Author: Kleiner

This article, titled ‘Defining Discourse Down’ does a pretty nice job of summing up why serious conversations are so difficult in this day and age (he blames it on an excess of both jerkiness and niceness).  He has some sound advice at the end too.

Is there a ‘standard’ font to use?  Times New Roman 12 seems pretty standard to me.  Huenemann, do you see much in the way of requiring a certain font for article or other manuscript submissions?

I don’t hate Times New Roman, but I have been playing with my Course Packets in the new iWork programs and am tempted by some other fonts that look to me to be readable and easy on the eyes over a long course packet (200 pages).  (Book Antiqua, Baskerville, Modern No. 20 and Palatino, if you are curious.  I also really like Weiss,which you can pay to download.  It is a typeface designed by Geman typographer Emil Rudolph Weiss (1875-1943).)

It does seem there are certain ‘canonical’ fonts (Times New Roman, Helvetica (which Mac use as default), Arial, and my wife tells me she sees a lot more Calibri, which she says is the PC Office 07 default).  I wonder why those and not others?  Anyway, now that they are canonical, maybe I should stick to Times New Roman.  Reading student papers, I do get annoyed with varying fonts. Your eyes get used to one and it is hard to shift gears.  In fact, I require many of my papers to be done in TNR 12 (in part because they have length maximums so I don’t want font games).

Thoughts on this pressing matter? (hey, it is summer!).

Here is an interesting article on Teaching in the 21st Century.  It asks the question – is our pedagogical method which values ‘critical thinking’ really helping our students, or are we just passing along our high-minded suspicion and starving out any real thirst for truth?  A more provocative question (and I am intentionally picking a fight here, I don’t know if I believe what I am about to say): is Huenemanniaism simply a mode of suspicion?  In other words, far from truth seeking does it instead see ‘the moment of seeing falsehood [as] the goal and summit of the intellectual life.’ ?

I should add: I am picking a fight that I may not fight at all as being a stay-at-home Dad all summer I won’t be blogging nearly as often.

For the PHIL 1000 Intro final paper, I have students to reflect on what they have learned, and share with me how it will shape their lives looking ahead.  It is more akin to ‘journaling’ than a scholarly exercise.  Reading them always reminds me why I love to teach, and it is always encouraging to see that students are capable of so much if you just feed them a little.  Here are some selections from the papers:

“We are forced to concede that there is a part of our lives that seems to not be ours to define: our birth; our awakening in this world.  This is the greatest mystery of all.”

“Humility is the most important attribute one would need in order to acquire truth in any matter.”

“The hardest class I have ever taken, and I frankly was dreading taking the class and not expecting very much, but I am glad I took it and learned more in this class than any of my others.” 

“Not so long ago I was a sheltered moron.  It’s true.  To be honest, I still am, but less so.  But I think philosophy will be able to further help me as a person in expand my horizons and opening my mind to new ideas.”

 “I now know that I actually do enjoy reading.”

 “A closer examination of some of the simplest states of mind like boredom and jealousy has revealed how rare and unique such phenomenon actually are in the universe.”

 “I want to be somebody; I am so tired of being a nobody.  The liberal arts have made me realize I am someone and can become whatever person I want to be.”

 “It is good to know I am not a frog because I don’t participate in froggy-ness.  Damn.”

 “I love Socrates.  He is my hero now.”

 “I discovered that I am most myself when I am in the water (pool, lake, bathtub).  I can be content with silence there.”

I find myself very attracted to this brand of ‘front porch’ conservatism.  

Here is a funny clip on the modern malaise of democratic souls, the ‘crappiest generation’.  

And, finally, an article on the importance of beer drinking to civic life.  Apparently, for the first time in the history of our great republic, Americans drank more bottled water than beer.  The end is nigh!