By Thaddeus Kozinski, Oct 28, 2009 in Musings, Questions, Pedagogy and Teaching
Concluding thoughts on the nature of true philosophy and authentic liberal arts at a Christian school.
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Teaching Contemporary Events? Teach the Fundamentals First.
By Anthony Gill, Oct 26, 2009 in Pedagogy and Teaching
Whenever anybody asks what I do for a living, I tell them that I’m a professor of political economy. Invariably, the person who asked responds, “Wow! You certainly have a lot to talk about today!” Even my academic colleagues will say this to me if some event such as a large bank failure dominates the headlines. The underlying implication of this statement is that professors in my discipline deal primarily with “current events.” In other words, we explain what is reported in the newspapers or on cable news.
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Aristotle and the Art of Fly Fishing II
By Gregory S. Butler, Oct 23, 2009 in Musings
In my last post I laid out some brief reflections on the sport of fly fishing and its relationship to Aristotelian natural law teaching. The reaction has been predictable among some of my close acquaintances. Evidently I have succeeded in living up to my reputation (undeserved!) for undue magniloquence. Well, I am sorry to report that I have more to say on the subject.
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The Land of Mordor, Mount Doom, and General Education
By Gerson Moreno-Riano, Oct 22, 2009 in Musings, Pedagogy and Teaching
Evaluating and revising a general education curriculum is much like a journey through the Land of Mordor on the way to Mount Doom. Few are one’s allies, many are one’s enemies, perils abound and there is darkness everywhere. I may perhaps write about allies and enemies alike at some other time. For now, I want to write about some of the perils and darkness that pervade the terrain.
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Introducing The Subfields of Political Science: Big Questions for Contemporary Politics, Part III
By John von Heyking, Oct 21, 2009 in Pedagogy and Teaching
Reflections on Political History and National Identity.
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The Good Philosopher and the Good Liberal Arts College, Part V: The Good Philosopher Institutionalized
By Thaddeus Kozinski, Oct 19, 2009 in Musings, Pedagogy and Teaching
Most of the foregoing discussion in this series has focused on the nature of the good philosopher. Now it is time to examine more closely how the same principles can be applied to a Christian liberal arts institution.
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Turning Students Into Farmers
By RJ Snell, Oct 16, 2009 in Musings, Questions, Pedagogy and Teaching
Propriety involves knowing good limits, just like a farmer knows the limits of the land. But much education presses these limits and even exists to transgress them. When do we say "stop"?
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What Should Students Take Away from the US history survey?
By Phil Hamilton, Oct 14, 2009 in Musings, Pedagogy and Teaching
Every year I teach the first half of the US history survey course (which ends with the Civil War's conclusion), and each time I ask myself what I really want my students to take away from the class, especially since, for most of them, this will probably be the last formal history course they will take in their lives. I always have several general goals in mind.
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Introducing The Subfields of Political Science: Big Questions for Contemporary Politics, Part II
By John von Heyking, Oct 12, 2009 in Pedagogy and Teaching
For the latest iteration of my Introduction to Political Studies, I assigned a few articles dealing with the contemporary state of liberal education as a way to get my students thinking about the political problems set forth in their assigned introductory reading for this class (Huxley’s Brave New World) and in their assigned political philosophy readings (Plato’s Apology of Socrates and Crito). While these readings focus on liberal education, the primary readings of Huxley and Plato also suggest contemporary readings on individual freedom or resistance. I chose liberal education as a focus because those other topics tend to flatter too much the sense undergraduates have of their own assertiveness. They might already be identifying too much, and for the wrong reasons, with Bernard Marx and Socrates.
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The Good Philosopher and the Good Liberal Arts College, Part IV: Postmodernism and Christian Philosophy
By Thaddeus Kozinski, Oct 9, 2009 in Musings, Pedagogy and Teaching
With the previous three posts as background, I am now prepared to claim that postmodernist non-foundationalism needs to be adopted, at least to some extent, by the Christian philosopher, though in a thoroughly realist and theologically robust mode. . . .
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