Philosophy

[Veronica in VA]

I would like to put together a 1 semester philosophy course for my 11th grader next year. I never took philosophy in high school or college, and I need some ideas.

Thanks!

Veronica

[st_claire]

Lots of readings. Several books in the WTM reading list would be great for the course.

[Janice in NJ]

Philosophy can be toughie to provide advice because I don't know what angle you want to use, but here are some resources that I've stumbled across. You can poke around and ask questions here and on the net to see if any of these fit with what you would like to study:

Please be aware that this area of "study" is FULL of things that you are going to agree with and disagree with. Strongly! If you are looking for "safe" materials - no matter what your theological beliefs are - I have no way of knowing what is safe - because it is so very different for every person.

I am not interested in safe. My goal is to nail down materials that bring out the sides of these arguments with as much clarity as possible. We LIKE disagreeing with the presenter as long as he lays out his arguments in a way that we CAN disagree. :001_smile: All of these materials are used within the context of heavy discussion.

So treading on thin ice here... PLEASE explore this world on your own before you bring it to your kids. I think that this is the BIGGEST area of responsibility that I have as far as educating my kids. I have taken it very seriously from the beginning, so please don't use this stuff unless it lines up with your gut-feelings for your kids.

(Does that make sense?)

Smarr has a course that follows Sophie's World. I haven't seen the course, but received a copy of Sophie's World from Amazon last week. Looking forward to getting through to the end of it. I personally don't want more curriculum, but I offer it up in case your worldview lines up with Smarr's.

http://www.smarrpublishers.com/philos.html

Does your library have any of the Teaching Company Courses? I've been enjoying:
http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=470

I've dipped into the following course too, but my library only loans it out for about 10 minutes at a time, so I'm not making much progress with it. But it's been good when I want more than the Great Minds Course offers:
http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=4200

But those can be pricey - even if you pick them up on sale... and I have NEVER paid full price for a course. But they have managed to collect a lot of our money with their sale catalog!

The Story of Philosophy by Bryan McGee is pretty straight forward. I like it!
http://www.amazon.com/Story-Philosophy-Bryan-Magee/dp/078947994X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205360119&sr=8-2

*I* am enjoying Bertrand Russell's The History of Western Philosophy but I'm not handing it to my kids yet. They just have too much to do. And I'm still wading through the book. I'm learning a lot, but I think he could be more balanced with his ideas about religion. This is the kind of book that I would like to talk about with my kids, and since we don't have time, it sits on my night-stand for now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_russell

Today I picked up an audiobook of Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy. Don't know what I think of it yet - just thought I'd pass the title along.
http://www.amazon.com/Story-Philosophy-Voltaire-French-Enlightenment/dp/1572704195/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205360776&sr=8-5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Durant

And finally - a print of Raphael's painting hangs in my library. I LOVE IT!!!!! Plato points up and Aristotle points to what is seen. LOVE IT!!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_athens
I am still searching for a print of something that I suspect I will not ever find. But I would love a poster of the very last frame of Bruce Marchiano (character of Jesus) in The Visual Bible: Matthew when he broadly grins and motions to the viewer to "Come on. Follow me!"
I think that the two posters speak volumes about what I am trying to do with this homeschooling project. I have NOT found that shot yet in poster form. Someday I may have the funds to hire someone to create one from the last movie-frame. For now it sits in my head rather than on my wall.

But as you can see - your goals may be different from mine.

I hope you find what works.

Peace,
Janice in NJ

Enjoy your little people
Enjoy your journey

[Veronica in VA]

Thank you both. Janice, what great resources! I have read Sophie's World and did want her to read that book. But I do want to go further. I think I will get one of the teaching company tapes, and The Story of Philosophy might be great alongside those resources. I'll probably add in Augustine and Aquinas also. I would love to read the Russell book, and I actually have the Durant one, but I'm not sure she is ready for those quite yet.

I definitely need to do some more reading before finishing the planning!

