Class Stuff Out-of-Class

220517_Philosophy students (mostly) scamming an end of semester free meal--which they cooked! Chris, Fred, David, Alice, Ana...













220517_Students of Ancient Greek at UCR made an end-of-semester dinner at the Aikens. Congratulations to the high achievers--Laura, Alina & Tamara!

100317__Existential movie night with UCR philosophers...
 

240815_Get ready, Oh my students.... We begin our thinking alongside the Greek Presocratics....


 Which reminds me... why don't we study any women from this ancient period?


100815_Here are the required texts for Fall 2015

AH 156 - Introduction to Philosophy
  1. Early Greek Philosophy, (Translator - Jonathan Barnes) Penguin Classic, 978-0140448153
  2. Plato, The Last Days of Socrates (Crito, Eutyphro, Apology), Penguin, 9780140455496
  3. Rachels & Rachels, Problems From Philosophy, McGraw Hill Education, 9780073535890
  4. Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings, Enchiridion, Penguin, 9780140449464
  5. Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy: with Selections from the Objections and Replies (Oxford World's Classics), 978-0192806963
  6. Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, (Hollingdale Translator), Penguin, 9780140441185
AH 255 - Ethics
  1. Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings, Enchiridion, Penguin, 9780140449464
  2. Plato, The Last Days of Socrates (Crito, Eutyphro, Apology), Penguin, 9780140455496
  3. Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, Hackett Publishing Co., ISBN 0872202836
  4. William Golding, Lord of the Flies, Perigee (Penguin), ISBN 9780399501487
  5. Rubenstein, Richard L, The Cunning of History. Mass Death and the American Future, NY: Harper and Row, 1975, 978-0061320682

240115_Here are all the tentative reading and lecture calendars for Spring 2015:
130115_To my UCR students:

I just wanted to make sure to say a few words to my students about the recent events in Paris, which are not limited to Paris at all; such occurrences and others like these will happen to each of us in the course of living in this world, and they will in fact become elements in the stories of our lives.

Our lives are a rather messy drama that unfolds at the intersection of ideas and dreams, of thoughts and emotions, and of nations and individuals. This is the world in which we are called on stage each and every day to be actors and players, and we must constantly prepare ourselves for the moment our names will be called—because no one wishes to miss his entry or his exit.

The study of philosophy, at its best, will help us to become meaningful players in this drama of life, because that study teaches us about the fragility of human life and its uncanny ability to endure, about how to be thoughtful in our words and deeds, about the patience of waiting as the drama unfolds on the sidewalk at our feet, and about appropriate attitudes to take in the various circumstances that life will bring our way.

Work hard; study hard; play hard—and think through your life.
See you in class.
 
da 

040115_Here are all updated class syllabae and reading lists for Spring 2015:
261114_For you Hermeneutics buffs with a medical interest: "A New, Skeptical Look at ‘Multiple Personality Disorder’". Make sure you watch the short film at the end of the article, entitled Sybil: A Brilliant Hysteric?

240814_Here are the latest updated class syllabae and lecture calendars for Fall 2014.
  • The F 2014 Class Syllabus for AH 156, Introduction to Philosophy, (with updated time slots, times, required texts, and other pertinent course information), is posted here.

  • The F 2014 UPDATED Class Syllabus for AH 255, Ethics, (with updated time slots, times, required texts, and other pertinent course information), is posted here.

  • The F 2014 Semester Reading and Lecture Calendar for AH 156, is posted here.

  • The F 2014 Semester Reading and Lecture Calendar for AH 255, is posted here. 
160314_For those of you interested in the God & the Philosophers course, and especially about the multi-god background of the Jewish Scriptures, see Stephen Colbert for affirmation: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/433751/march-13-2014/simon-schama. Under the Phrontisterion Research Archives tab, you will find the scholarly argument that makes the same case--- Archeology and the Biblical Texts. A Fresh Look at Julian's Contra Galileos_2011.

250114_Latest updated class syllabae & calendars for Spring 2014.
  • The Spring 2014 class syllabus for AH 156, Introduction to Philosophy, (with updated time slots, times, required texts, and other pertinent course information), is posted here. 
  • Tentative lecture calendar for AH 156, posted here.
  • The Spring 2014 class syllabus for AH 256, Plato, (with updated time slots, times, required texts, and other pertinent course information), is posted here.
  • Tentative lecture calendar for AH 256, posted here. 
  • The Spring 2014 class syllabus for AH 357, God & the Philosophers, (with time slots, times, required texts, and other pertinent course information), is posted here.
  • Tentative lecture calendar for AH 357, posted here. 
190114_Beware, oh my students -- I have once again been reminded today that the study of Philosophy is much like walking a Border Collie:

 It will take you places you were not expecting to go...

 and from which you will not return untouched!

