Gregory Sadler
A speaker, author, educator, and consultant, I bring philosophy into practice, making complex classic philosophical ideas accessible for a wide audience of professionals, students, and life-long learners. People need frameworks, applications, and guidance to successfully incorporate those useful ideas into their own personal and professional lives, and I provide those with enthusiasm and competence. I also help people find and use philosophical resources to map out and make difficult decisions, understand and solve complex problems, and reorient their practice and projects into more positive directions.Having traveled down these paths myself, I know how powerful, exciting, and helpful well-understood ideas from philosophy can be for individuals and to organizations. Think of me as your expert guide, ready to lead you through the mountain ranges, metropolises, and labyrinths of an entire library of philosophical works, and bring you back not only having learned, but with a rucksack full of treasures and toolsWith two decades of professional experience as an educator, researcher, scholar, and internationally published author, I’ve developed and delivered high-impact educational content in a variety of formats and settings. I specialize in Ethics, Critical Thinking, Practical Reasoning, the History of Ideas, and Assessment of Student Learning.
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Videos by Gregory Sadler
You can watch all the videos in the playlist here - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4gvlOxpKKIgDHsCEZq4gk2R8TGTMJajH
The sequence of the talks are:
The Wrath of Achilles and the Rage of Medea
Why is Your Face Fallen? Anger in Jewish Scriptures
"Don't Get Mad Socrates": Anger in Plato's Dialogues
The First Scientific Examination: Aristotle on Anger
Emperors and Slaves Above the Passions: Stoic Philosophers on Anger
Empty Pleasures and Unnecessary Pains: Epicureans on Anger
Another Platonic View: Plutarch on Controlling Anger
Whoever Is Angry with His Brother: Early Christian Discussions
A Medieval Synthesis: Thomas Aquinas’ Analyses of Anger
Books by Gregory Sadler
I do not provide free copies of my book. You can purchase a copy at http://amzn.to/2x4VdWV
You can also find excerpts from the book here: https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/292792-reason-fulfilled-by-revelation
Articles and Book Chapters by Gregory Sadler
Drawing upon the full Anselmian corpus (the published treatises, prayers, letters, vita, dicta, and de humanibus moribus) this paper reconstructs the general features of an Anselmian virtue ethics, looks at specific advice and instruction Anselm provides, examines several of the virtues and vices in greater detail, discusses justice, charity, and humility as architectonic virtues in Anselm’s scheme, and outlines the role divine grace plays in human virtue.
problem.
1) a rhetorical construct state of nature as war of all against all, lacking any of the institutions of civilization and civil society
2) historically existent “state(s) of nature” in pre-political societies, where family, patron-client, clan, or tribal structures are in conflict with each other
3) historically existent “state(s) of nature” within established civil societies where, despite enforcement of laws, citizens still remain in amistrustful condition vis-à-vis each other, i.e. concerned about possible crime
4) the historically existent “state of nature” governing foreign relations, i.e. the condition of states in relation to each other
5) historically existent and possible “state(s)” of nature that culminate in civil war with the breakdown of civil society through factionalization.
One particularly interesting aspect of Lacan’s work, particularly in terms of moral theory, is that while problematizing them, and reconceiving how we must understand them, his approach remains anchored by key themes, concepts, and experiences of older moral theories and perspectives, such as the truth of the human subject, the nature of the good, and the processes and pitfalls of moral development.
Three main sets of issues are analysed and discussed in this chapter. First, we examine Lacan’s criticisms of modes and schools of psychoanalysis that converted it into a simplistically moralistic discipline such as ego-psychology. Second, we run over Lacan’s main discussions and partial appropriations of Aristotelian, Kantian, Utilitarian, Sadean, and Judeo-Christian moral perspectives. Third and finally, we go deeper into discussing the implications Lacan’s reinterpretation of selected Freudian concepts bear for ethics, particularly in terms of ethics of subjectivity. Put very briefly, we might say that Lacan is situating a process of becoming-subject within a never-complete field of ethical discourses.
morality, purified of any explicit reference to God, could not be worked out on bases of common human experience and rational reflection. A third way asks whether some kind of divine revelation is required for morality to be adequately
understood or worked out. A fourth way asks whether a person requires practical engagement with God in adequately live out a sufficiently moral life. I then examine Anselm of Canterbury's responses to each of these questions.
