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Daryl Bambic

Measuring Humility and Its Positive Effects - Defining Wisdom | A Project of the Univer... - 0 views

wisdomresearch.org/...-and-its-positive-effects.aspx

shared by Daryl Bambic on 27 Dec 13 - No Cached
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 19 Jan 15
       
      In what way might humility be an important asset for philosopher?
Daryl Bambic

The Role of Socratic Questioning in Thinking, Teac - 0 views

www.criticalthinking.org/...522

questioning Socratic thinking Critical Thinking pft

shared by Daryl Bambic on 15 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • answers can be taught separate from question
  • Hence every declarative statement in the textbook is an answer to a question. Hence, every textbook could be rewritten in the interrogative mode by translating every statement into a question.
  • thinking is not driven by answers but by questions
  • ...20 more annotations...
  • Questions define tasks, express problems and delineate issues. Answers on the other hand, often signal a full stop in thought.
  • Moreover, the quality of the questions students ask determines the quality of the thinking they are doing.
  • That is, we ask questions only to get thought-stopping answers, not to generate further questions.
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 15 Jan 15
       
      Another good reason to teach philosophy.
  • force us to deal with complexity.
  • Questions of implication force us to follow out where our thinking is going
  • purpose force
  • nformatio
  • nterpretation
  • Questions of assumption
  • point of view
  • relevance
  • ccuracy
  • precision
  • consistency
  • No questions equals no understanding.
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 15 Jan 15
       
      Do you agree with this statement?
  • There is a special relationship between critical thinking and Socratic Questioning because both share a common end. Critical thinking gives one a comprehensive view of how the mind functions (in its pursuit of meaning and truth), and Socratic Questioning takes advantage of that overview to frame questions essential to the quality of that pursuit.
  • pre-thinking the main question to be discussed using the approach of developing prior question
  • list of questions which probe the logic of the first question,
Daryl Bambic

The Shrinking World of Ideas - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education - 0 views

chronicle.com/...150141

ideas neuroscience

shared by Daryl Bambic on 25 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • To put it in the most basic terms: Our preferences, behaviors, tropes, and thoughts—the very stuff of consciousness—are byproducts of the brain’s activity. And once we map the electrochemical impulses that shoot between our neurons, we should be able to understand—well, everything. So every discipline becomes implicitly a neurodiscipline, including ethics, aesthetics, musicology, theology, literature, whatever.
  • If all behavior has an electrochemical component, then in what sense—psychological, legal, moral—is a person responsible for his actions?
  • neuroscience has put a new spin on free will and culpability:
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • all behavior is mechanical,
  • back to forces beyond the agent’s control."
  • British philosopher Roger Scruton
  • xception to the notion that neuroscience can explain us to ourselve
  • Sally Satel and Scott O. Lilienfeld’s Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience
  • The same questions that always intrigued us—What is justice? What is the good life? What is morally valid? What is free will?
  • neurohumanities
  • Now that psychoanalytic, Marxist, and literary theory have fallen from grace, neuroscience and evolutionary biology can step up
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 25 Nov 14
       
      This is the heart of it.
Daryl Bambic

What Psychological and Social Factors Contribute to the Development of Wisdom? - Wisdom... - 0 views

wisdomresearch.org/...1445.aspx

wisdom research

shared by Daryl Bambic on 19 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Given that meditation is a mental activity one could imagine that the practice of meditation relates to wisdom
  • dance experience
  • affect judgment or decision making
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • age is not related to wisdom,
  • ncreased experience in meditation is related to increased cognitive, affective, and reflective wisdom
  • increased ballet experience is related to increased cognitive, affective, and reflective wisdom
  • self regulation and self control, which are important in maintaining such practices over long periods of time may be important for the development of wisdom
  • grit,
  • Daniel Kahneman
  • decision biases
  • istort some aspects of rational economic decision-making.
  • endowment effect,
  • hinking in a second language reduces economic biases
  • increase creativity
  • insight in problem solving.
  • antecedents of wisdom.
  • emotional distance fr
  • What needs to be true about a person in order to develop wisdom or to take advantage of experiences that can lead to the development of wisdom?
  • Wisdom seems to depend on epistemic humility.
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 19 Nov 14
       
