions.

The reading load shouldn't be too bad for next week, but you will certainly want to read secondary sources on Hume's epistemology before reading the excerpts. They'll read much faster that way. We'll reconstruct his epistemology, so bring some notes on that from your reading. I'll try to come in with material on Hume's importance in philosophy today. I'll look forward to your reactions to the Scottish Enlightenment material. Thanks to Daniel and Kate for posting to the wiki. Please put some resources or responses up. Quotes pasted from helpful secondary sources will be useful as we get to Hume.

I'm really liking our group alot. Thanks for putting your ideas out and risking some candid interaction.

I'll bring dessert next week. If anyone wants to add to that, get the message out so people can decide to eat ahead or not.

Alfino