The first part examines the issue of God as the origin of moral value and standards. The second part shift to a vantage point taking Anselm’s God out of the picture, in order to outline a morality based upon the exercise of a natural human practical rationality. The third and fourth part address what Anselm would see as shortcomings of such an approach to morality. The third part focuses on guidance and assistance Anselm thinks Christianity provides to human reason in developing a more adequate morality. The fourth part looks at the indispensable role Anselm accords to God and to Christianity, understood not only as belief or practice, but as community and experience.
""
This solution reflects a tension in modern reason itself, since it requires the alienation of self-determination of the rational human subject precisely to preserve the condition for the possibility of the rationality of the rational human subject, i.e. one’s life, which is threatened by the very rationality of other human subjects.
I discuss interpretations of Hobbes which stress the other motives of conflict, i.e. competition and vanity, and acknowledge that they play a role in the threat subjects present to each other, but argue that the danger presented precisely by shared rationality, which I discuss with some reference to the Hegelian dialectic of consciousness and mutual recognition, has been underplayed by Hobbes’ interpretation"
Anselm uses beatings as examples in illustrating important moral distinctions in several works, seemingly having their moral value or disvalue depend on contextual factors, so that beatings are as such, so to speak, morally neutral. Anselm also strongly criticizes another abbot for indiscriminately beating his charges, and explained why such violence was deeply detrimental in several ways. Yet, Anselm saw some legitimate role for corporal punishments.
Moving to coercion, punishment, and violence more generally, Anselm’s approach is complex, and attempts to do justice to several key values and concerns. His own approach was that through patience, humility, indulgence within the limits of order, and love on his part, attempts to inculcate an overcoming of violence and hatred as well as other evil affections, vices on the part of others, offering them a possibility and a path by which they may avoid the necessity of punishment or other coercion. He also recognizes that coercive force and punishment not only can and do serve as means to preserving the social order from violence and as means for ends of moral correction and direction, but even figure into the justice and beauty of the divine providential arrangement of the universe
Christian philosophy reflects on the relationship between philosophy and Christian faith, focused on all aspects of concrete human existence, reorienting philosophy towards recovery of its fuller scope. Three key contributions Peperzak
makes are: reexamining the relationship between philosophy, the natural and the supernatural ; highlighting and phenomenologically describing affectivity’s importance ; and, indicating Christian philosophy’s grounding in dialogue, tradition and community"
You can watch all the videos in the playlist here - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4gvlOxpKKIgDHsCEZq4gk2R8TGTMJajH
The sequence of the talks are:
The Wrath of Achilles and the Rage of Medea
Why is Your Face Fallen? Anger in Jewish Scriptures
"Don't Get Mad Socrates": Anger in Plato's Dialogues
The First Scientific Examination: Aristotle on Anger
Emperors and Slaves Above the Passions: Stoic Philosophers on Anger
Empty Pleasures and Unnecessary Pains: Epicureans on Anger
Another Platonic View: Plutarch on Controlling Anger
Whoever Is Angry with His Brother: Early Christian Discussions
A Medieval Synthesis: Thomas Aquinas’ Analyses of Anger
I do not provide free copies of my book. You can purchase a copy at http://amzn.to/2x4VdWV
You can also find excerpts from the book here: https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/292792-reason-fulfilled-by-revelation
Drawing upon the full Anselmian corpus (the published treatises, prayers, letters, vita, dicta, and de humanibus moribus) this paper reconstructs the general features of an Anselmian virtue ethics, looks at specific advice and instruction Anselm provides, examines several of the virtues and vices in greater detail, discusses justice, charity, and humility as architectonic virtues in Anselm’s scheme, and outlines the role divine grace plays in human virtue.
problem.
1) a rhetorical construct state of nature as war of all against all, lacking any of the institutions of civilization and civil society
2) historically existent “state(s) of nature” in pre-political societies, where family, patron-client, clan, or tribal structures are in conflict with each other
3) historically existent “state(s) of nature” within established civil societies where, despite enforcement of laws, citizens still remain in amistrustful condition vis-à-vis each other, i.e. concerned about possible crime
4) the historically existent “state of nature” governing foreign relations, i.e. the condition of states in relation to each other
5) historically existent and possible “state(s)” of nature that culminate in civil war with the breakdown of civil society through factionalization.