 131213_This Fall semester the students in AH255, Ethics, prompted by an excellent class presentation that was done by Ivar Troost and Blue Tarhan, created a "crowd-sourced" article, which was recently published in UCR's Tabula Rasa. The article is entitled, "Money: Interesting and Valuable Insights." Very nice work!

051213_I would like to encourage students in these classes to try to buy their course texts used or through Online book-buying sites -- the texts will probably be much less expensive.
  • The Spring 2014 class syllabus for AH 156, Introduction to Philosophy, (with time slots, times, required texts, and other pertinent course information), is posted here.

  • The Spring 2014 class syllabus for AH 256, Plato, (with time slots, times, required texts, and other pertinent course information), is posted here.

  • The Spring 2014 class syllabus for AH 357, God and Philosophy, (with time slots, times, required texts, and other pertinent course information), is posted here.

130513_Class texts for Ethics (AH 255) for the Fall 2013 semester will be the following:
 
IV. REQUIRED Course Texts (BRING text to class for discussion).
1. Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings, Enchiridion, Penguin, 9780140449464
2.  Plato, The Last Days of Socrates (Crito, Eutyphro, Apology), Penguin, 9780140455496
3.  Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, Hackett Publishing Co., ISBN 0872202836
4.   William Golding, Lord of the Flies, Perigee (Penguin), ISBN 9780399501487
5.     Rubenstein, Richard L, The Cunning of History. Mass Death and the American Future, NY: Harper and Row, 1975, 978-0061320682

V. REQUIRED Electronic Postings in Workspaces - BRING text to class for discussion.
1.     Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Book I
2.     Kant, Metaphysic of Morals
3.     Hume, Enquiries Concerning the Principles of Morals
4.     John Locke, A Letter about Toleration

260113 - Is the following image reminiscent of any students in my classes?



RA Philosophy Classes Spring 2013 - the following courses are on offer:

I. 2013-1 A&H 156 Introduction to Western Philosophy A  = This course provides a general historical overview of the main THEMES and TOPICS that have interested philosophers through the ages. We will begin the semester by discussing the nature of Reality and Knowledge; we will then consider some of the various questions of philosophy, such as Ethics/Politics; Philosophy and Religion; Philosophy in the Modern Period; Philosophy in the Enlightenment, etc.; finally, we will finish the semester with either a representative work from a specific philosopher (e.g., Plato, Machiavelli, Descartes, Voltaire, Nietzsche…) or a particular philosophical movement (e.g., Empiricism, Existentialism, Phenomenology…). Students are re­quired to read primary sources in English, to bring their texts to class during discussions, and to par­ticipate in debates on philo­sophical questions.

(Posted 29 December 2012)- AH 156 class syllabus for Spring 2013.

(Posted 01 January 2013) - AH 156 class lecture and reading calendar for Spring 2013 -- TENTATIVE.

II. 2013-1 A&H 256 Great Philosophers II A = Nietzsche and the Existentialists.
A&H 256 Great Philosophers is designed with the idea of introducing students to specific THINKERS in the world of philosophy. In this course the student will focus on a specific philosopher. In addition to thinking about the philosopher in the context of themes and topics, the student will also be drawn to consider the philosopher in the light of relevant intellectual history and subsequent influences upon the creation of the Western paradigm. For the Spring of 2013 the subject philosopher of A&H 256 Great Philosophers II A will be Nietzsche & the Existentialists.
        

(Posted 080113)- AH 256 class syllabus for Spring 2013.

(Posted 150113)- AH 256 Spring 2013 - Tentative Lecture Calendar.

(Posted 160113) - Reading for Feb 5 - Parmenides_On Nature. 

