The Rise of Atomism

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The Rise of Atomism

• The part versus the whole

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Whats Up with Superheroes?

• Whats heroism?
• Whats superheroism?
• Literacy Programs?

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Shifting focus from whole to part

• Historical Changes
• away from Hobbits Amish
• the rise of Modernity
• Recent Changes
• Advertising as Religion (Swimme)
• Demise of rural communities (Berry)
• Less civic involvement (Putnam)
• TV
• Generational shift
• Different University (Berry)
• Whats lost?
• How do we value community (Berry)
• .

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Discussion Activity I Values

• 1a. People should learn to think for themselves.
• 1b. People should be trained to know the most
  important things.
• 2a. Its most important to believe the right
  things.
• 2b. Its most important to know why you believe
  what you do.
• 3a. You learn the most by figuring things out
  for yourself.
• 3b. You learn the most by studying with very
  wise people.
• 4a. You should carefully study the way the world
  works.
• 4b. You should learn to think creative, original
  thoughts.

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Values

• 5a. A person should critically test all
  religious principles before affirming them.
• 5b. If you dont believe in a particular
  religious principle essential to your elders, you
  should keep affirming that principle until it
  begins to make sense.
• 6a. Wise teachers should decide what students
  learn.
• 6b. Students should decide for themselves what to
  learn.
• 7a. There is no one right way to live.
• 7b. There is a right way to live.

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Values

• 8a. People should learn how they fit in.
• 8b. People should learn how to make the world fit
  them.
• 9a. The path of self-discovery is different for
  every person.
• 9b. With the right education, you can know who
  you are.
• 10a. To know how to live, you should look to
  nature.
• 10b. To know how to live, you should look within,
  and follow your heart.

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Discussion Activity II

• Is a meaningful life important?
• What makes life meaningful?
• Whats best?
• Trust in the wisdom of traditions and
  institutions
• Figure out what works for you.
• Whats best?
• Fall in love with someone who understands you?
• Find someone you can grow into love with?
• Why do so many Winthrop students want to stay in
  SC?

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Discussion III Technology

• Review What impact has TV had?
• What other technologies disconnect or connect us?
• Insurance?
• Trains?
• Cars?
• Phones?
• Neighborhood design?
• Medicine?

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The Modern Self (Taylor)

• Inward Shift
• Plato Change direction of the souls vision
• Moral sources within cf. Romantics Deep
  Ecologists

We may find a practical philosophy by means of
which, knowing the fore and the action of fire,
water, air, the stars, heavens and all other
bodies that environ us, as distinctly as we know
the different crafts of our artisans, we can in
the same way employ them in all those uses to
which they are adapted, and thus render ourselves
the masters and possessors of nature.
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The Modern Self (Taylor)

• Descartes Mr. Dualism
• objectify world, divide body from mind, emotions
  from reason
• rejects teleology now mechanistic
• rejects external order reason now internal
• disengage, be objected, reject passions
  (emotions)
• be reasonable master your emotions
• world is random, not ordered -- freewill is
  noblest thing
• separate mind from matter disenchanted world
• dignity comes from disengagement -- 3rd person
  perspective
• need to become masters and possessors of the
  earth
• reason not knowing right stuff we should know
  stuff rightly

• Ethic of Dignity
• Control, inner peace, strength of will,
  resolution

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Freuds disengaged view

• Freuds Physics
• objectifies internal space of mind
• 3 separate components
• Id
• Superego
• Ego
• psychoanalysis a method for knowing
• disengage from current concerns look at self
  from outside
• identify mechanistic origins
• gain power over the self
• see things as they really are confront bleak
  reality
• different stories, but same general mechanics

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Generational differences (Putnam)

• Whats social capital?
• Whats changed across generations? (252)
• What did WWII do?
• How have the values of college students changed?
  (260)
• Depression/Suicides?

1925-1930 WWII 1946-1964 Baby Boom 1965-1980 Gen X
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Purpose of University (Berry)

• Whats the purpose of a university education?
• High-production cows?
• Furniture storage business?
• Whats the role of language?
• Whats Berrys concern about specialization?
• How does Berry use the concept of tree?
• Who sets curriculum?
• What would Berry say about Winthrop?

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Valuing Community (Berry)

• Whats the story of Loyce Owen Flood, Portal
  Royal?
• What was valuable about this life?
• Why does Berry respect the Amish?
• How do community and economy intersect?
• Whats Walmart Galleria Mall done to Rock Hill?

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You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make
me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know
dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my
sunshine away. The other night dear, as I lay
sleeping, I dreamt I held you in my arms. When I
awoke dear, I was mistaken, So I hung my head
down and cried. You are my sunshine, my only
sunshine. You make me happy when skies are
grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love
you. Please don't take my sunshine away.
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Atomism Psychology

• Examples
• Maslows Self-actualization
• Schneiders ASA model People make the Place
• Asch Milgram conformity obedience
• Csikszentmihalyi (aka Mickie) happiness flow
• Objectives
• 1. Notion of the self
• 2. Notion of the good / ideal behavior
• 3. Contrasts with other readings
• 4. Validity
• 5. Consequences

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Maslow Self-actualization

• Maslows self-actualization
• Characteristics?
• Underlying Values?
• Compatibility with
• community?
• ecology?