A little of us and Socrates/Adler
Good morning this is me. We’re trying something different and that is typing toward the end of the day rather than the beginning of the day. I don’t know how long we can go. It’s about 4:45 pm now on a September Saturday. Umm ok … no surprises. It’s the 15th, 2007. Hmpf!This whole day has been a romp in the park. I started looking in the line of education and I stayed there all day. The frozen dinner is in the micro now. Fuzzy button forgot his phone in the car a couple hours south of where he is fishing, so we have had a pretty quiet household now for about 24 hours. He did bring his computer. It was working like a fritzy, but he got out a note that I read this morning. Hehehe he had to ask for my phone number, apparently only his cell has memorized it. There must then be some kind of civilization wherever he ended up.
About the only thing else he mentioned was having to wake up this morning without his back-rub. That be my tiger!
Without the contacts from the outside world, I have to say that my day has been very relaxing. I really miss the fishy-man when he goes, but at least no one is sitting there trying to break up my day and thoughts. I don’t want this to sound like a complaint, but there is a certain amount of beauty missed in not relating between me and my blog. Without fishyman’s influence I might never leave it. I consider myself well-off in that I spent almost a whole Saturday away from it. I’m thinking now I have some time – just not so long. I think we’ll eat, check the news, but I would like after writing awhile to go over to POGO to check out my spades talent.
Hehehe or there about. I want to toughin it up a bit to play with others. Just that right now … I’m getting a lot from playing against the computers. Usually me and my computer partner win, though I don’t know if that’s only because we are playing at the beginning level.
Most of the computer work we’ve been doing around education stemmed from an email I saved yesterday from work giving me the address of a grading system. The work I’ve been doing there, then somehow gets merged back into the interest of coming up with a curriculum. This has been a two-year preoccupation that had originally fed my ambition to be back at school. Do you remember that part? I wanted to originally and throughout wanted to design a program. I’m pretty convinced now that it has to do with writing a curriculum and following lesson plans. The work with goals and objectives of late seems to feed into that in that any grading system I choose I would like it to be curriculum/objectives based.
There are two main resources I stuck to today … the first I get a free one-year membership, but it will cost $89 a year next year if I’m still with it, and the second I paid the $89 up front to become a member and that space includes a book that with membership I can purchase for $25. I’m waiting now for the VISA to clear. I don’t know if they have an automatic system, and am a bit frustrated that I can’t get in right away. It’s supposed to be delivered via email. I’m pretty sure I went over the top with this one … spent almost $90 and I think there was only $30 in the bank. I’m pretty sure Rich’s first words would be, “You can’t do that!”
But, then I could, because I did, plus one of my checks hasn’t cleared so that means literally there is money in the bank. No, I don’t want to straighten out my logic more than that. I can pretty much hold out the majority of the day, but it seems like I’m committed to myself or my mental instability enough that I have to purchase “my item” before I leave the site. Yes, as far as all that goes. I realize when I’m in the wrong, I just don’t have what it takes to stop being bad.
She sits nervously looking to the left for a sign that she’s “made” the purchase – looking for that immediate gratification that I crave. Hmm, let’s skip a couple of spaceynesses here
Anyway
The two parts we were looking at go together. On one I write out the curriculum (over the Internet) and on the other I figure out how to do that. Everything in my head is like a year long project. I keep making projects til I think we’re going silly, or are bothering someone enough so I figure I have to stop. I am getting by with this with the thought that tomorrow I will be working on the grants project.
That sorts out to reading by noon. If we’re good, we’ll last until Sweetie Pie gets home at 7 or 8, but that might include also having a ball game on in the background. I CAN be good, just no saint.
The curriculum guide is broken into the four sections of planning, grade book, communication, and miscellaneous. Communication and misc. I’ve just skimmed through. More time was spent with planning and grade book, especially planning. I can’t say that I’ve got the hang of it yet. I tried playing with it and made some progress, but I’m real curious about how their curriculum maps is going to work. I haven’t yet figured out the real differences between curriculum, lesson plans, lessons, and assignments. It seems here now when looking at it that I made three lesson plans … they are each in a category of functional math and money for Group II, but I don’t know which level that is … hmm wait … I guess it is a subject so subject is on top of lesson plans and we can assume at this point that curriculum is above subjects. Hmm, it seems directly under lesson plans is assignments. I thought I had written two plans and two assignments, but the second plan seems to have become an assignment and the two REAL assignments seem to have become a plan.
