I teach at the New York Institute of Technology, which has campuses in Manhattan and in Nassau County. Despite its mandate of preparing students for careers in various majors – electrical and mechanical engineering, architecture, business, health care – it has always required philosophy as part of its core curriculum, and has had as many as four full-time philosophy professors. The school is friendly to the introduction of new courses, provided that the Curriculum Committee properly vets them.
Some years ago, my dean asked me to develop a new course in philosophy as an enrichment of the offerings in philosophy to students who are in the later phases of their studies, specifically the juniors and seniors. My school does not have a major or minor in philosophy, so the members of my Department try to provide interesting courses for the great majority of our students who must have at least one course of philosophy – they are called “seminars” – before they can complete the requirements for their degree.
My major field is German phenomenology, especially Husserl, Scheler, Hartmann, and Heidegger. Now Scheler was one of the early developers of philosophical anthropology, along with such as Plessner and Gehlen. I jumped at the chance to design and build a course on that topic. I am the co-editor of the APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy, and have had ample opportunity to keep up with what is happening in classrooms around the country, and some of these have given me good ideas for my own classes. My aim was to engage all students in research in the material, so I planned to develop a course in which the students work together to create a website about the materials on human nature that they have discovered, understood, and organized. To do that, I had to organize students in small groups – four students in each of six groups. We cover six topics during the first six weeks of the semester. By midterm, each student will have written a four-page paper on the topic assigned to his or her group, Then they each work with their group to create the website. Since I did not have much experience in creating websites, the dean managed to get a young professor of computer arts to come into my classroom and give the students and me some instruction in how to use the program called Dreamweaver.
The first time I used this technique in my teaching it took me quite a while to adapt to it. I was aiming to help students not only to acquire knowledge of the material, but also to learn to work together to do research and then construct a platform for disseminating it. Their first task is to synthesize their group’s four papers, creating out of the four one that contains only three pages. This was, without question, the most challenging part of the course. I had to organize the students in a format where they could work out their ideas in front of me while needing as little professorial help as possible. The brief papers they synthesized then went into one of the six tabs of the website. A committee containing one student from each of the six groups then organized the website itself, insuring its integrity. Meanwhile the remaining students in each group decide upon relevant auxiliary materials for inclusion in each tab the website. By semester’s end, the website is published on the web, and students take a final examination.
I am not certain of the pedagogical value of this way of teaching, and I have taught the course in the standard talk-and-chalk way before and after I taught it in the way described here. Of course, the students had more fun with this hands-on pedagogy; they enjoyed especially getting texts and pictures just right. But it was clear that a lot of time was being wasted in favor of something whose pedagogical value is still uncertain. But I will do it again before long, for it was fun, and worth trying.
Here is the syllabus.
NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
Ekelly@nyit.edu
ICPH 301
Core Seminar
The Philosophy of Human Nature
CONTENT
Since Darwin shook humankind’s belief in our divine provenance, philosophers and scientists have sought a new theory of human nature – or have denied that such a thing is possible. This interdisciplinary course based in philosophy is first a study of classic sources of ideas on the nature of humankind as found in Western religion, in the ancient world, and in early modern philosophy. Then the course will take up contemporary theories of human nature that reflect upon the human being as a psychological or as a genetic mechanism, as a maker of tools, a speaker of language, as dominated by its animal nature, and as a being abandoned in a godless world. The text and handouts will contain reflections on human nature as proposed in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions, in the economics of Marx, the biology of Darwin, the psychology of Freud, the theories of language of Chomsky and Dennett, on neurophysiological theories of brain activity, and on the existentialism of Sartre. A few surprises will perhaps be added.
PROCEDURES:
The first seven weeks of the course will have a lecture-discussion format, in which seven theories of human nature, represented in the primary text and in the anthology, will be discussed. This phase of the semester will culminate
In a written midterm exam (date to be announced), in which students will be asked to utilize their powers of description and analysis in answering twelve questions about the nature and significance of each of the seven theories.
In a four-page paper, due on the eighth week, on some specific aspect of the seven theories discussed. This paper, which will respond synthetically and succinctly to several questions about the content of that theory, will serve as a foundation for the second part of the course.
On the seventh week of the semester, when papers have been critiqued, graded, and returned to the students, the class will be broken into seven action-groups, one for each of the theories of human nature. Each group will have as members those students whose four-page papers concerned that particular theory.
