Welcome
Welcome to this course in Philosophy as Practice. In this course we’re going to look at philosophy beyond just sitting and thinking, and ask about philosophy as a way of life, or as a way of being, or as a call to action. How we act, how we live, is deeply entangled with how we think (and vice versa). So we’ll be exploring philosophy in practice.
This is a GHEA21 course, so are going to be forming a global community of philosophers and practitioners. And, of course, a community is sustained by particular practices (it doesn’t just exist, it is something we do). So today, we’re going to talk about how we’re going to work together, how we can sustain ourselves as a community, and we’re also going to get to know each other.
Introductions
Let’s go round and do some introductions. I’m Dr Will Buckingham, and I’m a professor at Parami University, Myanmar, although I live in the south of Taiwan. I’m joined by Idil Brand, who is based between Turkey and Vienna, and who I’ll ask to introduce herself in a moment.
For these introductions, I’m going to ask you to turn on your cameras. It’s important we have a sense of face-to-face connection. Let’s go round, and introduce ourselves:
- What is your name?
- Do you have a preferred form of address or preferred pronouns?
- Where the world are you?
- Why are you interested in this course?
- What did you have for your most recent meal?
How this class will work:
Before we get started on the philosophy, let’s talk about how the class will work. We’ll be using Canvas, not Brightspace. And most of our work together will take place on Canvas and in class. There’s also a support website, with class notes. I’ll say more about this in a moment.
Canvas
I’m trying to keep Canvas simple. So there are a few things you need to pay attention to.
- The discussion board will be used for participation tasks. I’ll talk about those below.
- Readings will be on the files tab.
- There is a syllabus provided on Canvas on the files tab. As we go on, the content in-class may differ from the syllabus. We may find more interesting avenues to pursue: so please don’t rely on this. It’s a roadmap, not a contract.
- Assignments will be uploaded to Canvas and graded through the Canvas SpeedGrader.
- Please don’t message me through Canvas. I don’t always get these messages. Use email instead. will.buckingham@parami.edu.mm
- Please turn on Canvas notifications so that you receive announcements when I send them.
- Office hours are by arrangement. Just email me, and we can find a convenient time to meet up.
- Idil is also available for group tutorials, which we’ll talk about in due course. It’s not part of her job description to meet with you one-on-one (she has a PhD to finish).
Course support website
This website (https://courses.willbuckingham.com) is a set of ongoing class notes, which will be useful for your reference — and will also be handy if you miss a session. I will not be duplicating this content on Canvas, so keep your eye on this website.
The course support website is very, very basic (but with quite pretty typography). It’s basically my course notes, shared with you. It should be very minimal in terms of data / resource usage — few or no images — so that if you are having internet problems, it should still be accessible.
Grading
Here’s some information on grading, and how this will affect how the class works.
Attendance:
Remember that Parami requires 90% attendance. If you don’t meet this threshold, you will fail.
For the sake of attendance, I’ll also be asking you to turn on your cameras at the beginning of every class. This is so we can see each other’s faces, and check in with each other. Being able to see each other fosters community, and community is vital for learning. If you do not have your camera on for the roll-call, I will mark you absent. Once you have been marked present, you may need to turn your camera off to save battery from time to time. But camera use is mandatory where possible.
If you are late, you will be marked late!
If you can’t attend, let me know in advance, unless it’s an emergency. This is not just about your classwork, but is also a welfare issue. We want to know that you are safe and well — and if there are any problems, we want to be able to help you.
If you do have to miss a session, there is a simple procedure for make-up tasks, which you can access from the “Posts” tab on the courses website (this site).
Participation:
It is hard to grade participation. My simple approach is to set tasks most weeks on the discussion board. These will be linked to the readings, and marked as 1 (for completed) or 0 (for not completed). You must complete these by the assigned deadline before the next class. You cannot complete them retrospectively: if you miss the deadline, we will simply mark you with a zero.
Also, to help deepen our engagement with each other, I want you to set up your Zoom as follows:
- Use your Parami registered name first, then in brackets your preferred name and any pronouns you prefer.
- Use a photo of you, so we can see your face.
This is compulsory. If you don’t do this, you will lose 2% of your overall mark.
Why is this? It’s really important we have a real, live sense of each other, despite internet problems. Seeing each other’s faces, remembering that we are real people with real names, is a way of keeping our communication grounded. It gives us a stronger sense of community. These are difficult times for our students in Myanmar, and for many of you elsewhere, so we need to have a sense of each other as real human beings, with real names. We may not always be able to use our cameras, but we can always do this, as a minimum.
If there are specific, legitimate reasons you can’t do this (for example, religious reasons), you must email me to let me know: will.buckingham@parami.edu.mm.
Assignments:
There are two written assignments. We’ll talk more about those later:
Quizzes:
There will be two quizzes. These will be done in groups, but graded individually.
Keeping in touch
Either email or Workplace is fine. Please (again) don’t message me on Canvas.
Breaks
Our sessions are 1 hour and 40 minutes. This is long! And sitting still isn’t good for us all. So I am going to have dance breaks halfway through. For each class, I’ll select some music, and you can either have a good dance (with your camera off or on, it’s up to you), or get up and move around, or if you don’t like the music, you can just do something else, like a few minutes of yoga!
Let’s keep moving and keep happy!
What is wisdom?
Philosophy, according to the Greeks, is the love of wisdom. But what is wisdom? And—this is what we’re more interested in during this course—what are the practices that sustain, nourish or cultivate wisdom?
We’re going to start today from our everyday understanding. Because wisdom already means something to us.
We all have friends who know just the right thing to say, at just the right time. Oh, we say, they’re wise. And we all know people who are just, well… remarkably foolish. So what does it mean to be wise, or foolish?
Writing exercise
Who is the wisest person you know? Write about them for 8 minutes. Who are they? What makes them wise? How did they become wise, or how do they sustain their wisdom?
Breakout groups
- Who is your wise person?
- What makes them wise?
- How did they become wise, or how do they sustain their wisdom?
Mapping Wisdom
Now, let’s try to draw a map of the territory of wisdom, using the whiteboard tool.
What is wisdom? And what are the practices that lead to, or that sustain, wisdom?
Add your thoughts / images / diagrams to the whiteboard.
Reading
Our first reading is by philosopher Richard Shusterman. It’s called Philosophy as a Way of Life As Textual and More Than Textual Practice. It introduces the idea of philosophy as a way of life, which is associated in particular with the French philosopher Pierre Hadot. Shusterman asks about what it means to talk about philosophy as a way of life. And he asks whether we need to think about philosophy beyond just writing and talking about ideas.
Read through, and write a brief reflection on the Canvas discussion board before the deadline to get your participation grades.