Home / Philosophy / Alpha and Omega
The Alpha(The Beginnings)
Assignments
- Wikipedia Exercise = 25 points
- States Exercise
- Article = 50 points
- Wikipedia Exercise
- In class, do the Wikipedia exercise in this section
- If you are not in class to do this exercise, you cannot obtain these 25 points.
- States Exercise
- In class, do the States exercise
- If you are not in class to do this exercise, you cannot obtain these 25 points.
- Article (You'll talk about this article at our next meeting)
- Choose one of the articles on this page
- Read the article
- Know the ideas and information well enough to discuss the article in 3-5 minutes of talking.
- You must find an incorporate into your discussion one other source concerning that same subject.
- That talk can only be delivered at the next class meeting
- No reading at us unless it is to read a quote that does ot exceed 50 words
- This is not a formal presentation
- If you are not in class next week in time to talk about your chosen article, you cannot obtain these 50 points.
Why are we doing these assignments
- The survey assignments are to have you earnestly engaging with the subjects of the course without you pre-guessing what you think you should think. To do philosophy, you must know where your bias is concerning any subject, allowing you to then, temporarily, set aside personal preferences in order to critically think about a subject.
- The article-reading/talk is to elevate your reading from consumption and comprehension to understanding and apprehension. In our click-baity, social media banality, we are losing the ability to read and learn for ourselves. Comprehension is knowing something by being able to regurgitate exactly whhat some source said, which does nto mean the perosn knows anything except how to be a human parrot. Apprehension is grappling with an idea until it is understood well enough that you can teach a source's subject to others.
What's a Theory?
-
The Elements of Social Scientific Thinking
" A theory could contain a complete system of categories and generalizations—but still be useless. If, for example, one were to categorize the world in terms of tall things and short things and characterize all the relationships between them, a theory would have been born, but it would be one of dubious utility—not false, but useless" (29).
When to start philosophy
- Let’s Be Frankl: The Importance of Meaning
Meaning "forms the basis of logotherapy, which posits that finding meaning is an individual’s primary motivator. It is meaning that allows us to endure. Indeed, in normal life, it is our ticket to what we might call happiness."
- Should philosophy be a core subject at [elementary] school?
"Above all, philosophy is a method. It requires the analysis of ideas and concepts, examination of theories and creative and imaginative efforts to construct ways of thinking that throw fresh light on the problems and puzzles that our fascinating, and sometimes difficult, world throws at us."
- Study Shows That Teaching Young Kids Philosophy Improves Their Academic Performance, Making Them Better at Reading & Math
"Children from disadvantaged backgrounds saw an even bigger leap in performance: reading skills increased by four months, math by three months, and writing by two months. Teachers also reported a beneficial impact on students’ confidence and ability to listen to others."
- Study: Teaching Students Philosophy Will Improve Their Academic Performance
"The kids who were taking philosophy classes improved their math and reading skills by about two months of additional progress compared to the students who didn’t take the classes."
- Who am I? Why am I here? Why children should be taught philosophy (beyond better test scores)
Philosophy is a broad subject. It helps develop skills that can be transferred to other academic areas. This partly explains how philosophy programs improve test scores in reading, writing and mathematics without children having to actually do any reading, writing or mathematics.
The Omega
(The Ends)
Need Proof that everything ends at philosophy?
Play the game:
- Read these directions then click on the link below.
- The link below will take you to a random Wikipedia page.
- Once on that page, click the first link AFTER the bold face word. (But do not click on anything within (parentheses) that immediately follows the bold face word.)
- Keep repeating and you will eventually land on the Philosophy page.
- If you keep returning to a page other than Philosophy, click the second highlighted words in the body of the text.
- Random Wikipedia page
- In class, do the Wikipedia exercise in this section
- If you are not in class to do this exercise, you cannot obtain these 25 points.
- In class, do the States exercise
- If you are not in class to do this exercise, you cannot obtain these 25 points.
- Choose one of the articles on this page
- Read the article
- Know the ideas and information well enough to discuss the article in 3-5 minutes of talking.
- You must find an incorporate into your discussion one other source concerning that same subject.
- That talk can only be delivered at the next class meeting
- No reading at us unless it is to read a quote that does ot exceed 50 words
- This is not a formal presentation
- If you are not in class next week in time to talk about your chosen article, you cannot obtain these 50 points.
What's a Theory?
-
The Elements of Social Scientific Thinking
" A theory could contain a complete system of categories and generalizations—but still be useless. If, for example, one were to categorize the world in terms of tall things and short things and characterize all the relationships between them, a theory would have been born, but it would be one of dubious utility—not false, but useless" (29).
When to start philosophy
- Let’s Be Frankl: The Importance of Meaning
Meaning "forms the basis of logotherapy, which posits that finding meaning is an individual’s primary motivator. It is meaning that allows us to endure. Indeed, in normal life, it is our ticket to what we might call happiness."
- Should philosophy be a core subject at [elementary] school?
"Above all, philosophy is a method. It requires the analysis of ideas and concepts, examination of theories and creative and imaginative efforts to construct ways of thinking that throw fresh light on the problems and puzzles that our fascinating, and sometimes difficult, world throws at us."
- Study Shows That Teaching Young Kids Philosophy Improves Their Academic Performance, Making Them Better at Reading & Math
"Children from disadvantaged backgrounds saw an even bigger leap in performance: reading skills increased by four months, math by three months, and writing by two months. Teachers also reported a beneficial impact on students’ confidence and ability to listen to others."
- Study: Teaching Students Philosophy Will Improve Their Academic Performance
"The kids who were taking philosophy classes improved their math and reading skills by about two months of additional progress compared to the students who didn’t take the classes."
- Who am I? Why am I here? Why children should be taught philosophy (beyond better test scores)
Philosophy is a broad subject. It helps develop skills that can be transferred to other academic areas. This partly explains how philosophy programs improve test scores in reading, writing and mathematics without children having to actually do any reading, writing or mathematics.
The Omega
(The Ends)
Need Proof that everything ends at philosophy?
Play the game:
- Read these directions then click on the link below.
- The link below will take you to a random Wikipedia page.
- Once on that page, click the first link AFTER the bold face word. (But do not click on anything within (parentheses) that immediately follows the bold face word.)
- Keep repeating and you will eventually land on the Philosophy page.
- If you keep returning to a page other than Philosophy, click the second highlighted words in the body of the text.
- Random Wikipedia page