User talk:Stevenarntson
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[edit] Bio
- Steven Arntson was born in 1973 in Washington State. He studied piano, music composition, and creative writing at Fairhaven College, and earned an MFA in fiction writing from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His first book, a young adult adventure novel, will be released in Spring, 2011. He performs as a concertina soloist; his debut album, The Devil’s Dreamworld, was released in September, 2008. More information is available at stevenarntson.info
[edit] Question/Comment? Post It Below:
[edit] weeks 6-11
Comment! I have posted the rough draft of my personal essay! JennaJohnson
Hey! I have added more to my essay, just wanted some feedback on the new stuff thanks!Daniellak
[edit] weeks 1-5
Steven,
I was just reminding you about my story. I am afraid it may be a little abstract? But it's my first attempt to try and capture a picture of society in a story. It is a work in progress. CainanMartens
[edit] Allegory of the Cave
I have been thinking about today's discussion on critical thinking a lot. It really reminds me of Plato's story, The Allegory of the Cave and his discussions on absolute truth. The definition we came up with in class could, I believe, be summed up by saying that: to think critically is to search for truth, which would correlate perfectly with Plato's dialogues. Many of the fallacies we talked about also, you stated, were from Ancient Greece which is where the logic studies began. (or at least this is where society made ground on this subject)
So all in all, i was just wondering what your thoughts were on this? And what would be your view on absolute truth? (through critical thinking) CainanMartens
- Hi, Cainan,
Good point about the Allegory of the Cave. One thing I especially like about that allegory is its opinion that if you see someone who appears confused, it's either because they're more or less enlightened than you--but there's no easy way of telling which. It's an encouragement to delay judgment of others, which was one thing we also talked about in class. As for absolute truth, I may be a few hundred years from having a sure opinion! The more I ponder it, the more doubt I feel about my own certainties.
- Best! Stevenarntson
I suppose that is where critical thinking becomes something else entirely. I have been facing this problem for a very long time now: becoming increasingly more uncertain about my own ideas. It really seems the more I learn, the less i really know, because so many ideas contradict each other. Knowledge gained yesterday combats the knowledge of today. I would have to say that The Allegory of the Cave is one of my favorite stories, because it is the story that first interested me in "different" thinking. The story does have a very existential point at the end, which i think could be connected to the frustration of critical thinking. The point made at the end displays how the ideas that we come up with in the midst of our thinking (never truly knowing where we will end up) are widely shunned ideas. When compared to our discussion about why schools may be afraid of "opening the can of worms" I think this may play a large role. School is first and foremost an administration, and to keep itself an administration it needs to admin something, which requires a certain degree of control. (where that line is drawn i would have no clue.) If the student body were allowed to put all of their ideas into practice from their own thinking, then it would maybe abolish, or change the direction of programs that are already in place by the school. And it is always difficult to discern which of the two ideas are in the best interest of both groups. Especially, going back to the class discussion again, when pride is put into the picture. Humans, by nature agree with their own ideas, and are generally searching for flaws to find in other's ideas--this idea is from Thomas More. It really seems that the truth is something that we all naturally suppress. CainanMartens
I changed my topic to something more meVanessaSorensen
I got my subject in and my schedule figured out. Could you look over it to see if it needs any other touches before I call it good? CainanMartens
I figured out my topic...but i don't know if my planning is going to need as much as eight weeks...what should i do??TarekaBrown
Cherrykyle: This is a great website for data. http://www.wolframalpha.com/
[edit] email
What is your e-mail address??
- click the "email" link from the main page. Stevenarntson
Hey Steve, I had your humanities class last quarter. You were teaching us about juxtaposition and you showed us some clips of an old film in which a man has ants walking across the palm of his hand, a man watches from a window as women on the street gets killed, and someone gets their eyeball stabbed(?). I checked the juxtaposition portion of the humanities page but couldn't find the name of the film. Can you tell me what it is?
CamilleFunk
- Hi Camille,
I showed it during the Surrealism lecture--it's Un Chien Andalou, by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí.
- Best, Stevenarntson
[edit] Discussion Archives
[edit] Self-Assessment
- I require students to write a self assessment for every class they take with me.
- I also write one every quarter.
