N.B.will be tweaked throughout the semester(19Sep. 2016)
Reading guide for
Inquiry 111: Seeing Anew . . . Again
evaluation • resources • Na home • D2L
You may find the following questions and comments helpful as you read and think about the assigned texts.
Remember to take at least 2 written questions or comments to class for each assigned text.
The Blind Men and the Elephant
What is the main point or lesson?
Compare with Plato’s allegory of the cave.
What might Plato point out about the elephant and the blind men’s knowledge of the elephant?
Copland: What to Listen for in Music
What is music?
What is art?
How bound is music and art to time and space (e.g. cultural relativism)?
Think about the last time you listened to music (cf. 3planes).
Genesis 2.4b–3.24: The Tree of Knowledge
What or who are the characters involved? What happens? What does not happen? Why or why not? (i.e., know the story cold—you may be quizzed on it later). For more ways to probe the text see my “Exegesis guidelines”web page.
What can the answers to #1 mean? What messages does the author(s) want to get across? What symbolic readings of the story/myth are possible?
How would you demythologize this story/myth (i.e., get its message[s] across to people today who may not believe in gods or creation or serpents that once could talk or had legs)?
Jot down examples of animism and anthropomorphism in your own life or experience or in our world. Consult Bible commentaries on the assigned text (see librarians for help—you can tell them that I sent you).
How does this myth/story relate to Inquiry?
Who was Prometheus and Icarus? What is their story and how might they relate with this story?
Bring your definitions of myth (also look it up).
Is—or when is—ignorance bliss? Is there knowledge that should be forbidden?
What does it mean that knowledge (of good and evil) and immortality are forbidden at creation?
More?
For more, see the highlighted text (if you wish, check out the non-highlighted parts)
Read and analyze the creation stories in Gen 1–3 very carefully. Slowly & carefully. (Did I mention slowly & carefully?)
What are the similarities & differences between the 2 creation stories in Gen (1.1–2.4a and 2.4b–3.24)?
What is the overall effect that each story has on the reader?
What is the structure of the creation narrative in 1.1–2.4a? And in 2.4b–3.24? Pay attention to the order of creation in each of the creation stories in Gen 1-3. What does the order in each version indicate to you?
What is the main purpose of Gen 1.1–2.4a? Gen 2.4b–3.24?
Which story do you prefer, if any? Why?
What is the significance of the creation of the woman in each account? Which do you find more appealing? Why?
What about the plural in Gen 1.26–27? Cf. Ps 82; Ex 15.11; 1 Kgs 22.19–23; cf. also Ps 8, 136, 148; Prov 8.22–31; Job 38.
What is happening with God’s name or the stories’ reference to God?
In either narrative, is there any textual hint about the state of things before or at the moment when God began to create? (Try several different English translations, especially for Gen 1.1–3.) Does God create from nothing or something? If nothing, what does that mean? If something, what is that something?
Look up “tohu-bohu” in an English dictionary & figure out what it means & where the word comes from.
Read Job 26.12; Ps 74.14, 89.10; Isa 27.1, 51.9 & see how these very old Israelite traditions “remember” creation. Look up Levtiathan & Rahab (not the woman, but the sea monster) in an encyclopedia or a Bible dictionary & see what they are.
Luke 10.21–37: The Good Samaritan
See how the parable reads if you ignore the traditional title for the parable.
Who are the “bad guys” and who are the “good guys”?
Who or what is a neighbor?
Cf.Cotton Patch: Lk 10.25–37)
Worth checking out, before discussing the text with your class, is the larger ethical horizon of the Gospel According to Luke, e.g., Luke 6.27–38:
"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
Plato: Allegory of the Cave
What is the meaning of the fact that, according to the allegory, truth lies outside the cave while we are bound inside the cave?
What does this propose about human perception of reality and the possibility of genuine knowledge?
How does the allegory portray the process of learning truth?
Is the acquisition of genuine knowledge difficult? If so, why?
What conclusions can we draw from this about the process of education?
What objections do you have to Plato’s allegory or the subsequent discussion between Socrates and Glaucon?
What resonates with your experience of learning and experiencing the world?
Re the Socratic method:
What is the significance of the fact that Plato recorded his teachings in dialogue form?
What implications does this have for the contents of his philosophy?
E.g., what does the dialogue form suggest about how Plato envisioned the process of education?
How would Plato rate the education you received in your high school in terms of the objects of learning (subject matter) and the manner in which learning took place (teaching & learning methods)?
Brooks, Geraldine.People of the Book. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. [summer reading]
Steven E. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009.
Rachels: The Challenge of Cultural Relativism
What does cultural relativism mean for within one culture and for between or among different cultures? Consider the following claim:
“Given that cultural relativists take pride in their tolerance, it would be ironic if their theory actually supported the intol- erance of warlike societies. However, their theory need not do that. Properly understood, Cultural Relativism holds that the norms of a culture reign supreme within the bounds of the culture itself.” [sic]
Use these judiciously, after you read and think about the text yourself:
quiz & terms
Rachels summary
Rachels critique
Scudder: Learning to See
near end: “Facts are stupid things, until brought into connection with some general law.”
cf “Strategies for Looking”
cf opt illusions
Shapiro: Liberal Education, Moral Education
What did or do you expect from a liberal arts education (or college in general)?
What’s “liberal” about it? (Discuss in the light of Plato’s metaphor of imprisonment and enlightenment/freedom.)
What do we mean by “arts”? (This will be interesting in the light of Newman’s convictions about utility v. self-rewarding joy.)
What does “education” mean? Meaning of the word? What’s your idea of education?Your ideal teacher? Ideal student? What’s your evaluation of the education you’ve received thus far (e.g., pre-birth–12th grade)? (Discuss in the light of the Socratic method of e-ducating by leading out of the students that which the students already possess as opposed to “leading them out” by pouring knowledge into them. See Plato)
Were your high schools effective in preparing you for liberal arts education? If so, how? If not, how?
Would you not prefer a place where you can learn practical skills or “art” of a particular kind (e.g., vocational school or trade school, technical school or institute [e.g., MIT], music conservatory, welding school)? Why or why not?
evaluation • resources • Na home • D2L