065: Ep61 – The Future of Community College Education

Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show & podcast

Dr. Cliff Harbour.In this sixty-first episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast, the second that aired in 2018, co-hosts Eric Thomas Weber and Anthony Cashio interview Dr. Cliff Harbour on “The Future of Community College Education,” the theme of his 2015 book, John Dewey and the Future of Community College Education.

The front of a community college building, on which the words were edited to read: 'The Future of Community College Education.'

Chemeketa Community College, Creative commons license.

Cliff is Professor of Counseling and Higher Education at the University of North Texas, which he joined in 2017. From 2008 until this move, he taught at the University of Wyoming, and before that at Colorado State University. He has an impressive philosophical background, having majored in Philosophy as an undergraduate, before studying the law. After that, he headed to Duke University for his master’s degree in Philosophy, and then completed his doctorate in education at North Carolina State University.

Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.



(1 hr 5 mins)

Click here for a list of all the episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread.

 

The cover of Cliff Harbour's book, 'John Dewey and the Future of Community College Education,' featuring John Dewey. Notes

  1. Cliff Harbour, John Dewey and the Future of Community College Education (London: Bloomsbury Academic Publishers, 2014).
  2. Richard Field, “John Dewey,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  3. Fast Facts on Completion Rates,” the National Center for Education Statistics.

 

You Tell Me!

For our future “You Tell Me!” segments, Cliff posed the following question in this episode:

“Where do you see philosophy reflected, displayed, exhibited in the arts, like literature and film?”

Let us know what you think! Via TwitterFacebookEmail, or by commenting here below.

This session will be moderated by Greg, who has a PhD in philosophy, specializing in epistemology, theories of knowledge.

It is very difficult, if not impossible, for human beings to base their beliefs on evidence. If we value evidence-based-belief very highly, this can be a difficult idea to live with. If we do not value evidence-based-belief very highly, we will be vulnerable to charlatans, demagogues, and propagandists. How do we cope?

This session will be divided into multiple sections in which the moderator will give a brief presentation before inviting open discussion. No advanced reading is required, but some passages from primary philosophical texts will be introduced as topics of discussion. Recommended reading is listed only for those who want to dive deeper on their own.

To RSVP, visit the Seattle SOPHIA chapter’s MeetUp page for the event! 

Section #1: Overview of Skepticism
Types of skepticism (Academic, Pyrrhonian, Scientific) and other necessary terminology that will give us a foundation for further discussion. Some general arguments for skepticism.
Recommended reading:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeptical_movement

Section #2: Socrates
Socrates believes that no human being has knowledge of virtue, and can therefore be thought to be a moral skeptic. He nevertheless acts in ways that suggest that he has very strongly held moral beliefs. Is Socrates a skeptic? What can we learn from his philosophical practice?
Recommended reading: Plato, particularly the Meno, but also Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Hippias Minor.

Section #3: Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne advocates for Pyrrhonian skepticism on the grounds that it creates room for faith. Is this a contradiction? Is it a model for how to cope with skepticism?
Recommended reading: Michel de Montaigne, Apology for Raymond Sebond

Section #4: Hume
Hume famously argues that scientific beliefs are ultimately unjustified, because they rely on assumptions that cannot be justified either empirically or a priori. In the same text, Hume recommends a form of mitigated skepticism on the grounds that it destroys harmful superstition and metaphysics, in favor of more modest scientific inquiry. Is this a contradiction? Is it a model for how to cope with skepticism?
Recommended reading: David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Date: April 15, 2018
Time: 01:30-4:45 p.m.
Event: Skepticism in Practice - Seattle SOPHIA Chapter Mtg
Sponsor: The Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA)
859.257.1849
Venue: University Branch - The Seattle Public Library
(206) 684-4063
Location: 5009 Roosevelt Way Northeast
Seattle, WA
Public: Public

If you haven't already, consider joining SOPHIA!

Photos from the Seattle SOPHIA Chapter’s March Meeting

Check out this cool event that the Seattle SOPHIA Chapter organized on “Artificial Intelligence and Doomsday,” posted on MeetUp.com. Here are a few pictures from the gathering:

Photo of the gathering at the Seattle SOPHIA Chapter meeting in March of 2018.

Seattle SOPHIA Chapter's March 2018 Meeting.

Photo of the gathering at the Seattle SOPHIA Chapter meeting in March of 2018.

Photos courtesy of Gene Lin.

It looks like a great group. The event details on their MeetUp.com page reads as follows:

Is AI an existential threat to humanity? This will be a philosophically oriented discussion of the issue (but we will have at least one AI expert in attendance). We will consider the work of the philosopher Nick Bostrom, the philosophical engine behind an idea which has been championed by Elon Musk, and supported by people such as Bill Gates, Steven Hawking, and Stuart Russell.

