Group 1: Harvard Debate Tactic

Factual question:  When the rich king Plousios asked, "what kind of man is the worst among men?" How did Penicros answer?   Answer: He who is good in his own esteem.  Parables 1:16

The aftermath of our Flanagan-fueled Atheism and Philosophy discussion concerning Nelson Goodman's Space and Meaning spilled over into the liberal libations flowing during happy hour at our designated meaningful space called the Boulevard.  As usual, several table discussions turned a critical eye towards religion, and all the debates seemed cordial, lively, and intellectually stimulating.

One thing I have learned from a recent article is that, apparently, I've been doing it wrong, and should be taking my cues from the Ivy League.  Sheer confidence in speech is evidently more important than facts or evidence. The headline in a recent AlterNet article reads as such: Why Do Some Americans Speak So Confidently When They Have No Idea What They Are Talking About.

The subheading reads: Harvard calls "leadership" speaking with conviction even when you don't mean it.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

The Harvard Business School information session on how to be a good class participant instructs, “Speak with conviction. Even if you believe something only 55 percent, say it as if you believe it 100 percent,” Susan Cain reported in her bestselling bookQuiet. At HBS, Cain noticed, “If a student talks often and forcefully, then he’s a player; if he doesn’t, he’s on the margins.”

Cain observed that the men at HBS “look like people who expect to be in charge.... I have the feeling that if you asked one of them for driving directions, he’d greet you with a can-do smile and throw himself into the task of helping you to your destination — whether or not he knew the way.”

HBS alumni include George W. Bush, class of 1975, as well as:

• Jamie Dimon, 1982, CEO and chairman of JP Morgan Chase
• Grover Norquist, 1981, president of Americans for Tax Reform
• Henry Paulson, 1970, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, former CEO of Goldman Sachs
• Mitt Romney, 1975, former governor of Massachusetts, co-founder of Bain Capital
• Jeffrey Skilling, 1979, former CEO of Enron, convicted of securities fraud and insider trading

 The Harvard Business School information session on how to be a good class participant instructs, “Speak with conviction. Even if you believe something only 55 percent, say it as if you believe it 100 percent,” Susan Cain reported in her bestselling bookQuiet. At HBS, Cain noticed, “If a student talks often and forcefully, then he’s a player; if he doesn’t, he’s on the margins.”

Cain observed that the men at HBS “look like people who expect to be in charge.... I have the feeling that if you asked one of them for driving directions, he’d greet you with a can-do smile and throw himself into the task of helping you to your destination — whether or not he knew the way.”

HBS alumni include George W. Bush, class of 1975, as well as:

• Jamie Dimon, 1982, CEO and chairman of JP Morgan Chase
• Grover Norquist, 1981, president of Americans for Tax Reform
• Henry Paulson, 1970, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, former CEO of Goldman Sachs
• Mitt Romney, 1975, former governor of Massachusetts, co-founder of Bain Capital
• Jeffrey Skilling, 1979, former CEO of Enron, convicted of securities fraud and insider trading

(Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, whose banking skills resulted in 20 billion dollars worth of fines (yes, that a "b" as in billion), just got a raise.)

For some apparent reason, this article reminded me of religion.  Why you ask?  I'll share: there's not one shred of evidence for any of the thousands of gods trotted out since the beginning of recorded history.  None. Nil. Nix. Zero. Zilch.  History shows that society soon will grow tired of the present gods and likely invent new kinder, gentler ones.

For me, religion is like the men at Harvard Business School: It's a man (it's always a man) sporting a confident can-do smile while giving someone driving directions to a place that--not only he doesn't know how to get to--but doesn't even exist.

The trick, according to HBS, is to speak with conviction.  They forgot to mention that one should try to keep a straight face too.

Daily Quiz

Jan 23

1. What does Flanagan think is the "hardest question"?

2. What general attitude towards the search for truth and meaning does Flanagan recommend?

3. What is eudaimonics? (OR: What does Flanagan refer to as the empirical-normative inquiry into the nature, causes, and conditions of human flourishing?)

4. Is spirit(uality) "spooky"?

5. What "images" did Wilfrid Sellars enumerate?

6. Name one of Flanagan's sextet of "meaning spaces," OR identify the recent philosopher whose name he borrows to identify it.

7. Why does Flanagan quote Humbert Humbert?

8. What's a Lebenswelt?

9. What assumption about "will" was shared by Aristotle, Hume, Mill, and Dewey?

10. According to Wisdom 17:6, what should we avoid, if possible, altogether?

11. What is the question we are asked to ask ourselves at the end of each chapter on wisdom inThe Good Book?

(Kinda shorted Grayling here... please mention your favorite verses from today's reading.)

Group One: The Musical

Q: What does Flanagan refer to as the empirical-normative inquiry into the nature, causes, and conditions of human flourishing?  A:  Eudaimonistic scientia.

(I have Flanagan's Kindle book, and this particular one is sans page numbers. This question is in the second paragraph of the first chapter.  I’ll post the page number when I get to class for later reference.)

Q: What is the question we are asked to ask ourselves at the end of each chapter on wisdom in The Good Book? A:  "How long will you delay to be wise?" 

I’m really excited about our class in general and Group One specifically.  I found myself suddenly surrounded by some great thinkers and wonderfully talented residents of this pale-blue dot.  I envision our presentation to comprise of fantastic claims subjected to rigorous critical thinking delivered with enthusiastic speeches escalating against a musical backdrop of Chicago blues, Rush, and drop-thumb style banjo.  All questions will be addressed in the form of a scrum.  And that’s just the first PowerPoint slide.

Here’s a nice piece in Salon entitled "15 WaysAtheists Can Stand Up for Rationality."  It encourages atheists to assert themselves, and it provides detailed suggestions on how to handle the presumption of religious privilege.

Group 2

I didn't know if we were really supposed to have a group post since we really didn't have a discussion but I'll write a little something anyways. The scorecard is going to take some time to get used to. The way the class flows is a positive and it's nice to hear the different backgrounds people come from. The daily quizzes definitely will help down the road as a study guide as well.

Group 3

I didn't see any other group posts but figured i would post anyways. In class we took our first daily quiz which I feel like will be beneficial for me, at least, since it will be something to go back & review for the tests with. Since it seems to be that we change subjects frequently and flow with the conversation.