tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post8931640611340379226..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Scott Alexander on Jordan Peterson on What the Humanities are ForJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-8575335088645577562018-03-29T08:36:22.859-04:002018-03-29T08:36:22.859-04:00@anonymous: no, I got next to none of that in my G...@anonymous: no, I got next to none of that in my Great Books classes. One example: the Iliad has a really interesting psychology. Characters often divorce themselves from their actions by saying, "that wasn't me, that was my pride." Or my anger or my mad passion. Or it was a God acting through me; in the Odyssey Helen is back with her husband saying that the whole running away with her lover and starting a war thing was a madness caused by the gods. One of my instructors must have mentioned this, but as a historical curiosity; nobody asked if this was a fruitful way to think about human behavior or pondered how a society that embraced this psychology would be different from one obsessed with personal responsibility. I only started thinking about this a few years ago when I was reading about modern theories of the self.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-20381733766336791022018-03-28T09:02:13.834-04:002018-03-28T09:02:13.834-04:00Actually, I think that trying-to-get-by thing sums...Actually, I think that trying-to-get-by thing sums it all up nicely for most of us, including myself. At the end of a semester, I'm mostly too exhausted and befuddled to share wisdom and, like my students, I mainly want to go home. Of course, Peterson would probably say that makes me and my students lesser lobsters who need to take one of his get-tough courses and learn to live a life harder and better. And maybe, like a prophet, he could pump us up and gets our adrenals going for a while. But in the end we would fall back into our mediocrity and want to go home. And then we would sacrifice him.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08993570411881726772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-18260098757116441822018-03-28T08:16:32.534-04:002018-03-28T08:16:32.534-04:00Perhaps professors don't voice their wisdom, n...Perhaps professors don't voice their wisdom, not because they're insecure or inauthentic, but because they're blessed with some humility before the vastness and complexity of things.<br /><br />And, FWIW, after twenty years I find myself less and less drawn to teaching about greats and prophets, and more to ordinary people who, like my students, are mainly trying to get by.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08993570411881726772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-34377882242854711472018-03-27T22:09:22.364-04:002018-03-27T22:09:22.364-04:00Uh... I almost want to write... what college did y...Uh... I almost want to write... what college did you go to, John? Wasn't that the basis of the literature class we all had to take in one form or another Freshman year?<br /><br />I think an element here is... people don't get to connect that way with every teacher/professor they are in class with.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com