      Epistemic humility - a great descriptor for Socrates.  To be humble about what one knows or does not know.  Socrates famously said that he knew only that he knew little or nothing.
  • importance of humility in terms of recognizing how much there is to know and to learn about people.
  • wisdom depends in part on understanding that the values and perspectives of other people are important in solving human problems -- we all must be open to learning more.
  • other virtues may serve as guidance in the use and development of wisdom.
  • willingness to engage in intellectual struggle,
  • Wisdom may also depend on a propensity to engage in divergent thinking, creativity, and the insight that comes from a diversity of experiences, and from forming new concepts and associations among concepts.
Megan Levine

America and the 'Fun' Generation - NYTimes.com - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...30iht-currents.html

fun hedonism philosophy pft

shared by Megan Levine on 30 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • And now a count can declare the victors: “achievement” and “fun.”
  • term “excellence”
  • dropped out of favor, also elevenfold. As “fun” gained influence, mentions of “pleasure” fell by a factor of four.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • In the history of language, words rise and fall. We make and remake them; they make and remake us.
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 02 Apr 14
       
      Language is the philosopher's primary tool.  What do you think that the rising influence of 'fun' means for how we think about pleasure?
    • Natasha Campbell
      Natasha Campbell on 03 Apr 14
       
      I think that overtime, we become influenced by certain attributes, or things throughout the day which makes us perceive certain things as entertaining... With new technology, and the way our world changes, we could view different things as pleasure in contrast of what people thought of as appealing way back when.
  • turning in American culture, and one that has influenced the world. It is a turning away from an arguably aristocratic idea of the intrinsic worth of things: from pleasure, with its sense of an internal condition of mind, to fun, so closely affiliated with outward activities; from excellence, an inner trait whose attainment is its own reward, to achievement, which comes through slogging and recognition.
  • Merriam-Webster defines “pleasure” as “a state of gratification
  • fun is “what provides amusement or enjoyment;
  • excellence” as “the quality of being excellent,” which in turn means “very good of its kind: eminently good.” “Achievement,” meanwhile, is “a result gained by effort.”
  • “Pleasure” carries a hint of the sublime; it speaks of a state of mind that comes organically, that need not be artificially induced.
  • un,” though almost synonymous with “pleasure” for contemporary speakers, often involves artificial inducement
  • If “pleasure” comes from being and from talking through ideas, “fun” comes from doing and, often, switching off the brain.
  • Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one.”
  • “Excellence” evokes Aristotle with its overtones of virtue. Anyone can achieve
  • but how many can truly be excellent?
  • “Achievement” is a word more likely to come from American leaders today, and, like “fun,” it is outward in nature. It comes in doing specific things. It is more about checking boxes than fulfilling inner potentialities.
  • The achievement culture permeates life today
  • n American culture of instantaneous celebrity teaches young people that fame is an end in itself rather than an incidental symptom of excellence in craft.
  • But with that change has come another: what would seem to be a growing intolerance for merely being, and an anguished insistence on doing, doing, doing.
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 30 Mar 14
       
      What are the differences between pleasure and achievement according to the author?   Do you agree with him?
    • Natasha Campbell
      Natasha Campbell on 03 Apr 14
       
      Achievement is simply something we check off on our to-do list. It's not something we take great value in. As in pleasure, it's something that we treasure because it's something we don't get too often, because we're too busy being blinded by the 'fun' aspects of life. I agree with the author because I believe that many people today believe that they find pleasure in doing absolutely nothing, and to shut off their brains completely. I believe that discovering new things and letting your mind wander just enough is pleasurable. 
    • Megan Levine
      Megan Levine on 03 Apr 14
       
