has a website here. You may want to bookmark it and consult it from time to time to see what’s going on. (I’ll add it to our blogroll, too.) And don’t forget the Socrates Cafe this Thursday, The Factory, 7 p.m.
Category: Uncategorized
Philosophy at a biggish university
To get an idea of what a philosophy department does or can do at a biggish (20k +) university, along with the troubles it often faces from the administration, read this NYT article about the philosophy department at Auburn University. It certainly portrays what philosophy can offer in a favorable light. But at the same time, the article does unwittingly take some swipes at philosophy, and gets things wrong. For a useful discussion, see this blog posting.
Plato and Music
In my Plato Republic course, one topic of discussion was the music that Plato selected for the guardian/warriors. In particular, there was some debate as to whether the modes he chose were appropriate.
Briefly, Plato was convinced that listening to music in various modes would form the soul and would cultivate and encourage certain virtues and activities. Most in the class were willing to sign on to this claim. The more controversial question was whether Plato had really selected the best modes for the purposes of cultivating bravery in the soul of the guardians.
I am, sadly, musically illiterate and so am not capable of really treating this point with much care. Fortunately there are some students in the class that know more then enough about music. Dan is one of those students, and also one who thought Plato’s choice of modes was, shall we say, odd.
To sort this out, Dan has compiled 4 songs, one in each of four modes. He admits that he stacked the deck a bit here with his choices, but still it is telling that songs like “Scarborough Fair” would be in the same mode as Plato’s warrior music!
By way of reminder, Plato had his warriors listening to the Dorian and Phrygian modes only.
In addition to Dan’s “playlist” below, click here for a website that offers some discussion and some examples. In fact, there is a sidebar where you can listen to the same made up tune in all the different modes. Dan’s playlist seems like a knock-down argument against Plato’s choices, but when I listen to the same tune in the various modes it is not as obvious (at least to my tin ears).
You can download the songs below. If you don’t want to do that, go to my blog. I have embedded the songs there (you don’t have to download them). But post comments here (that way all comments are in one place).
Events
WEDNESDAY, 24 SEPT, 4:30 – 5:20 PM, OLD MAIN 201
Club member Jeremiah Graves will be presenting on Haitian Voodoo. Topics include facts and fiction in the practice of Voodoo as well as, according to Jeremiah “self-defense against bullies.” (Sponsored by Religious Studies Club)
THURSDAY, 25 SEPT, 4:00 – 5:00 PM, ENGR 108
A debate will be held between Dr. Harrison Kleiner (representing the atheist position) and Dr. Charlie Huenemann (representing the theist position). They will be debating the rationality of religious belief. (Sponsored by S.H.A.F.T.)
The new Philosophers’ Carnival…
… is here. One of the interesting articles is whether someone should be compensated by an institution if that institution makes them evil. For example, suppose someone is turned into a racist as a result of their training and work as a police officer. Have they been harmed in such a way as to be paid damages? Read more here.
