Freud and Happiness

All year I have tried to figure out the same things for the nonfiction pieces we have read. First, what is the author's central vision of humans? And, second, where does he look for data to create this vision? Freud spent his life dealing with unhappy and severly disfuntional people. Is it any surprsie then that his central focus is Happiness? (Besides that, his name, in German, means "joy"!) While his sentences can be long and hard to follow, his arguments are among the clearest of any we have read this year. He loves a numbered list, and so do I.

Here are the parts that I find important in the first half:
1. He asks "what is the purpose of human life" but feels he has no answer. What he can answer is: based on their behavior, what do humans seek? A: happiness (p.25)
2.Life is hard, and happiness illusive because of:
a.our body is doomed to decay (pain and anxiety)
b. the external world is against us
c. other people can cause us suffering


3.so we need "palliative measures"
palliative 1: diversions
palliative 2: substitutions
Palliative 3: intoxications

4. Civilization is actually the cause of our anxiety and neuroses. It is interesting to see if he believes this for the same reasons that Neitzshe believed it.

And then there is all the stuff about sex and religion. I'm looking forward to great conversations in class this week.

interesting op ed

I thought this was a well written piece in the COllegian, and it brings up some important issues. What do you think?
I, of course, got stuck on the part where he says Core teachers "preach." It makes me remember telling you guys the other day that I am surprised at how hard it is to change the student culture of passive "learning." I have this picture of bored students and frustrated students remaining silent while a professor drones on. Is that what you want?

extra credit opportunity

This week the Core Colloquium will be especially interesting. Professor O'Brien and Professor Yellin are both interesting and have unique perspectives to add to the topic:

Core Colloquy on “COLOR LINES: RACISM & SOCIETY”

A Discussion of Racism as Portrayed by Du Bois and Coetzee

Led by Eileen O’Brien (Sociology) and Eric Yellin (History)

This Tuesday, March 25, 7:30-8:30 p.m.

The Great Hall, Ryland Hall

Consider going, and writing about it in your blog.

Race Today

One of the groups on Monday was thinking about how DuBois' ideas apply today. The injustices and the Veil are still affecting us today, but it is so complex. I think we mostly try to avoid talking about it. and now, in our election, we have a viable candidate who is African-American, and I have been worried about how old wounds would be opened. Too often in politics it becomes a big chessgame, and people are maneuvering and speaking to stay alive,but too often this means they can't deal with complex issues in complex ways.
I have never heard a more wonderful exposition of this that in Obama's speech. Please, please read it (or watch the YouTube recording). His final story hit me in the gut. I think it is in many ways the antidote to the John story, a speech that says there is common ground for us to stand on.

apathy or frustration?

I remember learning about "learned helplessness" in a psychology class. After our talk on Monday, I wondered if that is part of what you were saying about why students are passive. Then I saw an article that talks about teacher and student perspectives on apathy.
I was especially struck by this comment:
Empathy for students
Submitted by Cathy McDonald (not verified) on March 13, 2008 - 13:12.

I am a high school English teacher who teaches many students who are struggling readers. I find myself complaining that they don't care. Just recently, I attended a technology conference where I sat in two sessions that lasted 6 hours each. By the end of the second day, my only thought was, "My brain hurts! This is too much at one time." If I felt that way at 50 with a Master's degree, how much more must these kids feel that. It is not apathy; it is total frustration and they are giving up. If we don't empathize and work to fight this problem, we will lose even more students. Fortunately, my school has engaged an awesome consultant to help us deal with this idea (UDL addresses it in assistive technology) through project based learning which makes what students do in class relevant to their lives.

We all get stuck sometimes in believing we can't do anything about "the system." I think that is what Dubois was talking about. But having jsut re-read "Of the Coming of John" I wonder if that makes it all sound too simple. DuBois does an amazing thing with his story: he shows all the tragedy and complexities.

Liberal Education

I was in a restaurant recently and overheard a man say to a younger man: "You'd better be careful about college. I hear you get a very liberal education there." I guess he is right, at least at a liberal arts college where they teach "the liberal arts." Does that mean that you learn how to paint like a left-wing progressive? We know that isn't what we mean by liberal arts-- but what DO we mean? DuBois talks about the great books tradition that is part of the liberal arts. He felt that, in his own time, the opportunity for higher education in the liberal arts should be made available to all races, but he also felt that not everyone would benefit from that kind of higher education. We ended class before break wondering: if the liberal arts are to teach you how to think and solve problems, well, don't plumbers need to solve problems? Our POW that week also ponders the different kinds of "higher education." I have thought a lot about that since that day.

I am currently working on a project here at UR that looks at the changing definition of "a liberal education." On the front page of one of the documents we are looking at is a quote from DuBois!

Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled andfought for the last 5,000 years,the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental.
—W. E. B. DuBois

If DuBois was alive now and looking at the world of the new millenium, I wonder if he would be working with the folks at the AAC&U and if he would agree with their conclusions. Read their definitions of "liberal learning" "liberal arts" and more here. You can also read more about the Liberal Education and America's Promise project which seeks to find a bridge between the Ivory Tower and the work world and life after college.

I would love to hear what you think about the LEAP reports.

POW!!

Carolyn's post on higher education has inspired many people. Go here and check it out--

consider this...

This article from Inside Higher Ed reports on research done on college graduates and their careers. What do you think of our conversation about "liberal arts" and employment after reading this article?

interesting opportunity

On Wednesday, March 19 at 7:30 pm, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky brings his internationally celebrated "Rebirth of a Nation" to the Modlin Center's Alice Jepson Theatre. A noted conceptual artist, writer and musician, DJ Spooky has created what he refers to as a "remix" of D. W. Griffith's controversial 1915 film "The Birth of a Nation." In re-imagining the film, DJ Spooky has combined his acclaimed talents as a club DJ, multimedia storyteller and social commentator to transform the silent-era epic into a sweeping statement on corruption and racism in America. Tickets are available now through the box office at 804-289-8980 or modlin.richmond.edu. Get yours before Spring Break as it may sell out!


IF you go and write about it in your blog, it is extra credit toward class participation : )

Loving v. Virginia

No court case was ever more aptly named: Loving v. Virginia was the landmark case that made legal marriage between people of different races--and it was decided in 1967!
You can read more about what I was going on about in class at this wikipedia page
If you follow the link to "Racial Integrity Act" you will see a short bit about the awful Mr. Plecker I was talking about.

Eugenics was an awful pseudo-science, we now know. And here is a connection to another Core text: it grew out of Darwin's theories. But it is a misuse, I believe, of Darwin's scientific observations and theories. Read these pages, and you can decide for yourself.

I also want to point out an assumption that had to be made in all of these "color-line" distinctions: not only that there are differences between races, but that such a thing as race even exists! I mean, Darwin would say we are all one species. In fact, none of us has "pdeigree papaers" that tell who are parents are and where they are from, all the way back to--when? So the way race got designated was either by someone like Plecker making arbitrary decisions, or as in the case of Kirby v. Kirby:

The Arizona Supreme Court judged Mrs. Kirby’s race by observing her physical characteristics and determined that she was of mixed race, thereby granting Mr. Kirby’s annulment

...judging by "looks."