One particularly interesting aspect of Lacan’s work, particularly in terms of moral theory, is that while problematizing them, and reconceiving how we must understand them, his approach remains anchored by key themes, concepts, and experiences of older moral theories and perspectives, such as the truth of the human subject, the nature of the good, and the processes and pitfalls of moral development.
Three main sets of issues are analysed and discussed in this chapter. First, we examine Lacan’s criticisms of modes and schools of psychoanalysis that converted it into a simplistically moralistic discipline such as ego-psychology. Second, we run over Lacan’s main discussions and partial appropriations of Aristotelian, Kantian, Utilitarian, Sadean, and Judeo-Christian moral perspectives. Third and finally, we go deeper into discussing the implications Lacan’s reinterpretation of selected Freudian concepts bear for ethics, particularly in terms of ethics of subjectivity. Put very briefly, we might say that Lacan is situating a process of becoming-subject within a never-complete field of ethical discourses.
morality, purified of any explicit reference to God, could not be worked out on bases of common human experience and rational reflection. A third way asks whether some kind of divine revelation is required for morality to be adequately
understood or worked out. A fourth way asks whether a person requires practical engagement with God in adequately live out a sufficiently moral life. I then examine Anselm of Canterbury's responses to each of these questions.
The first part examines the issue of God as the origin of moral value and standards. The second part shift to a vantage point taking Anselm’s God out of the picture, in order to outline a morality based upon the exercise of a natural human practical rationality. The third and fourth part address what Anselm would see as shortcomings of such an approach to morality. The third part focuses on guidance and assistance Anselm thinks Christianity provides to human reason in developing a more adequate morality. The fourth part looks at the indispensable role Anselm accords to God and to Christianity, understood not only as belief or practice, but as community and experience.
""
This solution reflects a tension in modern reason itself, since it requires the alienation of self-determination of the rational human subject precisely to preserve the condition for the possibility of the rationality of the rational human subject, i.e. one’s life, which is threatened by the very rationality of other human subjects.
I discuss interpretations of Hobbes which stress the other motives of conflict, i.e. competition and vanity, and acknowledge that they play a role in the threat subjects present to each other, but argue that the danger presented precisely by shared rationality, which I discuss with some reference to the Hegelian dialectic of consciousness and mutual recognition, has been underplayed by Hobbes’ interpretation"
Anselm uses beatings as examples in illustrating important moral distinctions in several works, seemingly having their moral value or disvalue depend on contextual factors, so that beatings are as such, so to speak, morally neutral. Anselm also strongly criticizes another abbot for indiscriminately beating his charges, and explained why such violence was deeply detrimental in several ways. Yet, Anselm saw some legitimate role for corporal punishments.
Moving to coercion, punishment, and violence more generally, Anselm’s approach is complex, and attempts to do justice to several key values and concerns. His own approach was that through patience, humility, indulgence within the limits of order, and love on his part, attempts to inculcate an overcoming of violence and hatred as well as other evil affections, vices on the part of others, offering them a possibility and a path by which they may avoid the necessity of punishment or other coercion. He also recognizes that coercive force and punishment not only can and do serve as means to preserving the social order from violence and as means for ends of moral correction and direction, but even figure into the justice and beauty of the divine providential arrangement of the universe
Christian philosophy reflects on the relationship between philosophy and Christian faith, focused on all aspects of concrete human existence, reorienting philosophy towards recovery of its fuller scope. Three key contributions Peperzak
makes are: reexamining the relationship between philosophy, the natural and the supernatural ; highlighting and phenomenologically describing affectivity’s importance ; and, indicating Christian philosophy’s grounding in dialogue, tradition and community"
Life
Influences
Methodology: Faith and Reason
The Proslogion
Gaunilo’s Reply and Anselm’s Response
The Monologion
Cur Deus Homo
De Grammatico
The De Veritate
The De Libertate Arbitrii
The De Casu Diaboli
The De Concordia
The Fragments
Other Writings
References and Further Readings
Biography
Immanence and Transcendence
L’Action (1893)
The Reaction to L’Action and the Dialectic Between Philosophy and Christianity
Blondel’s Metaphysical Trilogy
Blondel’s Methodology
References and Further Reading
The Historical Background and Development of the Debates
Positions Against Christian Philosophy
Gilson’s Overview
Theologist (Fideist) Positions
Rationalist Positions
Neo-Scholastic Positions
Positions For Christian Philosophy
Etienne Gilson’s Position
Jacques Maritain’s Position
Maurice Blondel’s Position
Gabriel Marcel’s Position
Other Positions Reconciling the Gilson-Maritain and Blondel Positions
References and Further Reading
Literature from the 1930s Christian Philosophy Debates
Selected Literature from 1940s and 50s Reformed Protestant Discussions about Christian Philosophy
Selected Literature about the 1930s Christian Philosophy Debates and Positions on the Issue of Christian Philosophy "
Videorecording of the entire lecture is available here - https://youtu.be/ztl5-465rZU
During the lecture, I discuss her childhood, relationships with her family and her close friend Fanny Blood, and the succession of early jobs and professions. Then we focus on her deliberate choice to move to London and make her living by writing - first by translation and novel review work - then then by her own writings.
