Continuing from part one on Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business with guest Brian Hirt. Let's get critical: Is it really the case that the written word is so much more suited for providing context than television, which after all does retain some of the virtues of the pre-literate speechifying culture that Socrates preferred over writing? Continue Reading …
Ep. 268: Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” (Part One for Supporters)
On Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985), featuring Mark, Seth, Dylan, Wes, and guest Brian Hirt, the co-host of Pretty Much Pop with degrees in linguistics and science education. How does the form in which we receive media affect how we think? Postman tweaks Marshall McLuhan's famous slogan "the medium is the message" to say "the Continue Reading …
Ep. 249: Dewey on Education and Thought (Part Two)
Continuing on John Dewey's Democracy and Education (1916) ch. 1, 2, 4, and 24 with guest Jonathan Haber. How is education different than mere conditioning, and how does it relate to habits and growth? Dewey (not Wittgenstein) invented "meaning as use"! We try to figure out whether he's just recommending what we've covered in our liberal education episodes, or something else. Continue Reading …
Ep. 249: Dewey on Education and Thought (Part One)
On John Dewey's How We Think (1910) ch. 1 and Democracy and Education (1916) ch. 1, 2, 4, and 24. What model of human nature should serve as the basis for education policy? Dewey sees the scientific method as a refinement of ordinary thinking: We wonder about something, and experiencing that uncomfortable uncertainty, we jump for an explanation. Education should train us to Continue Reading …
Ep. 249: Dewey on Education and Thought (Citizen Edition)
On John Dewey's How We Think (1910) ch. 1 and Democracy and Education (1916) ch. 1, 2, 4, and 24. What model of human nature should serve as the basis for education policy? Dewey sees the scientific method as a refinement of ordinary thinking: We wonder about something, and experiencing that uncomfortable uncertainty, we jump for an explanation. Education should train us to Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 13: #PushyAI
Thirteenth in an ongoing series about the places where science and religion meet. The previous episode is here. For a more realistic portrait than Kurzweil’s of what a future dominated by technology might look like, one plausible place to start is with our present domination by technology, and how it is already transforming us as human beings. For example, consider the Continue Reading …
Ep. 207: Herder on Art Appreciation (Part Two)
Continuing on Johann Gottfried von Herder's “The Causes of Sunken Taste among the Different Peoples in Whom It Once Blossomed” (1775), then moving to “On the Influence of the Belles Lettres on the Higher Sciences” (1781), “Does Painting or Music Have a Greater Effect? A Divine Colloquy” (1785), and the sections about music and dance from the Critical Forests: Fourth Grove Continue Reading …
Ep. 207: Herder on Art Appreciation (Part One)
On essays in aesthetics by Johann Gottfried von Herder: “The Causes of Sunken Taste among the Different Peoples in Whom It Once Blossomed” (1775), “On the Influence of the Belles Lettres on the Higher Sciences” (1781), “Does Painting or Music Have a Greater Effect? A Divine Colloquy” (1785), and the sections about music and dance from the Critical Forests: Fourth Grove (written Continue Reading …
Ep. 200: Kant/Mendelssohn/Foucault on Enlightenment (Part Two)
Continuing on "What Is Enlightenment" by Immanuel Kant (1784), "On Enlightening the Mind" by Moses Mendelssohn (1784), and "What Is Enlightenment" by Michael Foucault (1984). We finish up Kant (the courage to know!) and lay out the Mendelssohn (cultivation vs. enlightenment) and Foucault (ironically heroize the present!). Will this conversation enlighten you? Who Continue Reading …
Ep. 200: Kant/Mendelssohn/Foucault on Enlightenment (Part One)
On "What Is Enlightenment" by Immanuel Kant (1784), "On Enlightening the Mind" by Moses Mendelssohn (1784), and "What Is Enlightenment" by Michael Foucault (1984). At the end of the historical period known as the Enlightenment, a Berlin newspaper asked what exactly that is, and Kant and Mendelssohn both responded (neither having read the other's answer). According to Kant, Continue Reading …
Ep. 200: Kant/Mendelssohn/Foucault on Enlightenment (Citizen Edition)
