Truth traps & cams discussion.
Read the introduction/preface & first chapter of Shop Class as Soulcraft (36 pages).
Mark Nelly (fluids expert) on Monday.
Remote Connection: mae-micro-9 (or 10, 11, 12) on remote desktop connection
Chapter 28:
Discussion leader: Rupert
Rupert: Driving in the rain indefinitely, doesn’t know what he’s finding. It inspires him to put Chris on a bus and sell his bike (important)
Jen: He said how his bike is something I’ll have with him his entire life, but this change is significant, like he’s preparing for Phaedrus to come back
Adam: “Quality is a generator of mythos” + men is invented by religion (page 360). When we build our intellectual foundation, it’s built off of what we created à very thought provoking.
Rupert: [goes through the plot]
Taylor: Author is finding parts of Phaedrus admirable, which is a changing, unstable opinion of Phaedrus.
“I hate Phaedrus but Phaedrus is cool”, and maybe Robert is the crazy one, not Phaedrus
Rupert: Robert is the insane one – “The mythos is insane” (page 361)
Cecilia: Author is trying to understand what Phaedrus understood
Reese: Robert has a lot of respect for the ideas that Phaedrus is taking on, but is afraid of Phaedrus in a way and afraid that Phaedrus will take over
Macy: Does Phaedrus still come out after treatment?
Prof. Littman: Yes, especially with the conflict and duality in persona.
Chapter 29:
Rupert: They arrive in California. The Primary America vs the Secondary America. Technology might be to blame for isolating people. Phaedrus vs. Aristotle.
Kate: On people feeling people are sadder – it’s more of an open divide.
Adam: Had a discussion on why communities have fallen apart in America, and on the bond of civic engagement. Technology is to blame. We have this tool to connect, but then communities are better formed with some distance than tightly packed community + tech.
Jen: His comments on Aristotle: very critical (formed a basis for current teaching that’s horrible). Thoughts?
Prof. Littman: Aristotle is the scientist of philosophers, meaning he break things down in a scientific way, with lots of analysis and definitions.
Jen: If Aristotle focused more on the Classic than Romantic, does that mean Robert would identify more with Aristotle than Phaedrus?
Hien: Primary & secondary America – has it changed since?
Kaixing: It’s more a matter of ideologies of modernity vs. past & disconnect from reality.
Prof. Littman: There’s some discussion in the Afterword, comparing between this book & Tom’s Hut. This book was written around the Vietnam War time, with a real rejection of technology among the younger people because of the negativity.
Rupert: Plato vs Aristotle – method of dialectic vs. rhetoric. Phaedrus doesn’t line up with either of them properly. The idea of Quality is for people who contribute to the world.
Chapter 31 & 32:
Taylor: Phaedrus pop back into the discussion more prominently (the “I knew it” statement). If Phaedrus is back, where did Robert go?
Cecilia: Not a switch, but a merge. Gives up the way he’s been pretending to be. More like a resolution.
Prof. Littman: Robert suppressed Phaedrus to get out of the hospital to reach his kids, but now realize his kid likes Phaedrus more than himself, which lets Phaedrus comes out again. Chris was relieved. Also shock therapy only works for a short period of time to suppress personality
Kaixing: Robert’s behavior in the last few chapters is like a cornered animal. Robert realizing that he wasn’t preferable of the two personality.
Reese: Referring to Phaedrus was a stylistic choice, not something reflective of his actual identity.
Jen: When he feels defeated, it’s more like Chris helps him feel that he doesn’t have to keep struggling and can just let Phaedrus come back.
Prof. Littman: Thoughts on ending?
Barry: The end was surprising that the author couldn’t find a middle ground and had to go to either of the extremes
Kate: Surprised at how happy the ending was, like a Hollywood ending to a book that had so much nuance to it.
Jen: Thought that Robert was the better persona for Chris, but the opposite was true.
Afterword:
Summary: Before Chris’s 23rd birthday, he’s mugged & killed. Author wondered where Chris went, his wife became pregnant again. They had a little girl despite his unwillingness, and that’s how Chris came back into his life.
Prof. Littman: From the afterword – the book came out at the right time, being a culture bearer.
Ben: Fabric. Is there something that will break someone’s fabric but not somebody else’s, or a universal fabric.
Kate & Prof. Littman: Practical Ethics – abortion. Are lives replaceable?
Thoughts on the book?
50-50 on neutral & enjoyment
(I personally feel like I didn’t get all I could out of it due to a lack of understanding of many philosophical issues and will read it again with some better research. It had many thought-provoking ideas that was still very exciting though, and I’m glad I got to read it)