You asked very good questions of Fatmah today. Following up on some of that:
Here is a call to prayer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vF9xQyXzD4
and another:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUHDYlJHaOQ&feature=related
Here is a link to some information about Islam (not specifically about death or dying, though). I'm not sure this is the most clear source if you don't know much about Islam, but you might get some help:
http://en.islamtoday.net/Beliefs-Teachings
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Chpt 1 Confucianism (end of Feb)
We'll post some more specific prompts soon, but feel free to ask questions or make general observations here.
Chpt 6 The Bible (beginning of Lent - end of Feb)
Sparkles:
I'll send you my notes on the chapter, but what do you want to discuss here since we won't really have time in class?
Also, and especially for Karlie: a link to Bobby McFerrin's 23rd Psalm
http://www.mp3videosearch.com/mp3/search/Bobby-McFerrin-The-23rd-Psalm
I'll send you my notes on the chapter, but what do you want to discuss here since we won't really have time in class?
Also, and especially for Karlie: a link to Bobby McFerrin's 23rd Psalm
http://www.mp3videosearch.com/mp3/search/Bobby-McFerrin-The-23rd-Psalm
Judaism (end of Feb)
What questions do you still have about Judaism generally and about practices surrounding dying?
Other comments about our visit with Rabbi Terlinchamp?
Other comments about our visit with Rabbi Terlinchamp?
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Current Events Feb/Mar 2012
15Feb12 David Brooks' op-ed about society & the role of government. Note his picture of human nature.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/opinion/brooks-the-materialist-fallacy.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212
15Feb12 A long story, but well worth it, about a solider who was burned in Afghanistan and his recovery. The focus of the story is the man, but also a treatment for pain. You'll have a better sense of the experience of severe burns, the treatments, including many surgeries, and especially the mental fortitude necessary to survive. http://m.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201202/burning-man-sam-brown-jay-kirk-gq-february-2012
15Feb12 "Army Studies Workout Supplements After Two Deaths"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/business/army-studies-workout-supplements-after-2-deaths.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/opinion/brooks-the-materialist-fallacy.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212
15Feb12 A long story, but well worth it, about a solider who was burned in Afghanistan and his recovery. The focus of the story is the man, but also a treatment for pain. You'll have a better sense of the experience of severe burns, the treatments, including many surgeries, and especially the mental fortitude necessary to survive. http://m.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201202/burning-man-sam-brown-jay-kirk-gq-february-2012
15Feb12 "Army Studies Workout Supplements After Two Deaths"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/business/army-studies-workout-supplements-after-2-deaths.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Existentialism: Sartre
What say ye about existence preceding essence? What about Sartre can you appreciate? With what do you disagree -- why?
What other follow-up from class discussion would you like to pursue here?
What other follow-up from class discussion would you like to pursue here?
Existentialism: de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvior was Sartre's life-long love, intellectually and sexually, but she would never marry him and they both had multiple lovers (of both sexes). They are, however, as you saw in my photograph, buried together in Paris. Her influence on his philosophical work (and vice versa) should not be underestimated, even though she is not always acknowledged as such (e.g., Stevenson's chapter).
Her most influential work was called The Second Sex (Le Deuxieme Sexe for Karlie). In it she writes (a great deal) about women as defined as non-men: as the second sex. The less important sex. She kicks off what is called the second wave in feminism (I misstated in class: the first wave revolved around suffrage--the right to vote; the second wave focuses more on equality in work and life). More about de Beauvoir at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.iep.utm.edu/beauvoir/ and at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/
In The Second Sex she observes 'I am a woman' but that a man doesn't even have to remark upon his sex--it is just assumed. We default to think that a speaker/writer is male, and we must attention to sex only when it is a female (note: we could say similar things about defaulting to white, to Christian, to heterosexual, to able-bodied, etc.). She says that women are "defined and differentiated in relation to man and not he in relation to her; she is the inessential confronting the essential. He is the Subject, he is the Absolute--she is the Other." Women define themselves and are defined by men as non-men, as Other, and that much female identity is tied-up with not-male or from the point-of-view of the male, and especially the male gaze. This is still a significant tenet of feminism: that women are defined by men, but they should have their own independent, stand-alone identity. (Note that I'm not saying that women can't be in meaningful relationships with men, just that women do not exist solely for the pleasure of and service to men).
Obviously there is an enormous trove of topics to discuss here. I'm happy to support the discussion in whatever way you'd like to take it. But you might start by thinking about what de Beauvoir meant by the "Second Sex" and whether her criticism still holds water in today's society (some 60 years after it was originally published).