There is no required reading, but some potentially helpful links are below:

Good summary of the issues from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_risk_from_artificial_general_intelligence

An argument for AI safety, with a good table summarizing the various “myths” around advanced artificial intelligence – for example, the myth that machines cannot have goals, or the myth that potential AI consciousness is a relevant issue.

https://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/

Some profiles of a few prominent people involved in the AI safety movement:

Article about Bostrom:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/23/doomsday-invention-artificial-intelligence-nick-bostrom

Article about Elon Musk’s crusade:
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/elon-musk-billion-dollar-crusade-to-stop-ai-space-x

 

If you live in or near Seattle, Washington, consider joining this chapter here and meeting up with them! Their next event is scheduled for May, 2018.

On Thursday, March 22nd at 8pm U.S. Eastern Time, SOPHIA is holding our next online symposium, on “Plato’s Cave Today.” Join us!

Photo of Dr. Anthony Cashio.Anthony Cashio will be our facilitator for this event. This meeting will be about the content of our very first episode of Philosophy Bakes Bread, but there is no homework to prepare in advance of this meeting. If you want to listen to the episode, you’re encouraged to do it, but we will proceed with the assumption that some or many have not had a chance to hear it.

SOPHIA aims to hold genuinely conversational meetings. We have a facilitator or two each time, but the idea is not to hear a presentation and then ask questions, but instead to have a very brief introduction to a topic, give everyone sufficient time to read our one-sheet document for this event, and then we open the floor to discussion about it.

Thumbnail photo of a one-sheet document.Thursday’s meeting will be about difficulties obtaining and knowing the truth, about the ways in which media frame our understanding of facts, and about the challenges that emerge as a result for trusting politicians, journalists, scientists, and others. At the same time, trust is important and yet ideals of objectivity may well be unattainable. We will have fun talking about these topics, going where our conversation takes us.

To prepare for an online symposium, please be sure to:

a) situate yourself in a quiet space (or else the moderator will mute your microphone)

b) have a working Web cam, microphone, and headphones (otherwise, your mic may pick up your speakers)

c) be connected to a great internet connection

d) pause or turn off file-syncing software, like Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, etc.

e) mute phones

f) Know that we will be recording this event and posting it on YouTube and on our Web site. Participation is taken to be permission to be recorded.

 

Photo of SOPHIA's first online philosophical conversation, on trigger warnings.We’ll be connecting via:

Zoom Video conferencing using this link: 

https://uky.zoom.us/j/249753269

Date: March 22, 2018
Time: 08:00-9:30 p.m.
Event: Plato's Cave Today: Online Symposium
Sponsor: The Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA)
859.257.1849
Venue: Zoom Video Conferencing Platform
Public: Public

If you haven't already done so, consider joining the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA)!

The Molemen & Plato’s Cave Today

One-sheet for SOPHIA Conversations

Adobe logo, to serve as a link to the Adobe PDF version of the one-sheet.

Printable PDF.

Here is our one-sheet document on “The Molemen and Plato’s Cave Today.” For short, you can just call it “Plato’s Cave Today.” The idea is to think about problems for conceiving of truth and knowledge, which lead to difficulties in trusting politicians, news sources, scientists, and more. Plato’s famous cave metaphor is explained in short for anyone who’s unfamiliar, and we invite chapters to pick a question that they’d most like to talk about together. After thinking about it and perhaps another for a time, flip over the page and consider the “Bread Breaking Questions,” questions about how and where the concepts discussed so far are sometimes applied and with challenges.

A drawing of Plato's Cave, featuring prisoners on the left, looking at the left wall of a cave, with fire behind them and puppeteers behind a wall between the inmates and the fire.

Thumbnail photo of a one-sheet document.This one-sheet document is part of a series to come of one-sheets about episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread. We’re calling them “Slices of Philosophically Baked Bread.” It would be great if local SOPHIA Chapter participants had the chance to listen to episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread (such as this one, Episode 1 of the show), but we try to avoid requiring homework before people come to our events.

Instead, we want to ensure that everyone has a document that is one sheet of paper (front and back sometimes) that each person can read at the start of the event in a few minutes. Then, conversation can open up with everyone literally on the same page.

James LincolnJames William Lincoln has kindly taken on the job of creating our one-sheet documents for each episode of Philosophy Bakes Bread. We’ll be posting and cataloging one-sheets on other matters and topics, such as on pieces published in Civil American, plus we plan to post one-sheets that our members and chapter leaders gather or create.

If you have ideas for future one-sheet documents that could be great for SOPHIA to use in our chapter meetings, let us know! Email Executive Director Eric Thomas Weber with your idea.