Answers to Spirit, Intuition and the "Mystically tone deaf" (in prep)

Warmer

The extracts come from Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and Alex Garder's The Beach respectively. Technically speaking they are of the same quality, but the writing style is of very different standard.

Brown's description is relatively complicated in terms of sentence structure and vocabulary. It is heavy, lacks flow and even sounds as though the author is trying too hard. Consequently, his description fails. It's failure can be attributed to the fact that the reader becomes aware of the writer and disbelief is not suspended.

On the other hand Garder is 'invisible'. He uses simple sentence structure that is unburdened by excessive descriptive vocabulary. It is easy to imagine the girl and her impact on those present in the cafe. Consequently, we are quickly drawn into the scene.

These two extracts are examples of how art can possess or completely lack 'spirit'. In the readings that follow the notion of spirit in art, and even people is investigated. The text comes from Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgement published in 1790.

Teachers should not the identity of the author at this stage. It is important for students to try to understand, without being intimidated by the idea, that they are reading what could be considered difficult philosophy.

Questions

Paragraph 1

1) What is the writer's objective in this essay?

He is going to investigate the idea of 'spirit'. It appears to be that certain indefinable something that makes an artwork, a piece of writing or speech or even a woman beautiful.

2) What do you think 'spirit' is?

This is an important question and the central theme of this blog. Most of us have an idea what 'spirit' is even though it is very difficult to put into words. The French expression d'avoir une petite quelquechose, ('to have a little somehthing') sums up the idea that we know what it is but cannot describe it. Suffice it to say that 'spirit' is that thing that makes something or someone moving, wonderful, inspiring, exciting, fascinating, and so on.

Paragraph 2

1) What is the function of the phrase 'the material it employs for this'?

2) Spirit employs a substance to affect the mind. Describe what it does to the mind?

Paragraph 3

1) What is the function of the phrase 'which prompts much thought'?

2) Why can't aesthetic ideas be properly expressed in words?

Paragraph 4

1) How does imagination bring freedom?

2) Who do you think is the author of this essay?

• The author is Immanuel Kant. The text comes from his work Critique of Judgement published in 1790

The Secular Sacred, Authenticity etc.

Somerville(2009 p.54), in her search for a universal ethics, defines the secular sacred as something 'authentic with a life of its own. This is reminiscent of Kant's spirit which 'prompts much thought', a kind of progentior of ideas and something that is almost self sufficient. In turn this is a reminder of Juliet's love for Romeo in that the more it is given the more it is produced:

The more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite. Act II.Scene 2

There is a circular relationship here, that Somerville compares to a snake swallowing its tail. Spirit engenders more spirt. authenticity engenders more authenticity. As Somerville (2009 p.55) puts it:

"We need to experience awe and wonder to access a sense of the sacred; but, in turn, that sense can be the doorway to awe and wonder."

The pursuit of authenticity is key for SCI, language acquisition of Krashen, and central to the NAL teaching concept. That is, having the mysterious ingredient of authenticity, spirit, a life of its own or the secular sacred is likely to enhance language acquisition. This is because it stimulates thought and in turn the speech necessary to attempt to describe it.

Spirit, Intuition and "the mystically tone deaf" (in prep)

Paris - Door Knocker by noriko.stardust

Warmer

The following extracts come from quite successful contemporary Anglo-Saxon novels. Both are descriptions of individual French women. Read them and decide which one you prefer. Give your reasons.

Extract 1:

[He] turned to see a young woman approaching. She was moving down the corridor toward them with long, fluid strides… a haunting certainty to her gait. Dressed casually in a knee-length, cream coloured Irish sweater over black leggings, she was attractive and looked about thirty. Her thick burgundy hair fell unstyled on her shoulders, framing the warmth of her face. Unlike the waifish, cookie-cutter blondes that adorned Harvard dorm room walls, this woman was healthy and an unembellished beauty and genuineness that radiated a striking personal confidence.

Extract 2:

The French girl appeared without her boyfriend and without any shoes. Her legs were brown and slim, her skirt short. She padded delicately through the café. We all watched her. The heroin mute, the group of Americans, the Thai kitchen boys. We all saw the way she moved her hips to slide between the tables, and the silver bracelets on her wrists. When her eyes glanced around the room we looked away, and when she turned to the street we looked back.