Her most influential work was called The Second Sex (Le Deuxieme Sexe for Karlie). In it she writes (a great deal) about women as defined as non-men: as the second sex. The less important sex. She kicks off what is called the second wave in feminism (I misstated in class: the first wave revolved around suffrage--the right to vote; the second wave focuses more on equality in work and life). More about de Beauvoir at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.iep.utm.edu/beauvoir/ and at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/
In The Second Sex she observes 'I am a woman' but that a man doesn't even have to remark upon his sex--it is just assumed. We default to think that a speaker/writer is male, and we must attention to sex only when it is a female (note: we could say similar things about defaulting to white, to Christian, to heterosexual, to able-bodied, etc.). She says that women are "defined and differentiated in relation to man and not he in relation to her; she is the inessential confronting the essential. He is the Subject, he is the Absolute--she is the Other." Women define themselves and are defined by men as non-men, as Other, and that much female identity is tied-up with not-male or from the point-of-view of the male, and especially the male gaze. This is still a significant tenet of feminism: that women are defined by men, but they should have their own independent, stand-alone identity. (Note that I'm not saying that women can't be in meaningful relationships with men, just that women do not exist solely for the pleasure of and service to men).
Obviously there is an enormous trove of topics to discuss here. I'm happy to support the discussion in whatever way you'd like to take it. But you might start by thinking about what de Beauvoir meant by the "Second Sex" and whether her criticism still holds water in today's society (some 60 years after it was originally published).
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Buddhism (9 Feb)
Immolation of three Buddhist monks in China last week:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16895812
A list of video interviews with Thich Nhat Hanh a renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk.
https://www.google.com/search?q=thich+nhat+hanh+video&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
A Charlie Rose interview with the Dalai Lama
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4235480941561974775
Mindful Eating
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/dining/mindful-eating-as-food-for-thought.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16895812
A list of video interviews with Thich Nhat Hanh a renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk.
https://www.google.com/search?q=thich+nhat+hanh+video&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
A Charlie Rose interview with the Dalai Lama
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4235480941561974775
Mindful Eating
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/dining/mindful-eating-as-food-for-thought.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Chpt 4 (for 7 Feb 12)
1. M. Scott Peck: "We get to die... I don't know about you, but I'm getting a bit tired. Not so tired that I'm ready to call it quits, but if I thought I'd have to wade through this crap for another three or four hundred years, I would cash in my chis sooner rather than later." Does Peck have a pessimistic view of life? Is he waiting for Godot?
2. Epicurus believed that nothing comes from nothing, that nothing exists except for atoms moving in void, and that the soul therefore must be made of atoms. With this in mind, death therefore must be the natural dispersion of particular combination of atoms that comprise a human soul. What does this say about the belief in afterlife? Is death truly the end?
3. Can the acceptance of death truly relieve anxiety?
2. Epicurus believed that nothing comes from nothing, that nothing exists except for atoms moving in void, and that the soul therefore must be made of atoms. With this in mind, death therefore must be the natural dispersion of particular combination of atoms that comprise a human soul. What does this say about the belief in afterlife? Is death truly the end?
3. Can the acceptance of death truly relieve anxiety?
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Current Events Feb 2012
*new* 13 Feb 12 Philosophy + materialism (remember Marx?) + contemporary living
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/living-in-the-material-world/
6Feb12 Op-Ed about capital punishment in North Carolina
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/opinion/race-and-death-penalty-juries.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211
1Feb12 "Life after death faces legal battle"
Nebraska is one of several US states considering laws to legally hand social web accounts of deceased individuals to personal representatives.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/magazine-16801154 >
Human Nature: Sex & Gender
http://news.yahoo.com/gender-bender-parents-reveal-childs-sex-five-years-151000816.html
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/24/parents-who-hid-childs-gender-for-five-years-now-face-backlash/
http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/couple-finally-reveals-childs-gender-five-years-birth-180300388.html
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/living-in-the-material-world/
6Feb12 Op-Ed about capital punishment in North Carolina
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/opinion/race-and-death-penalty-juries.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211
1Feb12 "Life after death faces legal battle"
Nebraska is one of several US states considering laws to legally hand social web accounts of deceased individuals to personal representatives.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/magazine-16801154 >
Human Nature: Sex & Gender
http://news.yahoo.com/gender-bender-parents-reveal-childs-sex-five-years-151000816.html
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/24/parents-who-hid-childs-gender-for-five-years-now-face-backlash/
http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/couple-finally-reveals-childs-gender-five-years-birth-180300388.html
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