2013 Fall Proseminar Professor Blog

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September 4, 2013: 1st Class

Great to meet you all on Wednesday night. Looking over my notes and memory of class, I feel certain that we have a really diverse and interesting group. I'm looking forward to working with all of you. Please feel free to drop by office hours (M-Th 8-10) or make an appointment just to talk about your philosophical interests and work in the course.

Also, let me know if you have any questions about our "poster/responder" system. Looking forward to class next week.

Alfino

September 11, 2013: 2nd Class

Good discussion, gang. I think we made a start on the problem of how to think about the nature of philosophy given how much our conceptions of it change over time. You all have a good ability to open up a problem, philosophically, which is always a pleasure.

I think we also have some strengths in group discussion. I will mention one problem that arises in philosophy discussions and which I noticed last night. Sometimes you try to say something complicated in a philosophy discussion and it doesn't come out completely clear. Sometimes you can be aware of this as you're talking or after. It's tempting for the group (being appropriately conflict avoidant) to kind of move on without figuring out what the person was saying. That's all good and well for normal mortals, but I think philosophers are supposed to help each "deliver" their ideas. That's why Socrates, in the Apology, considers himself "midwife" (like his mom). So think about some conversational practices that might help with that. You could, for example, reconstruct part of what you think the person said and leave it to them to take another shot at it. You could ask some questions, etc.

Finally, I think we're going to excel at desert and breaks.

Next week we'll be thinking together about what science. This is important to philosophy these days since the question of the relationship between philosophy and science is so contested. More about that later.

Have a great week.

Alfino

September 18: Science and Philosophy

Thanks for a good seminar. I think the "poster/responder" system is coming along. I think it's giving me some information about your interaction with the material, but I must admit it's hard for me to take notes on the responders because the discussion has achieved a bit of flow these past two sessions. I guess that's a good problem to have, though. You do have a wide range of ways to respond so feel free to try some things out. I'll try to take your total class involvement into consideration in giving you advice, not just what you do in the "poster/responder" roles. But I do think it's working to create more of a seminar atmosphere.

Hopefully, you picked up some handy ways to think about science in relation to realism and see now how the problem of science and especially the notion of "certainty" of knowledge has played such a big role in the history of philosophy. I don't think you can make much sense of the transition to modernity without considering what a huge doubt the rise of science and mechanics posed to traditional metaphysics. Galileo was lucky. My impression is that as a group you all are quick to these connections, but some of you have had more philosophy that others, so please raised questions or get things explained a couple of ways if class is confusing.

I'm eager to schedule appointments with each of you. Please look over the schedule and think about both what's there and not there in relation to your interests. (There's still some room to shuffle or add some topic to the course.) But the goal of our meeting will really be just be to think about some directions you are likely to find interesting topics. You are welcome, of course, to start us off with any list of topics you may already have!

Ok, thanks again, and have a great week.

Alfino