And, when we do a search for our lesson plan … it comes up blank. Double shoot.
Hmm, it seems that we made a curriculum on the map, which for the time being doesn’t seem to relate to anything. That too was confusing – it asked for not only standards (standards turning out to be a real cool thing here), but also essential questions, content, skills, and assessments. Those are all the curriculum things I really don’t know what to do with.
The curriculum book that we didn’t get because we are waiting for membership let us read a chapter … the whole book is about understanding the lessons underneath the “activity level.” That really caught our attention because its been a big push all week coming up with staff programming where they are teaching with some meaning. I had revised and reissued my outcomes and objectives form to get to the point we should be saying with each lesson plan the statement, “The individual will ….” And, then we should be filling it in with will WHAT! I want more … as the curriculum book says I want to get to the big question. Whatever that is going to turn out to be. They already told the readers that they will not be supplying us with the answer that has to come from us. So, you can see my predicament when I face the curriculum planner and it tells me to come up with essential questions and then stars it a required field. YEEKS! I’m not there yet. The closest I can come up with at the time is that Adler wrote a book on the six greatest ideas.
AHA! Couple of things happened … I heard from my sweetie pie and downloaded one of Adler’s other books on Aristotle for Everybody. It’s about 5 ½ hours though … so I might have to start listening soon. I’m going to see if I can listen and type at the same time. I always listen better when we’re taking notes.
Oh as to Sweetie *little hearts floating cross my eyes* He’s only doing so-so … he’s tied for third and out of first place contention for the year I think. He said the cold chased away the mosquitoes … but, I’m not sure if that is good or bad. He said it got down to 30 and their was ice on the boat this morning. Last night they had chicken wings, and tonight they are having fish. I don’t think that’s enough for my growly bear. To make things worse his best friend Bob is tied with him in third, so it’s going to be a do or double die day tomorrow. Maybe THAT’S what’s making him cranky. He said they stayed up for cards last night so I think everyone is just cold and tired today. He forgot to ask me how I was doing so I thought I better suggest he asks before one of us got in a bad mood. But, that just made him remorseful. *Sigh* can’t win for trying. Anything is going to seem bad right now and him worrying about business didn’t make it any better. He still loves me though so I guess that counts. I’m not going to wish sex on him, because last time he came home too tired and he’s got a six hour trip in front of him. BUT, he reminded us to THIS time keep our phone handy, but take a nap before he gets in. So, we’ll have to see about that. He should be home around 8 or so.
So … ok … think I’m going to put away some dishes get my medicine and a grapefruit, and start the audio book. That’s one way to skin a cat! YEEKS, but not mine!
Begin in ordinary experience using our common sense.
Some things we share are common, but there are fewer things we share than we keep as our own.
Not exclusively mine or yours – common
Insights and understandings that aren’t common – aristotle’s contribution
Part 1 - Man the philosophical animal
Categories a scheme of classification – games
Animal – vegetable – mineral = “body” – physical things
Classifying, asking questions – arts
Mineral – non-living
Elementary – consists in single matter
Composite – composed of two or more different kinds of matter
Living – non-living – common characteristics
Plants – animals
Human beings – special functions like questions through observations and thought
Human beings are rational
Things have natures that differentiate it from others
All human beings have characteristic that differentiate it from others
Classes – humans then animals then plants
Eat grow reproduce
Asking questions and thinking philosophically can only be done by humans
Special thinking in humans
Body – inclusive class
Every “thing” is a body one way or another
Is humans being a sub-species
Not all characteristics define its essence
What why wherefore of things … what makes us human – not physical
Physical cannot exclude one from the human race – they are superficial or minor, or superficial or accidental
More or less human characteristics that are less than what unites us or makes us equal
Chap 2 – the great divide
The universe of objects is larger than classification of bodies
This is the great divide
Do these objects exist – how did they become different then bodies, what is their relationship, etc.
