Ben has the doc if you want to make edits today.
March 4, 2015
Guidelines for Philosopher Posts
Title of Page: Philosopher's name
Who is this?
<Brief history of the philosopher>
Aristotle's Teachings
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Applications to Social Media
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Who is this?
<Brief history of the philosopher>
Aristotle's Teachings
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Applications to Social Media
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Critiquing WebPhil
My thoughts, I think, go a little beyond what we are able to do this semester, but perhaps this could be considered for future classes.
Kierkegaard may suggest that we should stay true to ourselves and our beliefs. That sounds a lot like staying true to our own character. To me, I took that to mean that we should focus on what we like to do while being able to learn and work with others. Where am I going with this? Well, here comes the critique.
I don't think we should be doing everything that we are doing. It is almost like we are reinventing the wheel. We should invite people that know about websites to our class. Those who know how to find good hosts (i.e. WordPress) or good builders and knows what the most successful ones are currently. He should be able to look over our shoulder and offer insight about what we're looking at.
I recently asked these questions to myself. What is this class about? Is it about building a website? No. Is it about starting a consulting business? No. Is it about creating catchy videos? No. What is this class about? It is about critiquing a website through the eyes of a thousand years of great thinkers and offering specific ideas of how the site may be improved according to time tested philosophies.
In other words, if at all possible, a TA, student (maybe graduate student), invited guest, or someone should be a part of this class that can take care of the technicalities about "our website". Also, someone should be available to help create catchy clips about our research and outside critiques thus far. This doesn't mean we take a back seat and stop learning, it is more about getting a very knowledgable and helpful co-pilot or navigator. Given the restraints of this class, some things need to be put on a fast track so that future PHIL 414R students can truly gain experience by looking at websites through great eyes while learning the other necessary but sideline skills.
This is getting too long.
Kierkegaard may suggest that we should stay true to ourselves and our beliefs. That sounds a lot like staying true to our own character. To me, I took that to mean that we should focus on what we like to do while being able to learn and work with others. Where am I going with this? Well, here comes the critique.
I don't think we should be doing everything that we are doing. It is almost like we are reinventing the wheel. We should invite people that know about websites to our class. Those who know how to find good hosts (i.e. WordPress) or good builders and knows what the most successful ones are currently. He should be able to look over our shoulder and offer insight about what we're looking at.
I recently asked these questions to myself. What is this class about? Is it about building a website? No. Is it about starting a consulting business? No. Is it about creating catchy videos? No. What is this class about? It is about critiquing a website through the eyes of a thousand years of great thinkers and offering specific ideas of how the site may be improved according to time tested philosophies.
In other words, if at all possible, a TA, student (maybe graduate student), invited guest, or someone should be a part of this class that can take care of the technicalities about "our website". Also, someone should be available to help create catchy clips about our research and outside critiques thus far. This doesn't mean we take a back seat and stop learning, it is more about getting a very knowledgable and helpful co-pilot or navigator. Given the restraints of this class, some things need to be put on a fast track so that future PHIL 414R students can truly gain experience by looking at websites through great eyes while learning the other necessary but sideline skills.
This is getting too long.
March 3, 2015
Kierkegaard and Nietzsche
Kierkegaard (1813-1855):
Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher who is often considered the first existentialist philosopher. He believed that each individual--not a society or religion, although he was very Christian--is responsible for giving meaning to life and living it passionately and sincerely.
Principles:
Applications:
Nietzche was a German philosopher. One of his key concepts was the idea of "life-affirmation" which was the idea to focus on this life instead of a life to come. He believed that religion and
morality were created by men and had a lot of errors.
Principles:
Applications:
Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher who is often considered the first existentialist philosopher. He believed that each individual--not a society or religion, although he was very Christian--is responsible for giving meaning to life and living it passionately and sincerely.
Principles:
- Kierkegaard believed that people should be congruent with their moral beliefs. Because he did not fully live up to some of the moral principles he wrote about in his books, he often used pseudonyms instead of his real name.
- Kierkegaard taught about how to teach people to be authentic to their moral beliefs. When teaching someone about the obligation they have to their moral beliefs, you cannot just preach to them, you need to help them move into a more vibrant relation to his or her own convictions. If you only preach to someone about the moral principles they already hold, they will continue to hold those but maybe not live by them. You need to get down to their level and create action.
- Kierkegaard believed the ideal of objectivity held by scientific researchers subtracted self-concern which was the taproot of our best selves.
Applications:
- A social website should be authentic. Your users should trust you to live up to the image you present (and hopefully your image is a good one).
- A social website should help people move. A social website should help people move from believing in something to taking action. For instance, Facebook helps people not only believe that connecting with old friends is a good thing, but actually do it.
- People should be able to look out for their interests. A social website should allow for each individual to truly dive in and feel that they are able to keep their own self-interest in mind while using it.
Nietzche was a German philosopher. One of his key concepts was the idea of "life-affirmation" which was the idea to focus on this life instead of a life to come. He believed that religion and
morality were created by men and had a lot of errors.
Principles:
- When you create something, you should create it with the belief that the viewer/listener is a creator themselves.
Applications:
- When creating a social website, make it for users that will create and explore.
Kierkegaard & Nietzsche: WebPhil Critique
In applying Kierkegaard's teaching to WebPhil, I am having some difficulty in finding a balance between being broad enough while still being specific. What I am referring to is his explanation of how a good teacher will come down to the level of the student and help the student grow and progress. In order to do this, the teacher must understand what level the student is on - in the case of WebPhil I don't know if we have any idea. It seems we can make some assumptions about what levels our readers are on but it is such a broad spectrum that we will have to make some decisions about how specific we will go to reach them.
When we decide how specific to go, we can then take action to lift these individuals to a higher level. If we decide to involve some form of gamification, we can use a scoring system to segment the visitors and approach them based on their classification to help them "level up." If we don't go with some kind of gamification we will still need to find a way to segment our visitors.
The last point I will make on Kierkegaard is his emphasis on the individual. It is no longer about the group. Each site visitor is unique and should feel that they are receiving a personalized interaction. The more information we gather on visitors, the more rich user profiles we will be able to create for them and the better we will be able to reach them in an individualized way.
Nietzsche's points build on this with his idea of the "will to power." Our website should help visitors to feel they are empowered and are capable of growth and progress. In no way should we make it easy for them or provide arbitrary or mindless opportunities to supposedly "rank up." The path of progress should require effort and thought from the visitors. It should be a struggle for them but at the same time provide the encouragement necessary for them to still feel encouraged to try.
When we decide how specific to go, we can then take action to lift these individuals to a higher level. If we decide to involve some form of gamification, we can use a scoring system to segment the visitors and approach them based on their classification to help them "level up." If we don't go with some kind of gamification we will still need to find a way to segment our visitors.The last point I will make on Kierkegaard is his emphasis on the individual. It is no longer about the group. Each site visitor is unique and should feel that they are receiving a personalized interaction. The more information we gather on visitors, the more rich user profiles we will be able to create for them and the better we will be able to reach them in an individualized way.
Nietzsche's points build on this with his idea of the "will to power." Our website should help visitors to feel they are empowered and are capable of growth and progress. In no way should we make it easy for them or provide arbitrary or mindless opportunities to supposedly "rank up." The path of progress should require effort and thought from the visitors. It should be a struggle for them but at the same time provide the encouragement necessary for them to still feel encouraged to try.
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