Each group will contribute, under the guidance of the instructor, to the creation of a website called “The Philosophy of the Human Being.” The site will contain seven tabs, each containing the work on one of the seven theories studied by the corresponding action-group.
During the first week of action-group meetings, members of the individual groups will meet to read each other’s three-page paper. The task of each group will be to synthesize the papers. This means
- organizing the material;
- choosing to put some materials in the foreground, others in the background, and dropping others entirely;
- Checking for the correctness of English and clarity of thought.
The product will be a paper of one and a half to two pages that presents its theory under the rubrics of its essential insights; its supporting evidence; and its continuing significance for an account of the human being.
In later weeks, members of each action-group will make decisions regarding what supplementary material might be added to the presentation to increase its communicative value. Students should observe how communication takes place among them, and how it could be improved, for clarity in communication among the students tends to increase the value of the intended product. There will be a question on the final examination about your experience with this communicative process. The final tab should contain at least some of the following:
- links to material closely related to the presentation of the theory;
- charts, diagrams, or tables, where relevant;
- pictures of relevant persons or things;
- illustrative quotations from experts;
- literary or other artistic expressions of any of the ideas contained in the presentation;
- critical judgments of the members of the action-groups as to the truth or falsity of the theory of human nature that they are presenting.
- When the product is almost ready, the members of each action-group will present to the whole class, via a video monitor, their contribution to the website. Based on the knowledge of the whole, representative members of each action-group will meet with representatives of the other committees to make decisions regarding uniformity of format. The other members of the class will meet to create a home page for the website, with a link to a general bibliography of relevant print and electronic materials.
Students may, if they wish, add a separate concluding tab containing any of the following: (a) a statement of the relative importance of the philosophy of the human being for college students today; (b) a list of the names, e-mail addresses, and photos of the class.
A final examination will test for the outcomes of the content-study. Students should be able to state the founding insights, supporting evidence and continuing relevance of any of the six theories of human nature.
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE CONTENT:
Students will learn the significance, aims, and methods of the philosophical study of the nature of the human being.
Students will demonstrate college-level knowledge, on essays and examinations of the nature, and content of the theories of human nature.
Students will evince skills in finding and evaluating print and electronic sources of information, and integrate that material with their own presentations of the assigned tasks.
Students will be able to compare theories developed by different cultures at different historical moments, and to evaluate them with reference to their own experience.
Students will learn to appreciate the worldwide significance of reflection concerning our own human nature.
ANALYTICAL SKILLS:
Students will demonstrate a capacity to distinguish between science, religion and philosophical speculation, and to describe methods appropriate to each.
They will criticize intelligently sophisticated intellectual material and make judgments concerning the reliability of information found in a variety of sources for its relevance to their writing.
Students will learn to create organized and clear accounts of theories, and present them to others for their evaluation, and evaluate the accounts of others.
GROUPMANSHIP:
Students will communicate the content of their written work to members of other groups. They will incorporate the individual contributions of each member into a single document acceptable to all members of the group.
Students will present orally the content of group outcomes to the entire class.
Students, working in groups, will make decisions regarding the product of their common efforts.
Students will learn to criticize each other’s work effectively while working on a common project, thus reflecting the responsibilities of citizenship in the broader community.
PRIMARY TEXTS:
Pojman, Louis P. Who Are We? Theories of Human Nature (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). (‘LPP’)
Stevenson, Leslie. The Study of Human Nature (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). (‘SHN’); and Handouts.
READING ASSIGNMENTS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION DURING THE FIRST SIX WEEKS; SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS OF THE ACTION-GROUPS:
Week 1: Religion. Nature: Humans as Creatures/Children, of God.
Read: LPP, Chapter 1; SHN, Old Testament, New Testament, Koran (Groups that would prefer to work with the picture of the human being that emerges from other religious traditions may do so after consulting with the instructor.)
Outcomes: Students will be able to identify Jewish and Christian visions of the human being, and distinguish them with regard to their content. What does Scripture take to be rules for successful living? What were the messages of the Jewish prophets? What concept of human nature appears in the teaching of Christ?
Week 2. Reason. Plato: Humans as Prisoners in a Cave. Aristotle: Humans as Rational Social Animals.
Read: LPP, Chapter 4; SHN Plato; Aristotle.