      Today, pleasure is something that is very rare to find, since it is overshadowed by "fun". However, achievement is simply something that can be checked off a list, and is very easy to accomplish. Anyone can achieve something; they just may have a harder time being excellent at something. We take great value in pleasure, but not in achievements. I agree with the author because I believe that our generation is so caught up in technology, and entertainment, that we sometimes forget to seek for pleasure in our lives. I also agree that shutting off our brains does not give us pleasure; it just shuts away all the problems that will resurface. It's okay to have fun, but finding pleasure is something that is much more valuable, in my opinion. 
Melissa Mazzanti

America and the 'Fun' Generation - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...30iht-currents.html

shared by Melissa Mazzanti on 02 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • In the history of language, words rise and fall. We make and remake them; they make and remake us.
    • Melissa Mazzanti
      Melissa Mazzanti on 02 Apr 14
       
      How do words catch on?
  • turning away from an arguably aristocratic idea of the intrinsic worth of things: from pleasure, with its sense of an internal condition of mind, to fun, so closely affiliated with outward activities; from excellence, an inner trait whose attainment is its own reward, to achievement, which comes through slogging and recognition.
  • “Pleasure” carries a hint of the sublime; it speaks of a state of mind that comes organically, that need not be artificially induced.
    • Melissa Mazzanti
      Melissa Mazzanti on 02 Apr 14
       
      Reminds me of Epicureanism a little bit
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • If “pleasure” comes from being and from talking through ideas, “fun” comes from doing and, often, switching off the brain.
  • “Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one.”
  • It comes in doing specific things. It is more about checking boxes than fulfilling inner potentialities.
    • Melissa Mazzanti
      Melissa Mazzanti on 02 Apr 14
       
      What achievement is considered by many people today.
Daryl Bambic

Russell, Bertrand: Ethics [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] - 0 views

www.iep.utm.edu/russ-eth

russell ethics

shared by Daryl Bambic on 02 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • Russell’s view is that the good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge
  • neither love without knowledge
  • knowledge without love
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • but love is in a sense more fundamental, since it will lead intelligent people to seek knowledge in order to find out how to benefit those whom they love.
  • “scientific knowledge and knowledge of particular facts.”
  • All moral rules must be tested by examining whether they tend to realize ends that we desire.”(374)
  • In his youth, Russell took the utilitarian view that the “happiness of mankind should be the aim of all actions”
  • dignity of which human existence is capable is not attainable by “devotion to the mechanism of life”, and that unless the contemplation of “eternal things” is preserved, humankind will become “no better than well-fed pigs.”
  • He believed that (1) “good” is the most fundamental ethical concept and (2) that “good” is indefinable
  • a priori certain propositions about the kind of things that are good on their own account.
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 02 Apr 14
       
      A priori meaning without empirical evidence, from reason and logic.
  • Russell, on the other hand, gives no such list of things which are good in themselves,
  • regard consequences or results as of vital importance for judging an action as right or wrong. In other words both are teleologists or consequentialists, like the utilitarians.
  • mpact of the First World War, which Russell passionately opposed
  • of human passions similar to that of psychoanalysts. Russell started believing that fundamental facts “in all ethical questions are feelings”, (Russell 1917, 19) and that impulse has more effect in moulding human lives than conscious purpose.
  • d we ought to act so as to maximize the balance of happiness over unhappiness in the world, and says: “I should not myself regard happiness as an adequate definition of the good, but I should agree that conduct ought to be judged by its consequences.”
  • According to him, once “good” is defined, the rest of ethics follows:
  • According to Russell, when we assert that this or that has value, we are giving expression to our emotions, not to a fact which would still be true if our personal feelings were different.
  • he first of these sentences, which may be true or false, does not, says Russell, belong to ethics but to psychology or biography
  • he second sentence which does belong to ethics, expresses a desire for something, but asserts nothing; and since it asserts nothing it is logically impossible that there should be evidence for or against it, or for it to possess either truth or falsehood.
  • Russell adopts as his guiding principle David Hume’s maxim that “Reason is, and ought, only to be the slave of the passions.
  • esires, emotions or passions
  • nly possible causes of action. Reason is not a cause of action but only a regulator.
  • The world that I should wish to see,” says Russell, ‘is one where emotions are strong but not destructive, and where, because they are acknowledged, they lead to no deception either of oneself or of others. Such a world would include love and friendship and the pursuit of art and knowledge.” (11)
  • esires are not “irrational” just because we cannot give any reason for them.
  • wondering once again whether there is such a thing as ethical knowledge.
  • since it must involve appeal to the majority,
Daryl Bambic

