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Great moments in understanding philosophy
Nov. 20th, 2012 08:44 amActually, it's only one, but a friend just triggered the amusing memory, so I thought I would share.
My best memory from first philosophy class (history of Western political thought) was learning about paradigm shifts. My class of 1st year country bumpkins sat and listened to the prof going on and on about his love of canoeing. Canoeing at every possible free moment was a major art of his world - of his paradigm. Then one day he came out of class to discover his canoe was missing from the top of his car. "Who the hell stole my fucking canoe?". His paradigm had shifted rather abruptly. So had ours, as the shocked bumpkins realized that profs could swear, and were not the dry, boring sticks we had believed until that moment.
I don't know, to this day, whether his canoe was really stolen, or whether he even liked canoeing. It was a very effective lesson, though, and it remains one of my favourite recollections of university.
My best memory from first philosophy class (history of Western political thought) was learning about paradigm shifts. My class of 1st year country bumpkins sat and listened to the prof going on and on about his love of canoeing. Canoeing at every possible free moment was a major art of his world - of his paradigm. Then one day he came out of class to discover his canoe was missing from the top of his car. "Who the hell stole my fucking canoe?". His paradigm had shifted rather abruptly. So had ours, as the shocked bumpkins realized that profs could swear, and were not the dry, boring sticks we had believed until that moment.
I don't know, to this day, whether his canoe was really stolen, or whether he even liked canoeing. It was a very effective lesson, though, and it remains one of my favourite recollections of university.
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