We discuss a number of ideas from one of her main works, The Vindication of the Rights of Women, including the nature and importance of education, civilization and human development, culture's impact upon gender inequality, and the need for friendship in marriage.
We also discuss the two main romantic relationships Wollstonecraft had in the course of her life - in the last five years of her life. One was with Gilbert Imlay, with whom she had her daughter, Fanny. He effectively abandoned both of them, which lead to Wollstonecraft's two suicide attempts. The other was with William Godwin, who she married, and with whom she had her daughter Mary.
After her daughter's Mary birth, Wollstonecraft died of complications from the birth. Godwin would soon publish his biography of Wollstonecraft, which then effectively ruined her reputation for roughly a century.
Early on Stoics stressed “living in accordance with nature” as a central goal of their moral theory. This theory also included a stress upon cultivating and actively living the virtues, upon happiness conceived of as apatheia and as freedom, and upon distinguishing between what are genuinely good, bad, and indifferent.
In the late Stoic Epictetus’ thought, “living in accordance with nature” is qualified and clarified as having or maintaining one’s “prohairesis in accordance with nature”. This term prohairesis had already played a significant role in ancient moral theory and practice, for example in that of Aristotle, but Epictetus expands its scope considerably beyond that of earlier thinkers, so that it seems almost like a full conception of the faculty of will as found in later moral theories.
The main goal of the seminar is to examine selected passages from Epicetus’ Discourses bearing upon prohairesis. We will focus upon four topics. 1) What the prohairesis is and how far it extends in Epictetus’ moral theory; 2) What it means to have one’s prohairesis in accordance with nature; 3) The relationship between prohairesis, the “rational faculty”, and the “ruling faculty”; 4) The reflexivity of the proharesis, and the means by which it determines or reshapes itself, particularly (re-)habituation.
You can view the talk at: https://youtu.be/EWS4QR1PM58
An unconventional religious thinker, he reworks classical Christian conceptions of nature, life, solitude, love, God, Biblical figures, and even angels into a radically new religious perspective, on in which we human beings are participating in building a God who is still in
development.
This lecture outlines Rilke's perspective, focusing on key passages that articulate this point of view. It will be followed by a question and answer session.
In it, I situate Aristotle's discussions about the emotion, effects, and moral status of anger within the field of ethics, specifically virtue ethics. We then discuss what Aristotle has to teach us about how the emotion of anger arises, what it is, and what it wants. Aristotle discusses both vices and a virtuous disposition that have the anger response as their "raw material," and we examine his outlines of these. We finish by thinking about whether anger can play a productive role in activism or working towards justice.
He briefly tells some of his own and his colleagues stories about why they got into lecture capture, what worked and what didn't, and what new opportunities it can lead to for instructors (including his popular academic YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/gbisadler).
Bentham's moral theory is more complex than that, which I show by focusing on his Philosophy of Action, specifically on his treatments and assessments of intention, motive, and disposition
We start with Nietzsche's distinction made early on between the Dionysian and Apollonian responses, which play a central role in this work, and particularly in the development of the genres of classic Greek poetry, leading up to the tragedy of Aeschylus and Sophocles.
We then look at the third major response, the one which takes us from the tragic to the theoretical point of view and mode of life, the Socratic, which Nietzsche will also call the Alexandrian -- and which he regards as the prevalent fundamental viewpoint of our own modern times.
According to Nietzsche, with Euripides, tragedy ends up dying a self-inflicted death. By rejecting the Dionysian depths and mystery, Euripides is abandoned by the Apollonian instead, and has to find new substitutes for what the interplay between Apollonian and Dionysian provided.
