Archive for the 'Philosophy' Category

Randy Pausch and his last lecture

Published
by
Phil
on August 8, 2008
in Life, Philosophy and Videos
. 0 Comments

Randy Pausch died last Thursday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 47, leaving behind a wife and three kids. Seems glum, but he certainly didn’t feel that way. For those of you who haven’t seen his “last lecture” at Carnegie Mellon entitled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, it’s here (1h 16m). Highly entertaining and absolutely worth your while.

He’s also written a book entitled The Last Lecture, which I plan to get my hands on soon. I’m told it’s very inspiring.

In truth, while a lot of people find his ideas on how to live life to be fresh and radical, I’ve been exposed to the exact same ideas all my life, as a cultivational Daoist. The difference is that he presents the concepts miles more practically than I’ve ever seen. Kudos to him, and may he RIP.

By the way, this “last lecture” idea isn’t the first. Those of you who have read or seen Tuesdays With Morrie know what I’m talking about.

My pedagogical philosophy

Published
by
Phil
on July 15, 2008
in Personal and Philosophy
. 2 Comments

There are no students that fail to learn. There are only teachers that fail to teach.

Of course, this applies only to students that are willing and are making an effort to learn.

I’m not sure where I heard this from, but it has been burned into my memory, and I have adopted it as my own teaching philosophy ever since. I really wish more teachers and professors would think this way. Ever notice that the best teachers always follow this kind of philosophy (or something like it), and the worst teachers think their students are stupid?

I think the film Freedom Writers was an incredible example of this philosophy in action. It was based on a true story with real people in Los Angeles. I highly recommend that you check it out, even if you’re not interested in pedagogy. It’s a fantastically moving story, and they didn’t even have to tweak the plot all that much to make it super dramatic.

I’m an organic chemistry TA, and I care very much about what my students think - how cool and suave I am, how I look, how I teach, how I grade, and whether I’m coherent at all. I value their input. Because students who can’t learn don’t exist - there are only teachers who can’t teach. If I don’t get their feedback, how else do I know if I’m even teaching the material?

Deadlines with me are lax, lab report redos are entirely possible (even if against the rules), and I never mind explaining the same thing five times over. The way I run my classes ends up taking lots of time, in class and out, but I feel that I’m doing the right thing. The choices I make are simply manifestations of the above philosophy. Learning shouldn’t be made a chore - it should be fun. I argue that the teacher-student relationship should as personal as possible, without all the barriers of professionalism. Personal, down-to-earth professors are the best, aren’t they?

I don’t even think I’m a great teacher. (Though I do love to teach.) Sometimes I’m not as well prepared for lab as I could be. Other times I miss errors or omissions in lab reports. But from the little experience I’ve had - it seems that none of that matters. If you follow this philosophy, you simply succeed as a teacher. students learn much better, knowing they have something to lean on if they don’t “get it” the first time around. From what I can tell, your attention also wins their attention. “Wow, this guy is really putting forth a lot of effort to teach me this stuff. I should try harder.” Me, I know that’s how I feel when I’m being taught.

My student evaluations from this past semester are attached here to attest to this philosophy. (Rare opportunity for me to gloat - carpe diem!)

Religion vs. reality: moot?

Published
by
Phil
on June 16, 2008
in Philosophy, Religion, Videos and 道 (Dao)
. 10 Comments

thegodmovie.comI don’t know if any of you have seen the video The God Who Wasn’t There. It makes a pretty good case against the foundations of Christianity. You can find select clips of the video on YouTube. I don’t think I would be legally allowed to share the video here, since they want you to buy their DVD for $25. But you can probably “get” it elsewhere for “cheaper.” (You didn’t hear that from me.)

Basically, they say that the story of Jesus is nothing more than a myth, not unlike the stories of such other characters as Hercules, Osiris, Dionysus, or Mithra. In fact, Jesus’ storyline pretty much matches the classic outline of a mythical hero. The way the video presented this segment was actually quite entertaining and convincing.

This Jesus- and Christianity-bashing seems to be the trend these days. Very hip, very revolutionary. These “renaissance” people, if you will, have their noses up against Christian extremists, who defend their faith religiously, believing that Jesus is their M/messiah, their S/savior, and that H/he will come again sometime in their lifetimes. So you’ve got these two teams on two sides of the dodgeball field, duking it out.

But what if it doesn’t actually matter whether or not the portrayed Jesus ever existed? Continue reading ‘Religion vs. reality: moot?’

If a tree falls in the forest…

Published
by
Phil
on April 11, 2008
in Philosophy and Science
. 2 Comments

treeIf a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

I remember this question from elementary school. But only just now, in the shower, did I finally come to my own terms with this seemingly paradoxical question.

It’s pretty simple. The way I see it, it all depends on how you define sound. Do you define it as the simple molecular vibrations that happen at certain amplitudes and frequencies? Or do you define it as the electrical stimuli that occur in our nervous systems when our eardrums pick up such vibrations?

If you define it as the former, then by the laws of physics, sound always occurs when a tree falls. If you define it as the latter, then no, there isn’t any sound, because no eardrums or nervous systems are around to detect the vibrations!

I guess epiphanies aren’t always what people make them out to be. The best part is, I’m sure someone else has already come up with this interpretation already.

Discuss this in the community forums.