Asking causes us to think of the larger universe
Roses are bodies, but their odor is not
Bodies ……… characteristics (attributes)
Stone size and weight cannot be taken from it and leave the stone behind
Physical body can be of a collection … each exists in and of itself, but size and weight do not exist on their own
We can change the attributes of (missed this point)
Quantity, quality, in place or position can change
Actions, time, duration of existence, and ceasing to exist
Attributes most important – permanent salt dissolves, metals conduct, mammals give birth to living that suckle … differentiate one thing from another – thinking all this makes us rational. We are physical and more. Humans are persons … animals are not persons
Objects that are things are not people
Thing – but sometimes thing is tricky (missed point)
Pay attention to the senses we use
Chapt 3 man’s 3 dimensions
Length breadth height
Space – direction like left to right and up and down
Directions in people are the way we act
Activities can go in 3 directions
Making, doing, and knowing
Making – man the artist, producer, shoes, ships, houses, paintings (not just paintings to be art) anything artificial is art
Doing – man the moral being or doing … either achieves or fails, are social, impelled
Knowing – learner knowledge human or knowledge itself
Man is a thinker who acts when making and doing differently
Productive thinking – maker
Practical thinking – doer
Speculative – knower
Moral – practical
Natural philosophy
Men and women make useful things
Nature phenomena of nature
Man produce, nature produces
Truth, goodness, beauty
3 dimensions of human activity
Making concerned with beauty
Doing concerned with good evil right and wrong
Knowing truth
Part II Man the maker
Chap 4 Aristotles Crusoe
How to live securely and comfortably on the island man’s conquest of nature mastery over it
Island = nature (going on before cruso)
Crusoe (changes after he got there)
Difficult – start with easy and then go harder
Human beings should understand when they make or change something
Understanding works of art help us t understand nature
Work of art – covers everything man made
? Is everything we create artificial
How about children?
Lightening strikes a tree – starts fire – all natural
Person – lighted cigarette – starts fire – human being – artificial not natural?
Person – gathered dry leaves and heat them with purposeful match for lunch … he built a fire … fire a work of art?
Fire is natural, man makes fire, or is he causing it to happen?
Lightening can cut off branches like lightening … houses are natural
Manmade house, manmade fire?
Fire caused by cigarette accidental not intentional (purposeful) carelessness and mindlessness
Absent of purpose – puts it on the natural side
Caused not made … man did it as part of nature, not everything is a production or work of art
Manmade fire, or shelter … neither is accidental – planning makes it artificial
What is the difference?
Fire’s happen in nature, but houses do not happen when men are absent
Men make houses
Crusoe made a house, no houses would have happened although fire may have
Crusoe’s house is a work of art not nature artificial not natural
Before God created there was nothing.
He built it from wood – came from nature
Iron was there before
Tools floated ashore
Children produced are natural
Sometimes accidental not purposeful
Sometimes unplanned for
But even when planned they are not like the fire produced from nature
Children can happen without thought planning or purpose
But that is not true of something of art
Human beings can make something happen of knowledge
Some do not have knowledge
Summary
Fire is natural
Man’s fire artificial
Artificiality differs from house Crusoe built
Houses don’t occur without human beings
Artificial happening or product
(lost some here)
Man made of materials production not creation
Infants – reproduction procreation
Not like fire
Nor like fire from man
Nor like house artificial product
Nor out of god’s nothing
Understanding all these things will help us understand
Chap 5
Change and permanent
Extreme values – absolutely changes always
Words constantly change so can’t communicate
Whatever is is – other set of extreme values
Anything else is an illusion … things always remain the same
If words are always changing how could they say everything is changing, but not saying the opposite
If nothing comes into existence than nobody dies?