(Modified 080113) REQUIRED Readings & Course Texts (BRING text to class for discussion).
1.    EXTRA CREDIT***Semester Pre-reading: Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov.
2.    ***Semester Pre-reading: Albert Camus’s The Stranger (Outsider).
3.    ***Semester Pre-reading: Franz Kafka’s The Trial. 
4.     Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre, by Walter Kaufmann, A Plume Book (Penguin), ISBN 9780452009301.
5.    Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse, ISBN 978-0141182896
6.    The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse, ISBN 978-0099283621
7.    The Immoralist, Andre Gide, ISBN 978-0141182995
8.    A Happy Death, Albert Camus, ISBN 978-0141186580
9.    The Rebel, Albert Camus, ISBN 978-0141182018
10.                  Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre, ISBN 978-0141185491
11.                  German Existentialism, Martin Heidegger, ISBN 978-0806530796

 Suggested reading: The Existentialist Revolt, Kurt F. Reinhardt, full and free e-text here.
 
III. 2013-1 A&H 357 Topics in Philosophy II A = Hermeneutics. The core of every academic discipline is constructed and articulated philosophically, whether that discipline should be housed in the sciences, social sciences, humanities (e.g., History, Art, Literature & Music), legal studies, or technology. In fact, it is precisely the philosophical framing of each discipline, which allows that discipline to state its intentions, to set its goals, as well as to interpret its findings and discoveries. Hermeneutics is the study of the methods associated with our “framing” of the various disciplines of human exploration.
   
(Posted 30 December 2012)- AH 357 class syllabus for Spring 2013.
(Posted 15 January 2013) - AH 357 Spring 2013 - Tentative Lecture Calendar.

(Posted 14 December 2012) REQUIRED Readings & Course Texts (BRING text to class for discussion).
  1. Grondin, Jean, Introduction to Philosophical Hermeneutics (Yale Studies in Hermeneutics),  Publication Date: 1 April 1997 | ISBN-10: 0300070896 | ISBN-13: 978-0300070897 | Edition: New edition
  2. Kuhn, Thomas, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Publication Date: 11 May 2012 | ISBN-10: 0226458121 | ISBN-13: 978-0226458120 | Edition: 50th anniversary ed
  3. Danto, Arthur, Transformation of the Commonplace, Publication Date: 1 July 1981 | ISBN-10: 0674903463 | ISBN-13: 978-0674903463 | Edition: Reprint
  4. Veyne, Paul. 1988. Did the Greeks Believe Their Myths? Publication Date: 1 Jun 1988 | ISBN-10: 0226854345 | ISBN-13: 978-0226854342 | Edition: First Printing


SUGGESTED BACKGROUND READINGS

  1. Palmer, Richard E. 1969. Hermeneutics. IL: Northwestern University Press. Chs. 2 and 3.
  2. Gadamer, Hans-Georg. 1977. Philosophical Hermeneutics. CA: University of California Press. Especially Chs. I&II.
  3. Aristotle. ANY ADDITION, although I will be referencing the Loeb edition (the Cooke translation). On Interpretation.
  4. Steiner, George. 1972. Language & Silence. NY: Atheneum. "The Hollow Miracle (1959)"; "Homer and the Scholars (1962)"; any one other essay of student's choosing.
  5. -----. 1975. After Babel. NY: Oxford University Press. Ch. 5: "The Hermeneutic Motion."
  6. Simonetti, Manlio. 1994. Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church. Ch. I (at least).
  7. Eco, Umberto. 1990. The Limits of Interpretation. IN: Indiana University Press.
  8. TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS OR, HOW TO PHILOSOPHIZE WITH A HAMMER; THE ANTI-CHRIST; Friedrich Nietzsche; ISBN 0140445145; Penguin Classic
  
My own published and/or non-imprimatur studies in applied hermeneutics are available on the "archived research" page of this blogsite.
  1.  Aiken, David. 1997. “Hermeneia. An Anatomy of History and Ab-wesenheit,” in The Library of Living Philosophers (LLP) volume on The Philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Lewis E. Hahn, editor, Open Court: Chicago.
  2. -----. 2001. “Praxis Hermeneutika. A Study in the Obscuring of the Divine: Mists and Clouds in Homer's Iliad,” in Existentia, a journal of classical and hermeneutical studies, vol. XI, pp. 277-296, 2001.
  3. -----. 1991. “History, Truth and the Rational Mind. Why it is Impossible to Take Myth Out of History, ” in Theologische Zeitschrift, The University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
  4. -----. 2003. “Nietzsche and his Zarathustra. A Western Poet’s Transformation of an Eastern Priest and Prophet,” in Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte (ZRGG 55, 4 (2003)).
  5. -----. 2005. “History Undone. The Appropriation of Thucydides.” in Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte (ZRGG, 57, 4 (2005) J. Brill).

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