Feeling vocab chart

http://www.tammycamp.com/2010/02/24/one-word-barometers.html

Due to popular demand...

Updates, 11/22--political/moral philosophy projects

Lots of good presentations on Monday!

Two groups have formed definitively:

1. Forgiveness and judgment--can we make public who we have wronged, and so doing, create a more honest and just society?

The fourth step in 12-step programs like AA is to make an inventory of ourselves; the fifth is to admit the wrongs to ourselves and to another person. What do we need to do to understand how we have injured--and been injured by--other people? When have we lied, or cheated, or used harsh words...or, especially, acted out of misplaced judgment or prejudice?

2. Choice and not-choice--what is a choice, and is abstaining from a decision possible?

In some kinds of voting, you have three choices: you can vote in favor (yea) you can vote against (nay) or you can abstain. Some people argue that choosing to abstain is a type of vote, just like voting for or against something. Similarly, you can choose to speak up or be silent; some people argue that staying silent in the face of injustice is as good as collaborating in the injustice itself. What does it mean to choose? What does it mean to choose not to choose?

Both these groups are hard at work coming up with projects!

Something unusual happened, as well. A third group earned enough votes, but when it came time to divide, this group only had one adherent on Monday. This group aimed to explore questions of the sacred and the secular--of the separation (or not) of church and state. We decided to reserve decision on whether this would be a group until Wednesday.

The game is afoot!

Reminders 11/16 and 11/21

Lots of political philosophy ideas to chew on last time! Sovereignty, law, consent, representation, property, and more! Don't forget, on Monday, 11/21, you will be responsible for delivering a one-minute proposal for a project to get Boston talking about moral and political philosophy. Bring in a text-message-sized description on ballots (strips of paper). COLORED strips are nice (remember Colleen's?) because they let us sort more effectively. You will deliver your one-minute proposals and we will vote on your project ideas on Monday!

White House "Campus Champions of Change Challenge"

President Obama is urging college students to self-report stories of change within their communities that they were involved in. It’s called “Campus Champions of Change Challenge” http://www.whitehouse.gov/CampusChallenge Share your Awesome Philosophy stuff on here! Maybe become famous!

One Cool Idea--for your portfolio

So, you know how our imaginary friend, Bob The Student, met with a tragic fate because he didn't publish all the pages on his portfolio?

And you know how there's nothing in your templates under "One Cool Idea"?

Monica The Professor neglected to publish one of the sections on her portfolio template. Oops!

Here's the prompt for "One Cool Idea" in your e-portfolio:

In 150-200 WELL CHOSEN words, choose ONE of the ideas that makes up a chapter in The Philosophy Gym, and write an engaging exploration of that idea. Get your audience to think about the idea more deeply! Include at least ONE piece of multimedia--photo is OK, but video is better!

MEDIA!

If you have MEDIA so far that gives us a "tease" of your project--photos, for instance, of people baking cupcakes or huddled together over a design for generosity cards--send it to me! profpoole at gmail dot com! I know most of us aren't going for pre-launch buzz, but I want to tease the new readers of awesomephilosophy.com a little bit.

Wednesday is launch day!

WEDNESDAY IS LAUNCH DAY. We'll initiate the Awesome Philosophy projects AT BHCC, on campus, on Wednesday. Distribute your cupcakes, do your weird reality stunts, begin to get the ball rolling on putting out your viral generosity cards.

Email me by the end of Saturday, tomorrow, to let me know your proposed launch action!

On Wednesday: we'll convene at 2:30 in our usual classroom, then launch our stuff around D-building and perhaps elsewhere around the college, then reconvene and reflect no later than 3:30.

Oh, by the way: the Dean of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Len Mhlaba, my boss, is visiting us on Wednesday. This is both because he's curious about what we're doing and because he's doing a performance evaluation of whether I'm doing my job well. So...you know, keep that in mind. :)

The schedule (in the near future)

Going forward, here's our plan for the near future:

by Saturday: one person from each group must email me with your progress on your project, your plans for the weekend, and the current state of your plans for Wednesday.

Monday, 10/24: NO PRESENTATIONS. THE SCHEDULE ON THE SYLLABUS IS NO LONGER VALID. Continue to work in and outside of class on your "project launch" on Wednesday. Consider creating "buzz" among your friends about what you're going to do. Keep it a little mysterious!

Wednesday, 10/26: Class today is devoted to launching your projects AT BHCC! Cupcakes, generosity cards, reality experiments, etc. We'll gather at the usual classroom at 2:30, leave to launch the projects by 2:45, and reconvene no later than 3:30 to report on what we learned.

Create "buzz" after the fact on social media--conversations and Facebook status updates alike.

Send me an email (one PER PERSON, not one per group) reflecting on your project's launch no later than Friday, 10/28. What was it like--describe it in detail, since I won't be able to see every moment of everyone's launch! What did you learn? What will you do differently next time?

Bring your projects to the larger world. Cupcakes, coasters, generosity cards (and map), subway reality experiments, etc.

Monday, 10/31: Class today is devoted to continuing work on your projects.