We close by considering the situation of modernity -- which threatens the danger of nihilism, as the spirit of science starts finding its limits, and the cheerfulness and optimism of the Socratic begins to give way to an existential nausea, pessimism, and groundlessness. Nietzsche's solution in this early work is to chart out a resuscitation of Apollonian myth emerging through the Dionysian basis of music, leading to a revival of tragedy. In his later self-criticism of the work, he suggests that he was off-base and that a more individual solution would be possible.
The original purpose of EBEP was to assist the School or Business and Economics in improving their Case Task and Rubric used to assess student learning in Ethical Theories and Application for their specialized AACSB Accreditation.
Qualified and committed philosophy professors cross disciplinary divides to “teach the teachers of the students,” assisting Business faculty in developing higher levels of competence and confidence in teaching Ethics content, with developing and distinguishing assessments of student learning in Ethics (knowledge, application, and moral development), improving pedagogy, reviewing and developing resources.
An institution adopting this model infuses Ethics into the curriculum, fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, and incurs no additional costs. Wider implications for various other disciplines will be discussed,because similar interdepartmental and interdisciplinary collaboration can -- and arguably, should -- be carried out between subject matter experts in core skill areas and practitioners/educators in other disciplines
A podcast of the lecture can be found here: https://archive.org/details/G.B.SadlerServiceLearningCriticalThinkingAndFoodAwareness
In the course of my presentation, I introduce the participants to some of the rudiments of classical moral theory, discuss what intellectual and moral virtues are and how they are cultivated, identify which virtues are particularly needed by SI leaders and instructors and how they may be thoughtfully cultivated and progressively built."
Another equally important set of concerns are those bearing on matters of values, life, morality, human nature in its full extent, community, and our final end or ends. These are matters whose intelligibility is provided and explored through our practical rationality. The type of enquiry driven by these concerns can be, and in Anselm’s thought is, both broader in scope and more fundamental than epistemological-driven inquiry.
This paper examines the dialectical relationship between faith and practical rationality in St. Anselm’s thought, works, and life. First, I discuss the various interconnected senses Anselm gives to the terms “faith” and “reason.” Second, I argue that practical and theoretical rationality are not separable in Anselm, and that practical rationality actually has the priority in his thought. Third, I discuss several specific examples of cooperation of faith and practical reason in Anselm’s work. Fourth, I discuss several other key matters needed to fully round out the picture of faith and reason’s interaction: affectivity, the complex workings of grace, and relationship and community."
My paper approaches this problem through interpretative exegesis. In the first part, I assemble several Anselmian passages from Monologion and De Concordia which seem to bear on the problem. In the second, I interpret these passages to provide arguments for regarding justice as a degree of ontological dignity, buttressing them through interpretation of relevant discussions primarily from Monologion, De Veritate, De Libertate, De Casu Diaboli. In the third, I then marshal responses, discussing other passages from De Casu Diaboli and De Concordia, which problematize regarding justice as a degree of ontological dignity. In the fourth, I conclude that even in light of these, it is still possible to regard justice as a degree of ontological dignity in qualified ways, and I end by briefly offering four considerations about the relations between justice and rational being in Anselm’s thought.
"
My main argument is that Aristotle’s practical philosophy, and these passages in particular, offer to and require of his readers a dialectical engagement with the content of the texts (granting that “dialectic” is an equivocal term, I will offer a fuller description in the full paper). I consider four topics more specifically: 1) the relationship between rhetoric and dialectic, as capacities for providing arguments; 2) the ways the discipline of rhetoric shifts into the allied disciplines of politics and ethics; 3) the reasons why rhetoric is always unavoidable in both politics and ethics; 4) how politics and ethics can reciprocally inform rhetoric"
What, then is the status of the argument -- or the portion of it -- pertaining to the existence of God. I argue that to understand it adequately, we cannot confine ourselves to the Proslogion, but must examine it within the scope of Anselm's metaphysics, drawing on the Monologion and the De Veritate in particular. "
The figures and movements covered in the lectures are: Greek Epic and Tragedy, Jewish Scriptures, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, Plutarch, Early Christian writings, Beowulf and the Song of Roland, Thomas Aquinas, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Dante Alighieri
The figures covered in the lectures are: Soren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, Rainer Maria Rilke, Lev Shestov, Franz Kafka, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, and Gabriel Marcel
In each 25-35 minute video, I read paragraphs from the text verbatim, and then in front of my home studio blackboard, engage in some discussion of the main concepts discussed in that passage, provide any needed historical context, and outline any connections to other passages.