Outcomes: Students will be able to describe Plato’s theory of theForms and his theory of recollection; to describe, analyze and criticize his Allegory of the Cave; to describe Aristotle’s theory of the political person and to compare it with contemporary concepts; to criticize his theory of the Good Life.
Week 3. Economics. The Early Modern World: Hobbes, Rousseau, and Marx. Man the Tradesman, Producer, Citizen, and Wage Slave.
Read: LPP, Chapter 7 and Chapter 10; SHN, Hobbes, Rousseau, Marx; Handout by Kelly.
Outcomes: Students will contrast theories of human beings in a “state of nature”; understand the significance of the basic theses of Marxist philosophy; analyze the difference between secularity and religion; evaluate the Manifesto of Marx and Engels.
Week 4. Biology. Darwin, Men, and Apes. Read: LPP, Chapter 13; SHN, Darwin. Outcomes: Students will be able to state the postulates of Darwin’s theory of evolution and the principles of natural selection, and analyze the moral and social consequences of Darwinism.
Week 5. Psychology. Freud: The Unconscious and Its Works. Read: LPP, Chapter 11; SHN, Freud. Outcomes: Students will be able to describe Freud’s theory of the psyche, his views on human sexuality, and the function of dreams; to express criticism of the social and moral implications of Freudianism.
Week 6. Neurophysiology. Thoughts on Thinking: The Nature of the Human Mind. Read: LPP, Chapter 14; SHN, Chomsky; handout by Lem. Outcomes: Students will distinguish between materialism, dualism and epiphenomenalism; will be able to define and criticize functionalism; will be able to speculate intelligently on the origin and uniqueness of speech in humankind.
Week 7. Existentialism. Humankind in an Absurd Universe. Read: LPP, Chapter 12; SHN, Sartre; handout by Kelly. Outcomes: Students will be able to state three theses of existentialism; will recognize the existential situation depicted in Sartre’s short story, “The Wall;” be able to assess and criticize existentialism as a theory of human nature; will be able to describe and defend their own sense that human life is absurd, or, conversely, that it is pregnant with meanings that are uncreated by ourselves.
MIDTERM EXAMINATION. THREE-PAGE PAPERS DUE.
Week 8: Students in groups read and criticize each paper on their topic.
Week 9: Organization of papers; rewriting.
Week 10: Groups will search the Web for books, ideas, diagrams, pictures relevant to the topics.
Week 11: Evaluation of materials, development and organization of bibliographies; collation of material for the final tab.
Week 12: Each group names one participant to form a super-group to discuss a common format for the tabs.
Week 13: Meeting of the entire class with presentations of completed tabs.
Week 14: Final product is published on the Web.
Week 15: Final Examination.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR THE FINAL EXAMINATION.
- FREUD: Freud claims that most, if not all, of our motives to action (this is, the forces that drive us to do what we do) lie beyond normal human consciousness, locked in the unconscious mind by a watchful censor. What evidence is there in favor of such a view? Why did Freud think this foundational notion had relevance for psychiatry, especially for the theory of and remedy for human neuroses? [The point of this question is to encourage us to look behind the usual explanations of action to deeper, universally human motivations that express themselves in veiled ways. Can such an effort help us understand ourselves better and become better persons?]
- DARWIN: State and explain the postulates of Darwin’s theory of evolution, especially that of natural selection. How has it been modified today? How did it transform our picture of human nature? Are you able to accept the notion that you are descended from apes? If so, how does that thought affect your picture of the value and meaning of your life? [The point of this question is to challenge our conceit that we humans are fundamentally different from the animals.]
- MARX: What is alienation, as a pervasive condition of capitalism, according to Marx? Why, further, is capitalism unjust, in his view? Why is capitalism doomed to failure, and what will destroy it? Does his dream of a workers’ paradise have validity today? [The point of this question is to find places where economic power and conflicts within it determine our social life. We should reflect upon whether such conflicts can be eliminated. If not, can they perhaps be turned to positive ends?]
- SOCIOBIOLOGY: Discuss E. O. Wilson’s concept of sociobiology. What are its fundamental assumptions about the nature of human beings? How does he apply these assumptions in his assessment of the human situation? How does he wish to carry on further research into human nature? [The point of the question is to assess a complex theory of being human by critical reference to its assumptions and how those assumptions drive the author’s research.]