The Science of Older and Wiser - Defining Wisdom | A Project of the University of Chica... - 0 views

wisdomresearch.org/...cience-of-older-and-wiser.aspx

wisdom insight older

shared by Daryl Bambic on 27 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • hat if you define wisdom as maintaining positive well-being and kindness in the face of challenges, it is one of the most important qualities one can possess to age successfully — and to face physical decline and death.
  • Vivian Clayton, a geriatric neuropsychologist in Orinda, Calif
  • she found that most people described as wise were decision makers.
  • ...41 more annotations...
  • name the characteristics of a wise person
  • hree key components: cognition, reflection and compassion.
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 27 Mar 14
       
      Cognition is the process of acquiring knowledge through thought and the senses.  Speed of cognition is only one aspect of this. 
  • Unfortunately, research shows that cognitive functioning slows as people age. But speed isn’t everything
  • quality of the information in the older brain is more nuanced
  • ore information people have in their brains, the more they can detect familiar patterns.
  • cognitive templates
  • pattern recognition,
  • the reflective dimension)
  • he compassionate dimension
  • Wisdom, she has found, is the ace in the hole that can help even severely impaired people find meaning, contentment and acceptance in later life.
  • more active than passive about dealing with hardship.
  • better coping skills
  • An impediment to wisdom is thinking, “I can’t stand who I am now because I’m not who I used to be,”
  • t’s an embracing acceptance,
  • accept reality as it is, with equanimity
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 27 Mar 14
       
      Equanimity: means being calm and emotionally stable, especially under stress. You might say, "going with the flow".
  • f things are really bad, it’s good to be wise,” she said.
  • an expert knowledge system concerning the fundamental pragmatics of life.
  • general wisdom
  • personal wisdom
  • five elements
  • elf-insight
  • personal growth
  • elf-awareness in terms of your historical era
  • priorities and values, including your own, are not absolute
  • awareness of life’s ambiguities.
  • oping strategy
  • better to be positive about life when you are older, she said,
  • a wise person would fully acknowledge mistakes and losses, and still try to improve.
  • involves recognizing the negative both within and outside
  • stress kindness
  • eduction in self-centeredness,
  • multiple perspectives,
  • people who rank high in neuroticism are unlikely to be wise,
  • amorphous trait
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 27 Mar 14
       
      Amorphous: hard to define, without a clear shape
  • If you are wise, she said, “You’re not only regulating your emotional state, you’re also attending to another person’s emotional state.
  • hat you can contribute
  • generativity,
  • Generativity means giving back without needing anything in return,
  • simplifying one’s life is also a sign of wisdom
  • Continuing education can be an important way to cultivate wisdom in the later years
Daryl Bambic

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF PLATONISM « Studying the Humanities - 0 views

studyingthehumanities.wordpress.com/...a-brief-overview-of-platonism

plato

shared by Daryl Bambic on 20 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Plato’s philosophy has lasted “almost two and a half thousand years” and has “profoundly influenced”
  • allegorical ‘Myth of the Cave’
  • rying to explain how the appearance of things and the reality that stands behind these appearances work within the human condition”
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • aises questions on the nature of education and enlightenmen
  • ndividual perceptions create the lived reality
  • Our perceptions create our reality
  • light can “pain the eyes
  • deception of the shadows”
  • en (sic) lacking education would come to believe that the shadows they see are the real thing
  • Plato optimistically holds that if one ever comes to know the Good, one becomes good. Ignorance is the only sin. No one would willingly do wrong
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