If you would like to support the ongoing development of this innovative digital resource, you can click on the Patreon link below. You'll also find the Half Hour Hegel projct blog linked to below.
The Senses, Dreams, and Doubt - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-the-senses-dreams-and-doubt-sadlers-lectures
Geometry, Mathematics, and Doubt - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-geometry-mathematics-and-doubt-sadlers-lectures
God, Causes, and Certainty - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-on-first-philosophy-god-causes-and-certainty
The Evil Demon Hypothesis - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-the-evil-demon-hypothesis-sadlers-lectures
The Cogito and Thinking Being - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-the-cogito-and-thinking-being-sadlers-lectures
The Piece of Wax Example - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-the-piece-of-wax-of-example
What Is Known Clearly and Distinctly - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-what-is-known-clearly-distinctly-sadlers-lectures
Where Does Falsity Reside? - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-where-does-falsity-reside-sadlers-lectures
Innate, Adventitous, and Produced Ideas - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-innate-adventious-and-produced-ideas-sadlers-lectures
Objective and Formal Reality - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-objective-and-formal-reality-sadlers-lectures
The Argument for God's Existence - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-argument-for-gods-existence-from-idea-sadlers-lectures
Human Being, Supreme Being, and Non-Being -https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-human-being-supreme-being-and-non-being-sadlers-lectures
Is God Responsible for Human Error - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-on-first-philosophy-is-god-responsible-for-human-error
Error, The Understanding, and the Will - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-on-first-philosophy-error-understanding-and-the-will
The Freedom and Power of the Will - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-freedom-power-of-the-will-sadlers-lectures/s-2zBj8
True and Immutable Natures - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-true-and-immutable-natures-sadlers-lectures
An Ontological Argument for God's Existence - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-on-first-philosophy-ontological-argument-for-gods-existence
Previous Judgements About Clear and Distinct Ideas - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-previous-knowledge-about-clear-and-distinct-ideas-sadlers-lectures
Imagination and Intellection or Conception - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-imagination-and-intellection-or-conception-sadlers-lectures
Faculties of the Human Mind and Body - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-faculties-of-the-human-mind-and-body-sadlers-lectures
Sense-Perception and External Things - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/rene-descartes-meditations-on-first-philosophy-sense-perception-and-external-things
What Nature Teaches Us - https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/descartes-meditations-what-nature-teaches-us-sadlers-lectures
A CLA Performance Task requires students to investigate and take a position on real-life-like situations. They must address another person’s claims, argument, and position, and they must do so in reference to seven documents containing different types of information. The documents also contain a mixture of relevant and irrelevant, and reliable and unreliable, information. The examination is scored holistically using rubrics. The report provides recommendations
Specifically, I discuss the APA Delphi Report Model, the Paul-Elder Model, a reconstruction of the model of CT involved in the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), and the proposed QEP model of "evidence-based decision-making in the majors". for each, I highlight strengths and weaknesses, and argue that these are in fact compatible models.
In this particular module, I have students begin with a sequence of dialogues by Plato -- specifically, the Meno, Ion, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, and then discuss where they might decide to go from there. I also have produced a video specifically discussing self-directed study of Philosophy and of Plato's dialogues, available here: http://youtu.be/Ngk0tLuls1w
I will be adding more essay writing prompts here on these dialogues as time goes on. Handouts on some of these dialogues can be found in my "Teaching Documents". I also have produced many videos discussing these dialogues, which you can find organized into a Plato playlist here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB0AE9449D5B07340
But, “understanding rectitudo” can be regarded in several ways. An inadequate way of understanding it would simply produce some theory or formula without following its implications out further, and without connecting it with actual concrete moral life. Anselm’s works provide both a framework and some content for more adequate understanding of rectitudo. Specifically, his works allow understanding what it means for a given human being to concretely will (including to act, think, speak, and feel) rightly, as they should, in determinate situations. I highlight three particularly relevant features of Anselm’s thought: will as determinate affectiones; the interplay between grace and the will; the mediateness of our knowledge and relation to God through moral life.