- EXISTENTIALISM: “Man is condemned to be free,” writes Jean-Paul Sartre. Define Sartre’s analysis of the human situation: its absurdity, its freedom, its necessitating the self-creation of meaning by commitment to projects of various kinds, its moral notions of authenticity and bad faith. [The question requires you to assess Sartre’s notion of freedom in the context of his assessment of the human situation.]
BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY
GENERAL:
For websites in philosophy, the best single starting point is http://researchwiki.lndlibrary.org/index.php/Philosophy
This site will enable students to reach sources in all of the topics of this course.
Herschel, Abraham J. Who Is Man? (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1965).
Nielsen, Harry A., Ed. The Visages of Adam. Philosophical Readings on the Nature of Man (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 1968).
Kelly, Eugene. The Basics of Western Philosophy (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Press, 2004), Chapter 6, Science and Human Nature. I did my best.
Scheler, Max. The Human Place in Nature (Frings, trans., Kelly, intro. Chicago, Northwestern, 2008).
Skinner, B.F. Science and Human Nature (New York: The Free Press, 1965).
Stevenson, Leslie. Seven Theories of Human Nature (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979). Very basic and useful.
RELIGIOUS VIEWS:
The New English Bible with the Apocrypha (Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970).
http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/HolKora.html This website belongs to the University of Virginia, and contains an electronic version of the Koran in English.
PLATO AND ARISTOTLE:
Aristotle. The Complete Works of Aristotle.Jonathan Barnes, ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984)
Guthrie, W.K.C. A History of Greek Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963). The best.
Plato. E. Hamilton and H. Cairns, Eds. The Collected Dialogues of Plato(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1961). Also: Cooper, John, ed. Plato: Complete Works (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1997).
EARLY MODERN EUROPE :
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Basic Political Writings (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1987).
Strauss, Leo. The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis (Oxford, Eng.: Clarendon, 1936). Best general introduction to Hobbes.
Thornton, Helen. State of Nature or Eden? Thomas Hobbes and His Contemporaries on the Natural Condition of Human Beings (Oxford, Eng.: Clarendon, 2005).
Marx, Karl. Selected Writing, D. McLellan, ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978).
DARWIN:
Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species (1859, many editions).
Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene(New York: Oxford University Press, 1976).
FREUD:
Freud, Sigmund. New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (New York: Norton, 1964).
Dilman, Ilham, and Gilham Dilman. Freud and Human Nature (Oxford, Eng.: Blackwell, 1985).
Gay, Peter. The Freud Reader (New York: Norton, 1995).
May, Rollo. Existence: Studies in Existentialist Psychoanalysis (New York: Basic Books, 1958).
Storr, Anthony. Freud: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford UP, 2001).
NEUROPHYSIOLOGY:
Churchland, Paul M. Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988).
Fodor, Jerry A. The Modularity of Mind (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983).
Gregory, R.I. The Oxford Companion to the Mind (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983).
Searle, John. Mind, Brains, and Science (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984).
Watson, Gary, ed. Free Will (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982).
EXISTENTIALISM:
http://www.human-nature.com/ The Human Nature Review. Good source for a variety of materials, print and electronic, on the topic of human nature.
http://plato.stanford.edu/ The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist The Existential Primer, a beginner’s guide to existentialism.
Barnes, Hazel. An Existentialist Ethics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978).
Barrett, William C. Irrational Man (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1958). Delightful, by one of my profs.
Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus (New York: Knopf, 1955).
Grene, Marjorie. Introduction to Existentialism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970).
Kaufmann, Water, ed. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre (New York: Penguin, 1988).
Olsen, Robert G. An Introduction to Existentialism(New York: Dover, 1962).
Solomon, Robert, ed. Existentialism (New York: Modern Library, 1974).
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Eugene Kelly
Eugene Kelly has been Professor of Philosophy at the New York Institute of Technology for forty years. He received his Ph.D. from New York University, and spent two years doing research as a fellow of the German Academic Exchange Service at the F.U. Berlin and the University of Cologne. Among his research interests is German phenomenology, and he has published many essays in this field in both English and German. Three books may be mentioned: Max Scheler (Boston: Twayne, 1977), Structure and Diversity(Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1997), and Material Ethics of Value: Max Scheler and Nicolai Hartmann (Springer: Phaenomenologica 203, 2011). More recently, de Gruyter published Nicolai Hartmann’s Aesthetics, translated with an introduction by Kelly (2014). For many years he has been the co-editor (with Tziporah Kasachkoff) of the Newsletter on Teaching, which is published by the American Philosophical Association.