***

What is 'Spirit'?

It could be argued that the difference in the texts is that one has 'spirit' and the other does not; but just what is spirit? Read the following texts and find out. There are questions that follow.


Reading Comprehension 1

Of certain products that are expected to reveal themselves at least in part to be fine art, we say that they have no spirit, even though we find nothing to censure them as far as taste is concerned. A poem may be quite nice and elegant and yet have no spirit. A story may be precise and orderly and yet have no spirit. An oration may be both thorough and graceful and yet have no spirit. Many conversations are entertaining, but they have no spirit. Even about some women we will say she is pretty, communicative, and polite, but she has no spirit. Well, what do we mean here by spirit?


Spirit (Geist) in an aesthetic sense is the animating principle in the mind. But what this principle uses to animate [or quicken] the soul, the material it employs for this, is what imparts to the mental powers a purposive momentum, i.e., it imparts to them a play which is such that it sustains itself on its own and even strengthens the powers for such play.


Now I maintain that this principle is nothing but the ability to exhibit aesthetic ideas; and by an aesthetic idea I mean a presentation of the imagination which prompts much thought, to which no determinate thought whatsoever, i.e., no [determinate] concept, can be adequate, so that no language can express it completely and allow us to grasp it. It is easy to see that an aesthetic idea is the counterpart (pendant) of a rational idea, which is, conversely, a concept to which no intuition (presentaion of the imagination) can be adequate.


For the imagination ([in its role] as a productive cognitive power) is very mighty when it creates, as it were, another nature out of material that actual nature gives it. We use it to entertain ourselves when experience strikes us as routine. We may even restructure experience; and though in doing so we continue to follow analogical laws, yet we also follow principles which reside higher up, namely, in reason (and which are just as natural to us as those which the understanding follows in apprehending empirical nature). In this process we feel our freedom from the law of association; for although it is under that law that nature lends us material, yet we can process that material into something quite different, namely into something that supresses nature.


Questions

Note: For the vocabulary section, try to work out the meaning of the words in italics from their context; if you can't use a dictionary - Merriam-Websters- Online Dictionary:

Paragraph 1

Vocabulary : thorough

What is the writer's objective in this essay?
What do you think 'spirit' is?
Who do you think is the author of this essay?

Paragraph 2

Vocabulary: imparts, purposive momentum, sustains, strengthens

What is the function of the phrase 'the material it employs for this'?
Spirit employs a substance to affect the mind. Describe what it does to the mind?

Paragraph 3

Vocabulary: prompts, whatsoever, to grasp, counterpart,

What is the function of the phrase 'which prompts much thought'?
Why can't aesthetic ideas be properly expressed in words?



Paragraph 4

Vocabulary: mighty, strikes, though, reside, lends, supresses

How does imagination bring freedom?




Reading Comprehension 2

The following extract, from an article by Mark Sagoff, looks into the tension between something we know intuitively to be true and our inability to prove it empirically. It raises two questions relevant to undergrad and research students. Firstly, should we dismiss our intuitions and abandon any attempts to explain what we suspect to be true? Secondly, should we try to prove our intuitions to be true and accept that the problem may lie with our the inadequacies of our current knowledge and models?

Read each extract and answer the questions that follow:

Extract 1

Research in environmental ethics and environmental science takes as a premise the supposition that ecological or natural communities are governed by principles of organisation. While this assumption has not yet been proven it nevertheles draws compelling evidence from the aesthetic judgements that accompany our perceptions of the natural world, in particular of its most magnificient and glorious productions, such as old growth forest, clear -watered lakes wild savannas and ocean tipped estuaries. Few of us experience these kinds of places without becoming convinced that they possess an intrinsic form or unity, or an organisation mode.

1) What is central assumption on which environmental science and ethics is founded.

2) Even though there is no proof for order in ecosystems, scientists believe that is there - why is this?