Thanks again,

Veronica

[MIch elle]

Socrates Cafe (http://www.amazon.com/Socrates-Cafe-Fresh-Taste-Philosophy/dp/039332298X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205418055&sr=1-1) and other books by this author & his website:
http://www.philosopher.org/

[Jenny in Florida]

Here's what she used as "Texts":

· Essential Philosophy, James Mannion (Adams Media Corporation, 2005)
· Philosophy: The Quest for Truth, Louis P. Pojman (Wadsworth Publishing, 1999)
· Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy, Jostein Gaarder (Penguin Group)
· Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, David Baggett, editor (Open Court Publishing)

We used Essential Philosophy as a spine, in the sense that she read straight through from front to back and I aligned the other readings with the topics covered in that book. It is a very introductory-level book, a lot like the "For Dummies" or "Idiots' Guide to" titles. It worked quite well as a framework, however. We used the Pojman book for primary source readings. The outline I've pasted in below shows how we weaved together those two texts. At the same time, she read through first Sopie's World and then the HP and Philosophy book.

She really loved this course and says a lot of what she learned has come in very handy in her first year of college.

--Jenny

Course Outline:
1. Ancient Greece and Presocratic Efforts
Reading: “Gyges’ Ring,” Plato
2. Three Sages: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
Reading: “The Ethics of Virtue,” Aristotle
3. Decline and Fall of the Hellenistic Period
Reading: “Letter to Menoeceus,” Epicurus
4. The Medieval Mind
Reading: “St. Anselm’s Presentation”
Reading: “The Five Ways,” Thomas Aquinas
5. The Renaissance Period
6. Humanism
7. The Protestant Reformation
8. The Scientific Revolution
9. Approaching Modern Times
Reading: “Meditation One” and “Meditation Two,” René Descartes
Reading: “The Absolutist Answer,” Thomas Hobbes
Reading: “The Democratic Answer,” John Locke
10. British Empiricism
11. The French Enlightenment
12. German Idealism
Reading: “Moral Law,” Immanuel Kant
Reading: “The Ethics of Nobility,” Friedrich Nietzsche
13. Utilitarianism
Reading: From On Liberty, John Stuart Mill
14. American Transcendentalists
15. Phenomenology and Existentialism
Reading: “Life is Absurd,” Albert Camus
16. Modern and Postmodern Philosophers
17. Sociology and Anthopology
Reading: “The Communist Answer,” Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
18. Psychology
19. Eastern Schools of Thought
20. The Big Three Religions
Reading: “The Case for Affirmative Action,” Albert Mosley
Reading: “The Case Against Strong Affirmative Action,” Louis J. Pojman
21. Objectivism and the Right Livelihood
Reading: “In Defense of Ethical Egoism,” Ayn Rand
Reading: “A Critique of Ethical Egoism,” James Rachels
22. Forgotten Philosophers
23. Twelve Steps to a Better Life
Reading: “The Case for Animal Liberation,” Peter Singer
Reading: “The Case Against Animal Rights,” Carl Cohen
24. The “New Age”
25. Philosophy Beyond the Classroom

[Rhondabee]

I am still searching for a print of something that I suspect I will not ever find. But I would love a poster of the very last frame of Bruce Marchiano (character of Jesus) in The Visual Bible: Matthew when he broadly grins and motions to the viewer to "Come on. Follow me!"
I think that the two posters speak volumes about what I am trying to do with this homeschooling project. I have NOT found that shot yet in poster form. Someday I may have the funds to hire someone to create one from the last movie-frame. For now it sits in my head rather than on my wall.

I hate to admit it, but if Jesus doesn't look like that shot, I may be a tad disappointed! ;)

and, thanks for answering that other thread - I didn't want to "revive" it, so I'll thank you here for it and all the links above!

rhonda

[Jean in Wisc]

My daughter's senior year, we put together a class called Philosophy, Ethics, and Word Views.

We used the RC Sproul tapes, The Consequence of ideas for Philosophy, Christian Book International's book, Ethics, and Sire's book, The Universe Next Door.

My dd took philosophy her 1st semester in college and claimed she learned more in Sproul's tapes than the covered in her college class.

FWIW--