On "What Is Enlightenment" by Immanuel Kant (1784), "On Enlightening the Mind" by Moses Mendelssohn (1784), and "What Is Enlightenment" by Michael Foucault (1984). Participate in the survey to help us plan our 10 year anniversary PEL Live event! At the end of the historical period known as the Enlightenment, a Berlin newspaper asked what exactly that is, and Kant and Continue Reading …
Ep. 193: The Theory and Practice of Liberal Education w/ Pano Kanelos (Part Two)
Continuing with the current St. John's College president on articles on liberal education by Jacob Klein (former Dean of SJC), Sidney Hook (critiquing the SJC program), and Martha Nussbaum (critiquing Allan Bloom). What's the practical application of a liberal education? Is it really liberating or indoctrinating? How can we justify learning for learning's sake in a world Continue Reading …
Ep. 193 Follow-Up: Strauss and Rorty on Liberal Education and Democracy (Citizens Only)
Wes and Dylan discuss two articles selected but later rejected for ep. 193: Leo Strauss's "Mass Education and Democracy" (1967) and Richard Rorty's "Democracy and Philosophy" (2007). Must philosophical training, or liberal education more generally, necessarily be restricted a privileged minority? Thanks for being a PEL Citizen and supporting this extra discussion! Continue Reading …
Ep. 193: The Theory and Practice of Liberal Education w/ Pano Kanelos (Part One)
Dylan returns to St. John's College, Annapolis to bring its president into dialogue with the PEL clan about Jacob Klein's “The Idea of a Liberal Education” (1960) and “On Liberal Education” (1965), plus Sidney Hook’s “A Critical Appraisal of the St. John’s College Curriculum” (1946) and Martha Nussbaum’s “Undemocratic Vistas” (1987). Ep. 192 got us talking about a Continue Reading …
Ep. 193: The Theory and Practice of Liberal Education w/ Pano Kanelos (Citizen Edition)
Dylan returns to St. John's College, Annapolis to bring its president into dialogue with the PEL clan about Jacob Klein's “The Idea of a Liberal Education” (1960) and “On Liberal Education” (1965), plus Sidney Hook’s “A Critical Appraisal of the St. John’s College Curriculum” (1946) and Martha Nussbaum’s “Undemocratic Vistas” (1987). Ep. 192 got us talking about a Continue Reading …
Ep. 192: “The Closing of the American Mind”: Allan Bloom on Education (Part Two)
Continuing on Allan Bloom's 1987 book critiquing the current fragmented structure of the university that promotes technical and professional education over the ability to think philosophically. Does Bloom's vision require aristocracy, or can a Great Books education be available for all? Bloom thinks we lack a shared culture and consequently a sense of the common good. He Continue Reading …
Ep. 192: “The Closing of the American Mind”: Allan Bloom on Education (Part One)
On Allan Bloom's 1987 best-seller about why students' disconnection from Great Books has led to relativism and ultimately nihilism. What is the role of the university in our democracy? Bloom relates from his many years teaching the problem with kids today: They're subject to the evils that Tocqueville warned us go with American-style democracy: They're conformist, Continue Reading …
Ep. 192: “The Closing of the American Mind”: Allan Bloom on Education (Citizen Edition)
On Allan Bloom's 1987 best-seller about why students' disconnection from Great Books has led to relativism and ultimately nihilism. What is the role of the university in our democracy? Bloom relates from his many years teaching the problem with kids today: They're subject to the evils that Tocqueville warned us go with American-style democracy: They're conformist, Continue Reading …
Education and Schopenhauer’s “Thinking for Oneself”
In Arthur Schopenhauer's essay “On Thinking for Oneself” (1851), he writes that there are few people who possess a natural love of learning and that they will only learn from others if they find something that triggers an innate interest inside themselves. Thinking must be kindled, like a fire by a draught; it must be sustained by some interest in the matter in hand. This Continue Reading …
Education Philosophy Becomes Practice
Over the past hundred years Constructivists and Traditionalists have enjoyed an uneasy truce in the world of education practitioners. Constructivism "says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences." [thirteen.org] Traditionalists were more influenced by the "scientific management" Continue Reading …