Professor Cartledge Call – 2/18

Folks,

I look forward to you joining our call with Professor Cartledge tomorrow, Wednesday 2/18 at 1pm New York time.

Call with Professor Paul Cartledge
Cambridge University
Wednesday, Feb 18
1pm New York time

Here’s the dial-in number:

1-201-793-9022
5718476#

Let me know if you have any questions for Professor Cartledge. He’ll be talking about both Aristotle and Thucydides – and will be happy to answer any questions about either or about ancient Greece in general!

Best,

Phil

17. February 2009 by Arrian
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Aristotle “On the Soul” – Feb. 11 – audio recording

Here’s theaudio recording for the Aristotle call discussing De Anima (On the Soul). Listen online ordownload the mp3 file and listen to it as a podcast on your ipod.

Download Aristotle_De Anima On the Soul_11Feb09

13. February 2009 by Arrian
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Darwin’s 200th and 2/12 Conference Call with Top Scientists

Folks,

I’m hosting a special conference call to celebrate Darwin’s 200th birthday this Thursday, February 12 by phone.

Spots are limited and going very quickly.

You must register tonight for this free seminar or spots will be gone.

Go here to register:
https://www1.gotomeeting.c<wbr title=”blocked::https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/144491741″/>om/register/144491741 

These are the speakers:

– Dr. George Amato, American Museum of Natural History
– Professor Andrew Baker, Columbia; Director, Coral Research Lab
– Professor Rodolfo Dirzo at Stanford
– Professor John Dowling at Harvard
– Dr. John Durant, MIT Museum
– Professor Paul Olsen, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
– Professor Hidde Ploegh, Whitehead Institute, MIT
– Professor Peter Raven at Washington University, President Missouri Botanical Garden
– John Rennie, Editor-in-Chief, Scientific American
– Professor Jonathan Weiner, Columbia (author “Beak of the Finch”)

Thanks!

Phil 

11. February 2009 by Arrian
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Questions for Tuesday (2/10) Aristotle Call

Folks,

I’m reading the text at the same time you are but here are some questions that should help to guide our discussion tomorrow, Tuesday 2/10 at 8pm NYC time.

“On the Soul”
pages 535 – 603 in our text

1. What is the goal that Aristotle sets out to achieve in this book?  
Why is the study of the soul so important, according to A. Does he, in your opinion, achieve his goal?

2. What are the key questions that Aristotle sets up in his introduction (pages 535 – 538)?

3. Why, in the course of asking the question “what is the soul?”, are we talking about matter, light, causality, potentiality/actuality, sound, touch, smell, air, fire…?

4. Throughout this book, Aristotle comments on questions that remain important for centuries.

For example:
– Is the soul a part of the body or separate from it?
– What is the relationship between potentiality and actuality in all its forms?
– What is movement? (think Newton)
– What is mind?
– What is old age?
– What is matter?
– Is nature driven by design? (think Darwin)
– What is relationship between opposites?
– What is purpose of soul/life? (again, think Darwin)
– What is light? (think Einstein)
– What is colour? (think Matisse)
– What are seeing and perception?

And the list goes on.

Question: what subjects or questions did Aristotle touch on that inspired you to see the history of a subject in a different way?

Perhaps you are familiar with Darwin’s insights into evolution driven by random mutation and natural selection. And Dawkin’s reaffirmation that the purpose of a living thing is to reproduce itself (i.e. . “The Selfish Gene”). So what did you think when you read on page 562 “Nature, like mind, always does whatever it does for the sake of something, which something is its end.” And then a few pages later
this: “…the end of this soul is to generate another being like that in which it is…” (page 564).

The point here is not to praise nor criticize Aristotle but to see the history of ideas. It gave me new insight into why “intelligent design”  
is so compelling, though completely and utterly wrong. Perhaps, it is a human urge to see design and intelligence where none exists.  
Certainly, Aristotle felt it to be clearly true – nature does what it does for the “sake of something, which something is its end.”

Aristotle should be read not because his science is accurate – though there are some stunningly interesting things that predate what science has shown to be true – like my second quote above. No, he should be read because of his heroic effort to explain the world as he saw it with the tools he had available.

I am humbled by his attempt and made more grateful for the thousands of years of knowledge that we today have at our disposal to ask and answer the most interesting questions about our world. Reading Aristotle and watching him struggle with these important questions makes me appreciate at a much deeper level the efforts by thousands of scientists over thousands of years that has given us the depth of knowledge and insight that we have available today. He motivates me to learn more.

As Aristotle says in his first sentence, “knowledge of any kind is a thing to be honoured and prized.”

If his goal were actually to inspire readers to grasp the importance of that first sentence, then “On the Soul” succeeds in its goal. Indeed.

