BULLETIN BOARD STORIES

Girl with two heads 5-30-05

ANNOUNCEMENT  11-11-09  FREEDOM and DETERMINSIM

BONUS OPPORTUNITY AVAILABLE  Are you free or not?

GRADES are Posted for Modules 1-4 click on GRADES

ANNOUNCEMENT  11-4-09

ANNOUNCEMENT  10-27-09

ANNOUNCEMENT  10-21-09

ANNOUNCEMENT  10-19-09   Mod 3 END this WED !!  Mdoule Four on METAPHYSICS starts 10-21-09

ANNOUNCEMENT  10-7-09  NEXT Wed Class meeting is 10-21-09 when we cover module four.  Ask questions abut module three materials in the discussion baord areas for each topic we cover.

ANNOUNCEMENT  10-7-09 Module 3 Philosophy of Religion

GRADES are Posted for Modules 1-2 click on GRADES

A Reasoned approach to Religion and the Existence of a Deity

NO FEELINGS and NO OPINIONS Message-RESPOND 

After two modules into this semester  it is time to reflect on a few points.  Doing so may improve the remainder of our experiences in this class.  We need to get a few things cleared up as we get into the module on Philosophy of Religion. 

Philosophy arises in a culture and in a group when people wonder and that wondering turns into a reflective direction concerning what has been considered as received knowledge.  The questioning of the stories about the most basic ideas and views of life that one learns while growing is part of the philosophical process. 

In Greece the questioning occurred and was in evidence in the time of Socrates in the plays being performed and in the theories of those who were speculating about the stuff out of which the universe .    In China Confucius will answer questions about the stories and ideas presented in the centuries and texts that preceded him.  In India it would be Sankara who reflected on the meanings of the Vedas and Upanishads. 

In this class the stories that members of the class have heard that are relevant to what Philosophy has been about are those stories that deal with a creator deity and linear history and of judgment and punishment, souls and heaven and hell and about what is real and truth and what is good.  We will be examining those stories and ideas as to whether or not they can all be true or not; as to whether they make sense or not. 

You must expect that you will be challenged to respond to the lead questions not with a simple repetition of a story but instead with a response that indicates that you are attempting to use reasoning and to consider critically the claims that you make and the positions that you take and the stories that you have previously memorized and are prone to repeat. 

We are looking for the best possible positions that would be those that are supported with reasons and evidence and contain the fewest possible inconsistencies and no contradictions. 

We are looking to move beyond the type of thinking that Plato described as being at levels one and two of the Divided Line. 

For some this will be quite a challenge for others less so.  For some it may appear to be going against their accustomed ways of thinking and a threat to their most cherished beliefs.  For others it might be a relief to find that they are not alone in wondering about or questioning fairly popular ideas that have seemed to them to be somewhat troublesome. 

Please consider that this class leaves you free to believe what you want to believe but requires that you defend the positions that you take with reasons and evidence and be prepared to answer all questions concerning your positions. 

In the discussions each member of the class should be challenging classmates and asking for clarification or pointing out an inconsistency or contradiction or asking for a reference to a text or website. 

People should be entering the discussions at least on three different days of the week and posting comments in response to the lead question or to classmates’ postings.  The simple posting of "I agree" or its equivalent is welcome but is not a high quality response. 

I do not usually comment on a posting with a positive response such as "good job" or "you are correct".  Occasionally,  I do.  More often I comment on postings that appear to be lacking in understanding or going off the topic.  I quite often respond by asking the poster to respond to a question or two or else to clarify what was meant by a posting.  In all cases the person who is asked to respond should do so, to both my requests and to those similar requests of other classmates. 

People are encouraged to ask for assistance from classmates and to offer assistance to classmates.  People may use the STUDENT CAFÉ or within each module discussion forums students may ask for assistance with the topic of that forum. 

If we attempt to assist one another and work on the discussions the remainder of the semester should go better for all involved. 

Professor's behavior and role in the class: 

I do not care about your feelings.

I do not care about your opinions.

I do not care about your beliefs.

I do take responsibility for and care a great deal about HOW you think- not WHAT you think.

I do not care if you are a theist, polytheist, atheist or agnostic.

I do not care if you are a metaphysical  materialist, idealist or dualist or pragmatist-relativist.

I do not care if you are an epistemological objectivist or relativist or whether you accept the correspondence, coherentist, scientific or pragmatist theory of truth.

I do not care if you are a monist materialist or monist idealist or dualist on the Mind Body issue/problem.

I do not care if you are a libertarian, determinist or soft determinist on the freedom issue.

I do not care if you are a liberal or conservative on political and social issues. 

What I do care about is how you defend your positions.  I care about how you arrive at or "fix" your beliefs (according to the philosopher, C.S.Peirce.) 

I made it clear from the beginning what the class is about- read it, it is still there.

I cautioned people about the amount of work required several times- read the documents and the postings-they are still there

I made it clear that I would be challenging beliefs from the first announcements.

I made it clear what people needed to do to earn the highest possible grades.  It is all there in the documents.