Those were only partly right
Combine two partial truths
Motion and change occur throughout nature and before human beings
Not illusions – grasped reality of change
Things are seen as changing
But not all changes … something of each stays the same to stay itself
Motion from here to there locomotion moving things are unchanging things
Tennis ball on your side of the net or the other
Locomotion – accidently dropped falls to the ground – natural motion
Hit with racket – manmade (force) not natural
We need the force to make it happen
Man’s interference with nature
Are they artificial? Aristotle – violent motions
Heat of sun alters the tomato green from red – change is time not space (quality)
Tomato natural
House becomes green from red unnaturally
Third change –artificial and natural
Rubber balloon blown up change size and shape
Let air out returns
Manmade change to the balloon up or down increase decrease
Rocks on a seacoast wear away get smaller
Caves get larger from the sea
Plants and animals grow – changes in size and weight
Living body –
Fire bigger with more logs
Limits in rabbits size if fed more
Change 4th
Time elapses as things change
When balloon burst ceases to be (instant)
Balloon exists, then not exists (just sheds)
Animal rabbit lives than dies carcass disengrates
Special
In every change something remains permanent and unchanging
Body stays the same when it moves or changes size
Wood making chair can be used to make table
Chair ceases to be is identical as table, but different in the way it is put together
(Missed)
Rabbit material thing … matter in its makeup, matter decays enters into a jackals tummy
Goes to bone flesh and muscles of jackal
Conservation of matter – something persists in passing away
Artificial things are wood which stays constance
In all instances of coming to be and passing away
Material undergoes transformation
Human beings never work with matter, just materials of a certain kind
Nature works with matter?
Similar, but not the same
Transformation is like, but not as in coming about or passing away
Chap 6
The four causes
4 questions about changes in common experiences
Common sense
As applied to manmade changes
Helps us understand nature
#1 What’ is it going to be made of?
Ex shoe smith leather
Ex jeweler gold
Gunmanship – wood and metal
This is the material production
#2 Who made it?
Human production – the shoemaker, the jeweler, the gunsmith
#3 what is it?
Shoe, ring, gun
Formal cause of production …
Formal = material
#4 what purpose does it have to fulfil?
Why is it being made?
Obvious function
Final cause (end in view)
Something achieved last or finally
4 causes indispensable – all four must have taken place
Must have a reason (for effort), etc.
Cause? Not easy, but human beings need and want the things being produced.
They can fiddle playfully – no final cause?
Nature does not have this or that in mind
#3 formal cause – operation of final causes in nature
Simple is difficult to understand
#1 material cause that of which something is made
#2 efficient cause that of which something is known
#3 formal cause that of which something is made
#4 formal cause that for the sake of which something is made
Leather transformed to shoe – shoeness is a formal cause in the production of shoes
Form of something is its shape … but shoes wide variety.
Impossible to draw what is common to the shoes – grasped the form shoeness when grasp the form
Transformed “formed” leather to shoes you give them a form they didn’t have before
Changes other than these kind of things … like tennis ball moving efficient cause being person stroking
(missed)
55 minutes left (51:14)
We had to stop here because we were getting confused with cause this causes that causes, they all seemed the same causes. We did pretty good though. It was late in the day there was a lot to be typing, but we did 1 hour 24 minutes.
It’s now 8 pm and I think we are ready for a rest of our mind … we might decide next whether to fall asleep or play cards. I’m thinking a slight break from both, but hopefully the cards. I need to slow down our thoughts or we’ll begin to take ourselves down for having had to pause. I did alter our thoughts from having to “give-up.” No, we just needed a break.
Thinking still what was or is the purpose of understanding Aristotle? The sellers of this book thought that his wisdom and philosophical insights were grounded in the common experience and illuminate and enrich the common sense we all rely on, which confirms the convictions that most of us hold, though are usually not aware of. It is everyone’s business and deepens our understanding of knowledge about ourselves, our society, and the world in which we live. Adler thinks that all of us have a human obligation to engage in this effort of understanding and that, with the proper guidance, will help us derive great satisfaction from our success in doing it – and in all Aristotle is the best teacher of these thoughts. Umm to be fair this paragraph is paraphrased, not mine.
posted by Ann Marie @ 9/15/2007 11:44:00 PM
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