Extract 2

One way to understand the free lawfulness or dynamic unity of an ecosystem may be to invoke the concept of an aesthetic idea which the eighteenth century German philosopher Immanuel Kant introduced in his Critique of Judgement (1790, Sec. 49). An aesthetic idea in the perception of an object is a unity recognised by the imagination for which no cognitive concept is adequate. One can say that an asethetic idea exhibits an order that is always straining after a rational cognitive or causal explanation, even if no such empirical principle of organisation can be found. The unity of ecosystems as they appear to us- or the beauty of places in the natural world – in this view exists but cannot be reduced to rational concepts of the sort sought by empirical science.


3) The author tries to define the idea that when we see something beautiful we consider that it has order. He uses three different terms; what are they?

4) The word 'straining' could be best repaced by: A) seeking B) exercising C) striving D) searching

5) 'sort' and 'sought' are homonyms; that is, they have the same pronunciation but different meaning. Explain their different meanings.


ANSWERS

Links

Quality - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance


References


Swan, Michael (1996) Practical English Usage. Oxford

Answers to The Social Responsibility of Scientists

Questions and Answers to Extract 1

a) Why is ethical reflection important now?
growing waves of concern about the connections between science and war
b) What is ELSA?
...any novel important research program should include an ELSA component (Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects of Science
c) As a science teacher what was his Gerard Toulouse's predominant worry in relation to his students?
For many years, a set of practical questions have persistently haunted me : At which conditions, can a student embrace a career in scientific research, without becoming or turning into a public hazard ?
d)What was Toulouse's vision for science?
" Science as salvation " was part of my youth dream...
e)What title or subheading would you give this extract?
Growing concern about science and ethics – a teacher's worry


Questions and Answers to Extract 3

a)Why should knowledge engender responsibility?
Knowledge brings responsibility, because knowledge is (a form of) power, and power brings responsibility.
b)Why should the responsibility of blowing the whistle on unethical practises in science fall on scientists?
Scientists have a duty of alert, because they are best placed to alert society to the possibly harmful consequences of their activities, discoveries and inventions ; they have competence, and capacity for early warning.
c) According to Andrei Sarharov scientists habitually refuse to take ethical responsibility for their research because they:
i) are frightened to rock the boat.
ii)have no social conscience.
iii) are only interested in the results of their research and this overrides risks to public safety. iv)concerned that they will stand out.
Every true scientist should undoubtedly muster sufficient courage and integrity to resist the temptation and the habit of conformity.
i) & iv)
d)What title or subheading would you give this extract?
Scientists as whistleblowers

Questions and Answers to Extract 3

a) Why do many science faculties find it hard to attract new students?
"I am convinced that science departments with a broad scope, integrating also societal concerns and questions of global relevance in their courses and daily discussions will succeed in overcoming the present difficulties of recruiting students..."
b)What kind of science course would Richard Ernst liked to have studied when he was a student? I have to admit that I myself would prefer, if I had to start again, a study that combines top science with societal concerns and global vision, rather than detached, stand-alone science,...
c)As a student who would Ernst have preferred to have as a guest teacher: a famous physicist or a local lecturer in sociology?
Probably a sociologist given the answer b)
d) Who, according to Ernst, in society should be responsible for providing the standards for success and safety in society?
Who else, if not the scientists, is responsible for setting guidelines for defining progress and for protecting the interests of future generations ?
e)What title or subheading would you give this extract?
Science studies connected to society

Return to

The Social Responsibility of Scientists

Answers - Writing definitions

Writing definitions of difficult concepts

• The human spirit (term) is a metaphysical quality (class) that enables humans to lead meaningful and happy lives (distinguishing characteristics).

The human spirit is a metaphysical quality that enables humans to lead meaningful and happy lives (Somerville, 2006 p.).

According to leading ethicist Margaret Somerville (2006) the human spirit is a metaphysical quality that enables humans to lead meaningful and happy lives

• The shared story (term) is the history and beliefs (class) held by a society that gives meaning to the lives of its members(distinguishing characteristics).

Teacher's Notes and Answers

Is It Right?