The Calendar/Class Schedule was also provided at the beginning and has not changed.  If people had a problem with :

·              workload

·              assignments

·              days when assignment's are due

They should not have taken the class or should not have continued with the class. 

I am upset at a very few people in this class who appear to think that

·              Philosophy is easy-except for this class.

·              All opinions should be respected or accepted.

·              The purpose of the class is to change the religious and other basic beliefs of the learners.

 I note with great interest that those who have problems understanding the fundamental nature of philosophy and this class are often also those with problems understanding the class requirements.

I realize that they are the few.  The majority appear to be understanding what the class is about and what is expected of them. 

My job is NOT to make you like me.  In person or in PRIVATE Emails I am the "good cop" but online I am the "bad cop"  Why?

Being nice and accepting of all views does not get the job done.  I need to push and pull and get people to THINK CRITICALLY and that often means to stop repeating what they have memorized and repeated over and over again.

I need to get people to get past the CAVE of Plato and past Level one thinking as in Plato's Divided Line description of approaches to knowledge and to life. 

My job is to assist you to achieve the class goals.  Did you read them and take them seriously?  I do.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

My job in a philosophy course is to get people to think in a critical manner about some very fundamental issues in philosophy.  I do so by challenging statements, claims and positions.  I ask for reasons, arguments and evidence.  You see Socrates and Plato doing so in the dialogues and it was made clear in the early modules of the course that philosophy uses the dialectical method of inquiry.  Nowhere is this method intended to insult people in any way. 

We are attempting to develop a COMMUNITY of INQUIRY in this course.  This is part of the philosophical tradition.  This class is becoming a LEARNING COMMUNITY.  We are to assist one another with our communications.  We ask for reasons and for evidence.  We can point out vagueness and inconsistencies and contradictions.  Together we look for the best possible positions on the basic issues. 

My job is to provoke thought (midwife to ideas) and to challenge people to think more carefully.  It is not my job to convert people to accept my positions.  In this course the class members do not know what my own positions are.  In face-to-face classes (not online) at the end of the semester I ask people what they think my positions are on the basic issues. It is a written poll conducted by the students.  Every semester in every class there are just as many who get it wrong as get it correct and some indicate that they have no idea at all. We can do this in this course if you wish.    I play the devil's advocate quite often.  I must challenge the more popular ideas more than the nontraditional ideas.

I am very pleased that there are a number of people (and the number is slowly growing) who have taken to the idea of participating in an open-minded inquiry where we assist one another, ask questions of one another, and attempt to be helpful.  I hope that this continues and that more members of the class will participate more often.

I thank all of you for your participation thus far and encourage you to continue on. 

I repeat: It is Philosophy.  You answers must have CRITICAL THINKING and REASONING to support your positions and evidence wherever possible. 

NO OPINIONS NO FEELINGS. 

You have many beliefs, not only about religion and a deity, that will be challenged in this class.  Be prepared to reconsider.  Some of your beliefs may be wrong.  Others may be indefensible.  Others contradictory to one another. 

I am not interested in how you feel or in your opinions about things.  This class is about Philosophy and my job is to develop your thinking skills and not your feelings.  Your feelings are what they are.  You can act on them or not.  Your thinking should proceed based on your best reasoning and in consideration of evidence and alternatives.  Critical thinking is not acting without thinking.  Critical thinking is not basing your beliefs on your feelings.  In this class you are expected to have positions that are supported by reasoning and evidence. 

If you think or write a sentence that begins with " I feel that"  You are in trouble.  You are basing your beliefs on feelings.  You are probably basing your belief on a comfortable feeling because it is some belief that is familiar to you.  You most likely have MEMORIZED some belief and are merely REPEATING it because you have always done so. 

If you think or write a sentence that begins with " I feel that X"  what you should do is this.

Ask yourself: What evidence do you have that X is true?

Ask yourself: What are your reasons for thinking X is true? 

If you have no answer or no decent answers to those questions you are surely thinking based on feeling and simple memorized stories. 

In this class we need to get way past that stage.

PLEASE reply to this in the DISCUSSION BOARD under SPECIAL MESSAGE for Module Three

ANNOUNCEMENT  9-28-09 Module 2 CHANGE IN CALENDAR

Module 2 assignment due on Oct 6th  !!!!!!!  On week later than originally set.

ANNOUNCEMENT  9-21-09 Module 2 Plato

What is Plato's Allegory of the Cave in the REPUBLIC?

What is Plato's concept of Justice in the REPUBLIC?

ANNOUNCEMENT  9-14-09 Module 2

Why did Socrates die as he did?  Would it have made a difference if he was 27 and not 72? How did he practice Philosophy? What had that to do with his death?  These questions are related to the discussions in Module 2.  Why did Socrates think doing wrong was related to ignorance?

ANNOUNCEMENT  9-9-09 Module 2

GRADES are Posted for Module 1 click on GRADES

ANNOUNCEMENT  9-2-09 Module 1

ANNOUNCEMENT  8-28-09 Module 0 Orientation