Phil 

09. February 2009 by Arrian
Categories: Aristotle, Study Questions | Tags: | 1 comment

McLuhan on Aristotle

I’ve been reading Marshall and Eric McLuhan’s book Laws of Media at the same time as Aristotle. The beginning of the book traces the development of our concept of linear space which evolved with the use of the alphabet and contrasts with the previous oral culture: 

“There is much confusion among early commentators and later scholars about the various forms of space as well as other matters such as the nature of mimesis and of the logos. Aristotle and others were working with one foot in each world, as it were, using the new forms of awareness but trying to retain or update the ideas of the old oral culture.” 

I’ve been thinking while reading that there is simply no way for me to understand the culture which generated this work (and know we’re not trying to). This really brought home the fact that it was so entirely different. 

Until Tuesday,Sari

09. February 2009 by Arrian
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Aristotle: February’s Call and March Schedule Change

Tuesday, February 10 – discussing “On the Soul”
8pm Eastern / 5pm Pacific
1-888-350-0075
code: 9281912#
*Please note this is a different passcode.  This will be the correct 
passcode for all upcoming Aristotle reading group calls.

—- March’s call date —

March’s original call date was March 17.  That is being rescheduled 
to Tuesday, March  24.  Time and call-in information will be the same 
as above.

Please let us know if you have any questions.  Have a great weekend!

07. February 2009 by Arrian
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Thucydides February 2009 Book 3 – audio recording

Here’s theaudio recording for the Thucydides book 3 call. Listen online ordownload the mp3 file and listen to it as a podcast on your ipod.

Download Thucydides_february2009_book3

03. February 2009 by Arrian
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Kimarie Matthews (A2009)

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Kimarie Matthews manages the customer research, loyalty and voice of the customer programs for Wells Fargo’s Internet Services Group. She is currently working on buidling the “Customer Experience Scorecards”, a tool to help the business act on customer feedback to positively impact the customer experience. She welcomes calls and questions on this topic. 

She is also interested in how businesses should engage in social media to listen to and talk to their customers.  She believes that while customer loyalty is primarily built by consistently delivering on the basics of why customers use your product/service, loyalty can be cemented by making customers feel important and “heard.”  She is working on projects to let customers know Wells Fargo is listening through social media, such as responding to customer comments in the blogoshpere and developing an online customer community at wellsfargo.com. 

Prior to joining Wells Fargo in 2006, Kimarie worked in a combination of online financial services and retail firms: Bank of America, WeddingChannel.com, and Andersen Consulting’s financial services practice (now Accenture). Kimarie earned a B.A. in political science from Stanford University and currently lives in Burlingame, CA with her husband and 2 sons.

30. January 2009 by Arrian
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Laurel Stanley (A2009)

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I’ve been designing and building web sites since 1995. I moved into developing online business applications in 1999 for companies like Herman Miller, Steelcase, and Wolverine Worldwide. Since May 2008, I’ve been Director of Design at Spout.com, managing the visual brand and redefining the user interface based on usability research. My goal is to support marketing and business development efforts while improving the overall customer experience. Previously, I was at Priority Health, a Michigan-based health insurance company, managing their intranet, corporate site, logged-in service portals, and other online ventures. While at Priority Health I got the opportunity to attend Jakob Nielsen’s Usability Week. I had applied that knowledge to moderate the first usability sessions at Priority Health while developing online tools. Since learning about the Creative Good way of hosting “listening labs”, I’ve strived to incorporate observing how users navigate and use web sites to advance the overall design and functionality. I’ve already been able to take advantage of this in my new role at Spout. We are holding a second round of listening labs in August.

30. January 2009 by Arrian
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The power of a speech

In the Wall St Journel – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123249782074700433.html?mod=djemTEW

Great article in general, but pay special attention the the following words in the 12th paragraph: “Lincoln’s first inaugural was a masterpiece of conciliation, but it did little to soothe antagonistic passions in the South or keep the Confederacy from seceding. The importance of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, another masterpiece, was almost wholly overlooked by much of the country. A mere 272 words, it was so short that only one fuzzy photograph of the occasion exists. And Lincoln’s second inaugural, arguably the finest speech given in American history, was treated with contempt by most Southerners. In each case, only with the flow of time do we see how important these speeches are to the overall narrative of the American story.”

Kind of puts the speeches in Thucydidies in a new perspective. Perhaps it truly was a war of words and politics rather than blood and steel, although the latter was necessary to make sure everyone paid attention.

And the ending of this article: “And finally, Lincoln knew that as president of the United States, he was the steward of the precious fabric of American democracy, and equally importantly that he was just one link, and a temporary one at that, in the chain of presidents elected to watch over it.”

— Dan

“Treat people as if they were what they should be, and you help them become what they are capable of becoming.” — Johan von Goethe

22. January 2009 by Arrian
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