Originally the structure of this lesson followed a Socratic inquiry in with combinaton jigsaw reading. It has been revised with Paulo Friere's 4 step learning process drawn from his seminal work The Pedagogy of the Oppressed as articulated to our class in 'Experiential Learning and Facilitation' by lecturer Chris Jansen of The Christchurch College of Education, of the University of Canterbury, July 2009. The 4 step process is as follows:

1. Own Story - students give their own opinion on an issue
2. Expert - students examine an expert's point of view on the same issue
3. Critque - students critique the expert
4. Evaluation - students process what they have learnt from steps 1-3

The starter activity was drawn directly a lecture given by Chris Jansen, 21 July, 2009 at the Christchurch College of Education.

Socratic inquiry

Teaching usually involves simply explaining things to students. The object of a Socratic Inquiry is to ask questions of the students and have them come up collectively with the answers by themselves.

The most effective way to run Socratic inquiries is to put students into small groups of 2-4, and circulate around the groups. Give the students about five minutes to come up with a definition.

Go from group to group and listen to their definitions. Get students to make their answers coherent and clear. For example, students tend to define ethics in terms of morality. In such a case ask them what they mean by morality and how it is different from ethics. In doing this students realize that the task is much more involved than they suspected.

Don't give answers to the students but put their responses on the board. Their answers will be verified in the reading and listening comprehension exercises that follow. Students are generally surprised that their answers are close to those given by leading ethicist Margaret Somerville.

Students tend to enjoy the the fact that the concepts are not so much difficult, but that they take time to explain. This has obvious value in that it creates discussion in class, but also requires the teaching of writing definitions; one method is presented after the reading comprehension.



What is ethics? Some definitions

Somerville tells her students ethics is firstly, ' Trying not to do the wrong thing', and secondly, '[trying] to do good things for other people'.

Ethics is the systematic investigation of questions of right and wrong, good and bad (UNESCO, 2003)

Ethics, in the empiricist view, is conduct favored consistently enough throughout a society to be expressed as a code of principles (Wilson, 1997 p.267)

Morality

The term “morality” can be used either descriptively to refer to a code of conduct put forward by a society or, some other group, such as a religion, or accepted by an individual for her own behavior or normatively to refer to a code of conduct that, given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons.

Bernard Gent - Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Comparison of Ethics and Morality

Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos denoting customs. Morality comes from the Latin mores also meaning customs. Although they have the same original meaning, nowadays 'morality' has a religious connotation whereas 'ethics' does not.
'Ethics' can be considered as the study of what is right and wrong and this would naturally encompass the study of 'morality'.

(philosophyblog.au.com)

2. Consider the following issues and decide whether they are right or wrong:


Make sure students to define these things before they embark on deciding whether these things are right or wrong. For example, it is necessary to discuss the meaning of marriage before deciding whether same sex marriages are right. The answers to this question are revealed in the ABC radio interview with Somerville. She opposes these kinds of marriages because inherent in the notion of marriage is the right to have children, and is concerned about the impact them.

As for discussing the issues of cloning, nuclear power and genetically modified organisms, the effectiveness of this relies on their general knowledge of the procedures and the risks. In some classes students feel they can't form an opinion owing to a lack of knowledge.

To resolve this problem you could set up a pre-class homework task in which groups of students investigate the pros and cons of one of the issues. In class they form groups with representatives from each research group and share the information of risks and benefits.



Gay/lesbian marriage
pollution
the extinction of the polar bear
nuclear power
cloning
genetically modified crops


3.Why is it hard to decide whether these things are right or wrong?

There has been a breakdown of what Somerville calls the 'shared story'. That is, in modern secular multicultural democracies no single world view dominates. Therefore, it is hard to make ethical decisions that will satisify all members of society. Somerville explains this in Extract A in the reading comprehension. You will find that most students come to this very quickly.

4. Nowadays people seem to be preoccupied with ethics, both in the sciences and in the rest of society. Why do you think this is so?

Somerville explains in Extract A in the reading comprehension that science and technology has brought us to a position where we can change the nature of humanity and destroy ourselves. There is an urgent need to restrict research for our own protection.

References
Distinction between morality and ethics -philosophyblog.au.com
Gent, B http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/morality-definition/
UNESCO(2003) COMEST -Report of the working group on the teaching of ethics. pp.29



Return to :

Is it Right? Introducing Margret Somerville

Answers - Socratic Enquiry and Readings

1.What is ethics?

