Category Archives: Philosophy
New Again
September 6, 2005 – 6:38 pm
I love the first day of school. The air is just a little bit cooler, and all the students are excited about starting the school year–some of them about beginning college for the first time. I’m anticipating the classes I’m taking and the ones I’m teaching; I’m going to learn new things and maybe so […]
Daniel Dennett and the God of the Gaps
August 30, 2005 – 12:51 am
In an editorial from Sunday’s New York Times, Daniel Dennett takes aim at “Intelligent Design.” He does make a few cheap shots at the notion, such as this: Since there is no content, there is no “controversy” to teach about in biology class. But here is a good topic for a high school course on […]
Aufheben Bridges
August 29, 2005 – 3:42 pm
Betcha didn’t know that John Roebling, father in the father-son team that designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge, was a student of Hegel’s: (from David McCullough’s The Great Bridge p. 42) In Berlin, [John Roebling] had studied architecture, bridge construction, and hydraulics. He also studied philosophy under Hegel, who, according to one biographical memoir, “avowed […]