(And, you know, come in costume? Maybe?)

Wednesday, 11/2: Class today is devoted to learning about making awesome presentations of your projects in advance of...

Monday, 11/7: PRESENTATION DAY. Each group gets 10 minutes to show a MULTIMEDIA presentation of what they did. There should be: talking and photos or video for EVERY SINGLE GROUP. Watch TED talks (no, not the movement one AGAIN!) for inspiration--this is the style of the talk you'll be giving. Invite your friends and family.

Wednesday, 11/9: Debriefs with me! Submit your peer grading sheets today!

Monday, 11/14: We begin political philosophy--the second project! And now that you have STUFF for it, we learn about the portfolio! Whew!

Generosity and mapping working post

If you're working on the generosity and map projects--making helping strangers go viral and experimenting with the relationship between physical space and big ideas like spirituality and honesty--you can comment on this post to organize, if you like! Comment about things you need, comment about who is in the group, comment about what your plans are for this weekend!

Reality working post

If you're working on the "reality" project--coining a nonsense word, doing an imaginary tug of war--you can comment on this post to organize, if you like! Comment about things you need, comment about who is in the group, comment about what your plans are for this weekend!

Cupcakes and Coasters working post

If you're working on the "cupcakes and coasters" project--philosophical questions in everyday places--you can comment on this post to organize, if you like! Comment about things you need, comment about who is in the group, comment about what your plans are for this weekend!

Updates after 10/12!

People.

Good work.

Awesome work, even.

As you work on your projects this weekend, don't forget to document them in progress! Take pictures, video, audio, write things down, Tweet and Facebook them, etc. But especially, take pictures! Take pictures of you working together, take pictures of the notes you're taking, take pictures of going to buy a jump rope (or whatever).

Coaster/toothpick people: I already need stuff from you! I need at least one good closeup of a coaster, and one good closeup of a fortune-cookie thingie.

Everyone, send the pictures to me--profpoole at gmail dot com.

I've made you a website on which we're going to display our collective, edited, stuff as a class. This is NOT the new "course website" for us to communicate with each other; this is for us to show our progress to the world.

It's awesomephilosophy.com

Put that URL on your coasters, toothpicks, generosity cards, handouts at your tugs of war, etc. We can make philosophizing become viral.

Good work in yesterday's exam review!

As a reminder, class will not meet next week.  Instead we will have oral exams.  Please make sure you have signed up on the SPREADSHEET.

If you've misplaced your practice handout for the oral exam, here is an electronic copy: PRACTICE HANDOUT.

Practice with each other!  Barbara's email list was a terrific idea--I hope many of you are connecting to work together this weekend!

As a reminder, the oral exam will last fifteen minutes, and will consist of questions that you draw randomly.

You will draw:
two fallacies or syllogisms
one puzzle or paradox

Check out the practice handout for examples.  Remember, the practice handout is EXAMPLES; I will probably use a few things from it, but don't count on drawing a puzzle you've seen before!  Performing well on the paradox/puzzle is VERY important.

If points help you think, here's the breakdown I will be using as I hear and grade your exam performance:
20 possible points for one fallacy/syllogism
20 possible points for the other fallacy/syllogism
50 possible points for the puzzle/paradox
(which gets you to 90 points)
10+ points for the grab bag thing

Remember, tell me ANYTHING you can think about--even if you don't know the latin names, saying SOMETHING is always helpful!

If you do well on the first few things and solve them quickly, you will have the option to draw from the logic "grab bag".  This is where riddles, more puzzles, and fun and challenging stuff live.  Whatever you draw from the grab bag can only help you!  Drawing from the grab bag is also the only way to possibly earn a grade of A- or A (of course, drawing from the grab bag doesn't guarantee an A or A-!)

And as ever, if you have any questions feel free to be in touch!  If you want to find me in person, I work in Advising from 11 to 4 on Saturdays.

Please note that I will be unavailable Sunday night--you're welcome to IM or email or text me, but no guarantees that you'll hear back in time for Monday's exams!

For the folks who missed the Lewis Carroll puzzles/"Fun with logic" handout: I've uploaded it here.  The Lewis Carroll puzzles start on page 5.

I've also uploaded the fallacies handout from today.

Hi everyone!  Sorry for the delay.

Here is the spreadsheet to use to sign up for your oral exams!  Please remember that the oral exams will take place next week, 9/26, 9/27, and 9/28.  You're responsible to arrive in my office, B-227 H, at your scheduled time.

Hi everyone! Thank you for a wonderful first class today! For MONDAY, please make sure you've read the "Deductive Arguments" handout. If you missed it today you can pick it up at my office, B-227-H. Please also read chapters 24 and 25 of The Philosophy Gym, our book for this course. Please also make sure you fill out the Google form referenced in the earlier post to this blog. As ever, you know where to find me if you have any questions!

Welcome to the blog for Philosophy 101 at Bunker Hill Community College! We meet on Mondays and Wednesdays at 2:30 in Room D-212. Please begin by filling out this form so that I, Monica Poole, your professor, can get to know you a little better. If you lose your syllabus, you can always download a new one here.