See teacher's notes


2. Consider the following issues and decide whether they are right or wrong:

There are no right or wrong answers at this stage - only points of view.

3.Why is it hard to decide whether these things are right or wrong?

This question is answered by Margaret Somerville in the extracts provided, but first here are some answers provided by students:

• Because the consequences of these things are hard to predict.


• Because societies are multicultural and ther is no one standard.


• The individual counts, and as everyone values differently it is very hard to decide.

There has been a breakdown of what Somerville calls the 'shared story'. That is, in modern secular multicultural democracies no single world view dominates. Therefore, it is hard to make ethical decisions that will satisify all members of society. Somerville explains this in Extract A in the reading comprehension. You will find that most students come to this very quickly.

4. Nowadays people seem to be preoccupied with ethics, both in the sciences and in the rest of society (Toulouse, 2006; Somerville, 2006). Why do you think this is so?

Somerville explains in Extract A in the reading comprehension that science and technology has brought us to a position where we can change the nature of humanity and destroy ourselves. There is an urgent need to restrict research for our own protection. Students answers are often close to those given by Toulouse and Somerville.

Readings

Somerville proposes that a universal ethics can be created by accepting two universal values:

"First, we must always act to ensure profound respect for all life, in particular, human life; second we must protect the human spirit."

Return to:

Is it Right? Introducing Margaret Somerville

References

Distinction between morality and ethics -philosophyblog.au.com



Gent, B http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/morality-definition/

UNESCO(2003) COMEST -Report of the working group on the teaching of ethics. pp.29

Answers: Listening - Interview with Margaret Somerville

1.Why is Margaret Somerville protected by body guards ? 1:30-3:00 mins.
Her ideas are very controversial, especially those relating to the fact that she doesn't believe that same sex marriages are a good idea. A Canadian university wanted to give her an honorary doctorate for her work in ethics but there was a national campaign to block this. There were protests and the body guards were there to protect her.

2. What is her stand on gay rights? 1:40-2:00 mins.
She believes that gays have suffered terribly from discrimination, and that we should recognise their rights. However, she opposes same sex marriage because of its effect on children. She talks about this in greater detail later in the interview.

3. How does she feel about pain? Explain why she opposes circumcision of infants. What are some benefits of circumcision? 3:06-4:14 mins
She believes there is a fundamental human right not to be left in pain or to have pain inflicted on us, unless it is absolutely justified. She opposes infant circumcision because it is painful. There is apparently some evidence that circumcision prevents to some extent transmission of HIV in Africa. However, this, she says, should not justify practising circumcision on children.

4. Margaret Somerville was accused of anti-semitism because of her opposition to the practice of circumcision on infants. However, five Jewish rabbis defended her. Why? 4:13-4:42 mins.
It became an issue not of whether her arguments were right or wrong but of freedom of speech.

5. Why has she become the most cited academic in Canada? 5:03-5:30 mins
The issues of circumcision or same sex marriages were not really the concern for the media or the public at large. What was more important was her right to express her views; that is, the central issue was freedom of speech.

6. Why is Somerville always in the media? 5:57-7:05 mins
In Canada academics are in 'the public square'. She explains that this was something that was traditionally looked down on by some academics. However, she feels she has an obligation to explain her research to the general public for the reason that they, as taxpayers, are funding it. She says she gives from 500-800 interviews a year, and finds it a learning experience to engage with the public.

7. Somerville has a taste for controversy. Retell her run in with her teacher Sister Rosemary at the age of seven, and then explain why she may like being in controversial situations. 7:05-9:45 mins.
Her father was an athesist and communist, her mother was a practising catholic and took Margaret to mass on Sunday mornings. Naturally, her father refused to go. Margaret said she didn't see why she had to go if her father wasn't going. Her mother told her that he would go to hell for this. The following morning at school her teacher Sister Rosemary at the catholic school she attended asked the class if they wanted to go to heaven. Margaret was the only child who said she wanted to go to hell. She wanted to go there because that's where she thought her father was going and she wanted to be with him.This made her feel 'out on a limb'. She feels she enjoys controversy partly because of the attention it drwas to her, but also because it is her way of finding out what is right.

