Thursday, December 3, 2009

Socratic Seminars

Lately in Language Arts, we have been doing socratic seminars every day. And surprisingly, I love the discussions! Today, we were talking about the conscience and how moral laws affect us and how we react to good and bad situations. We went into how religion creates morals and therefore creates the conscience. I guess I was a little more philosophical and psychological about it because the only questions I could think of were pertaining to how the mind works with the conscience. This has led me to really want to take a psychology class. I was thinking about taking either sociology or psychology at Sierra at night during the second semester but there is a rule for RHS that you can't take a class at Sierra that could also be taken at our school somehow. Which sociology and psychology fall into with AP Psych. So I'll have to wait until over the summer for more discussions about the conscience.

2 comments:

RHS Flash said...

That seems like a dumb rule. Oh, well, we'll keep you busy... and thinking. cn

Michael Lines said...

Beware of callous Philosophers quick to over-simply consciousness, human nature, and even determinism.

Consciousness Explained and Freedom Evolves by Daniel Dennett are must-reads if you're actually serious about the topic– as professor Dennett is arguable the most important Cognitive Philosopher alive today.

I would also encourage you to strongly evaluate the relationship between religion and ethics, and the typical Anglo-American picture that is often painted about the subject can be slightly misleading.

-Regards, and best wishes! Philosophy of Mind is almost unparalleled in its ability mesmerize.

Michael Lines