Notes for lecture on "Possibilities and
Practice: The Heroic Task and Self Education."
The Hebrew speakers/the piano players in the room
Commencement and William James's goal of a college
education
Constructional method ala Carnap, Goodman, Aristotle,
Maslow.
(oughtness of the best questioned, then accepted if survives criticism)
How to apply the findings.
The statue in the WU library reserve reading room of the
sculptor sculpting himself out of stone
Possibilities, the sculpture as its sculptor's model, self
as task, as project.
The haunting why weren't you you question from the
Hasidic tale/& or selection from Buber's The Way of Man According to the
Teachings of the Hasidim (Citadel Press, 1994).
The importance of understanding the limits and
possibilities presented by the material (Lao Tzu/Buber).
The importance of not forgetting the neglected
possibilities - Lau Tzu, Buber, Feuerestein
The role of mediated experience and human plasticity including brain plasticitiy (e.g, Reuven
Feuerstein's work - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuven_Feuerstein.
Bruce Ching, the secret of the martial arts according to Jou Tsung Hwa; application of the secrets (investigation
of the possibilities, practice. BCvideo from Bruce Ching’s Warrior Healer blog).
The 10,000-Hour Rule (ch. 2 in Gladwell's Outliers)
[and its limitations!]
The complaint “if I only knew Latin . . .”
Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai.
BC recently recommended Amy Cuddy’s TED talk. It does, I think, present a great example of
how a person can rethink and achieve their own goals when circumstances cause
universe to retiink how we will make progress in the tasks we choose.
Here’s a link to that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Yzk-fsGXc
The future and . . . the Hebrew speakers in the room
/ the piano players in the room . . . .
Some authors to look at in connection with this, Aristotle
(Ethics), de Beauvoir (Ethics of Ambiguity, The Second
Sex),
Octavia E. Butler's essay "Furor
Scribendi" in Bloodchild and Other Stories.
George Leonard, Mastery (New York:
Penguin/Plume,1992).
Dave Lowry, Autumn Lightning, and other works.
Amdur, Ellis. Dueling with O-Sensei: Grappling with the Myth of the
Warrior Sage (http://edgeworkbooks.com/),
and other works.
Helen DeWitt, The Last Samurai.
Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success
Push Hands video of Chen Man Ching https://youtu.be/fSYPOhSgiis
Nelson Goodman, Ways of Worldmaking, and other works.
Abraham Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature.
Jou Tsung Hwa, The Dao of Taijiquan.
Jou Tsung Hwa Tai Chi Magazine Memorial Issue [https://www.scribd.com/doc/30302160/Master-Jou-Tsung-Hwa-Memorial-Issue,
see pages
11-12 for article on Master Jou by Justin Meehan that
includes photos of Justin Meehan, Master Jou and
Bruce Ching);
Bruce Ching. A
Warrior's Guide to Healing (illustrated by Adam Talley), and his Warrior Healer Blog
(http://warrior-healer.blogspot.com/).
Amy Cuddy’s TED talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Yzk-fsGXc
M. Kagan, COR 400G/PHL 403, last revised March,
2016; some edits and additions 10.19.2017 minor revision, 11.07.2019. More
revisions and additions, March, 2020
Le Moyne College
Syracuse, NY