8. What is Somerville's definition of ethics? 9:45-10:12 mins
Somerville tells her students ethics is firstly, ' trying not to do the wrong thing', and secondly, '[trying] to do good things for other people'.

9. Explain why she opposes same sex marriage. 11:01-16:30 mins.

-What does she mean by "Can the future trust us?"
Somerville's central ideas are contained in two books The Ethical Canary and the Ethical Imagination. She advocates there should be respect for all life especially for human life.
Her question for her students is 'can the future trust us?' By this she is referring to the health and well being of future generations which could be altered through genetic engineering and the new reproductive trechnology which can change who we are fundamentally as human beings.
-Talk about the definition of marriage
Marriage is for men and women and it automatically includes the right to found a family. Marriage therefore is not for homosexual couples.
-Mention advances in medical science to enable homosexual couples to have their own genetic children
Recently researchers have managed to create a mouse baby from two female mice. She says that this technology will soon be available to humans. What is done in animals will in 5-10 years be possible in humans. Somerville is concerned about the impact on the children born to same sex parents. In the Ontario Supreme Court it was decided that gay couples could have the right to benefit from this new reproductive technology, and to do otherwise would be discrimination. She also talks about the fact there are now children with three genetic parents.
What are 'the civil unions' in the UK and le pax civile in France and why were they created?
They are contracts that gay couples could make a public declaration of their love for one another, as well as protect them financially enabling them to inherit fromone another. Civil unions don't carry the right to have children and for this reason Somerville is in favour of them.
10. What is transhumanism and what are her views on it? 16:35-20.00 mins.
Transhumanism is the belief that modern day humans are obsolete.
She opposes this because changing what we are would compromise our 'essence of humanness '. She admits that she does not have a complete definition of this and it is her main project. Nevertheless, she explains that this essence deserves protection because it has developed over 4 billion years of evolution.
She is also concerned about the production of robots for whom transhumanists claim will deserve more respect owing to their superior intelligence. She is also worried about the production of 'cyborgs', part human part machines, that are able to experience emotions, and the questions of how much respect is owed these creatures.
-What is her major project?
It is to identify the essence of humanness described above, and tied to this is the concept she calls the 'secular sacred'. This basically means finding points for which all parts of society can agree are sacred and therefore inherently wrong to change. This involves 'building bridges between science and ethics, science and religion'. She also says she is looking at alternatives to reason which she calls 'other ways of knowng'. She is looking also to bring the major religions together by finding common values that they can all share.

11.She claims that the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins the author of The God Delusion is "mystically tone-deaf", what does she mean by this? 20:02-21:35 mins.
This means that he cannot appreciate the mystical or the artistic in the same way that someone who has no musical ability cannot hear different notes in a scale.

12. Richard Dawkins blames all the evils in the world on religion. What is Somerville's response to this? Do you agree with her reasoning? 21:35- 22:48 mins.
She thinks this is very unfair. He blames 9/11 on religion. You could argue that science is the root of evil.She argues that the airplanes were created through science. Religion can be used for good or evil and science is the same.

13. What are Somerville's thoughts on the existence of God and an afterlife? 22:49-25:33 mins.
She doesn't really answer this question directly, and certainly her anwser is both vague and difficult. Nevertheless, she says that what is more important than the existence of God or an after life is that we exist in a great mystery that is not explicable in our language and we can only have a 'sense of it'. (It is ironic that this is Richard Dawkins' view too! See Richard Dawkins book Unweaving the Rainbow published in 1998). She gives an example of research being carried out that shows that our minds are far more complex than we know, they contain mechanisms to detect up to now 'unknown realities' which are more mysterious and awe inspiring than we can imagine.
14. Somerville cites a Japanese saying, explain what it means and why she said it.
"As the radius of knowledge expands the circumference of ignorance increases."25:33-26:00 mins.
She sees science as uncovering more and more mysteries instead of satisfying our curiosity. This she says is a kind of a miracle.


Return to:

Is it Right? Introducing Margaret Somerville