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Heuristic
Glossary
Unit: SSK12
Week: 10
Date: 07 November 2009Word: heuristic adj.
Context: Heuristic is used by Avruch in his treatment of culture: “…this assertion great heuristic value…” Heuristic is also mentioned in the definition of reification in The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought: “stressed for heuristic purposes”.
Definition: The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought defines heuristic as being “Concerned with ways of finding things out or solving problems”. Then explains that it is “a procedure for searching out an unknown goal by incremental exploration, according to some guiding principle which reduces the amount of searching required”. The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy adds, “In modern logic, a heuristic procedure aims at problem solving, but offers no guarantee of proof. In this sense, heuristic contrasts with proof.
Word in Use: Leanne took a heuristic approach to statistical problem.Avruch, Kevin. 2002. Part 1: Culture. In Culture and Conflict Resolution, 5-7; 14-17. Washington: United States Institute of Peace Press.
Bullock, A., and Trombley, S., eds. 2000. The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. 3rd ed. London: Harper Collins.
Bunnin, N., and Yu, J., eds. 2009. The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy. West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell.
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Reification
Glossary
Unit: SSK12
Week: 7 (in Week 10)
Date: 07 November 2009Word: reification n.
Context: Avruch (2002) in his chapter on culture uses the word in the following contexts: “The reification of culture…” and “a series of short (cognitive) steps from shorthand to metonymy to reification”.
Definition: The authors of The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought provide an easy to understand definition of reification when they write, “The act of regarding an abstraction as a material thing”. When making an analysis of relationships a process of simplification takes place “through a set of abstractions” breaking down a given “phenomenon” to help us understand it. Reification is the “endowment” of one of these abstractions with “a material existence” of its own. Karl Marx also used the term with a special meaning and a particular purpose.
Word in Use: Daniel claimed ethnicity was choosing his partners, his reification of ethnicity was evident as he attributed intention to that concept.Avruch, Kevin. 2002. Part 1: Culture. In Culture and Conflict Resolution, 5-7; 14-17. Washington: United States Institute of Peace Press.
Bullock, A., and Trombley, S., eds. 2000. The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. 3rd ed. London: Harper Collins.
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a priori
Glossary
Unit: SSK12
Week: 7 (in Week 10)
Date: 07 November 2009Word: a priori adj.
Context: A priori appears in Grant’s (1997, 104) article: “The a priori Cartesian mind/body dualism…”. It also appears in The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought (2000) definition of proposition: “as a priori or empirical…”
Definition: The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought explains that knowledge is a posteriori when it is dependent upon evidence or our experience, while in contrast a priori knowledge is not bound by this dependence. It is commonly said that a priori is necessary and a posteriori is contingent (or dependent). Although there is much debate as to whether this is necessarily true, and that in fact there are cases of contingent knowledge, which can be called a priori and vice versa. The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy (2009) adds: “The proponents of a priori knowledge usually claim that we have a faculty of intuition by which we may ascertain the truth of a priori propositions”. It is in this sense that Grant is contrasting the intuitively produced mind/body and the discursively produced body/subject.
Word in Use: If only women can have babies, and I am not a woman, then the a priori is that I cannot have babies. On the other hand, the statement that my ex-wife (i.e. a woman) is pregnant is a posteriori because I cannot confirm or deny this from logic alone.Bullock, A., and Trombley, S., eds. 2000. The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. 3rd ed. London: Harper Collins.
Bunnin, N., and Yu, J., eds. 2009. The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy. West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell.
Grant, Barbara. 1997. Disciplining students: the construction of student subjectivities. British Journal of Sociology of Education 18(1): 101-114.
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Results
Reflection
Unit: SSK12
Week: 9
Date: 26 October 2009I have finally got my results back for my first two university assignments. It is difficult to hide my disappointment. I know I shouldn’t be disappointed with my results because they are my first ones and they are good ones, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am disappointed, no matter how irrational.
I got a Distinction for my Learning Log, which I of course is an excellent result, especially for my first submission, and I am very happy with that result, but I made a silly mistake. My mistake was that I had listed the main points of my reading reviews. Koral had stated that she did not want to see lists (admittedly I thought that was in reference to the essays, but to be truthful I don’t believe I was thinking at all). The fact of the matter is I didn’t do what I was told and it is irritating when you know you could have done better. On the bright side, I’ll be sure to present the main points in prose for the next one.
My other result was my essay. This one was really disappointing for me. I got a Credit, and again, I shouldn’t be disappointed with that result, especially as it was my first essay at university level, because I think Koral was kind to me, and it is as good result. I am learning after all. I guess I’m not disappointed at the result. My real disappointment lay in the actual output that I delivered. While I was waiting for the essay to get marked, I pored over it several times. I knew in myself that it wasn’t a good one. I felt the argument was weak, I wasn’t sure I’d even answered the question and the conclusion was too short and awkward. I found Koral’s comments helpful, but they demonstrated the gap I need to bridge in order to produce an acceptable essay. I believe my thesis needs to be clearer, I have to work on my structure (including my paragraph lengths) and Koral confirmed my atrocious conclusion. That’s not mentioning the silly faux pas I made. :-S
This entry is seeming a little negative, but as I reflect on the last week it is not surprising. Week 8 has been a particularly low week for me. Besides my irrational reaction to my results, I’ve also been contemplating my participation in the online tutorials. I believe my posting in the tutorials has become a tool for procrastination preventing me from completing my Learning Skills exercises. Also, this might be an overactive self-analysis, but I have read over my posts and I’m afraid that I might be more of a hindrance than a help. I’m beginning to wonder if my posts might be prohibitive to other students making their own contributions. What is more disturbing is that I feel that the posts might come across as authoritative and condescending. I especially got this sense after reading my post on the Grant reading. For now I think I should just dial it back a bit.
Finally, I find myself in a quandary over my future studies. I had come into this unit with the intention of doing a Bachelor of Business Studies, mainly for vocational reasons, but that isn’t what I really want to be doing. I’m two thirds of the way through this unit and I’m really starting to believe I should be doing something else. For many years now, in my spare time I have studied the sort of content that we have been studying for SSK12. Philosophy has been a considerable part of my life for at least the last five years and now I’m wondering if I should be studying this in a formal capacity. I have spoken to a few people about this dilemma I find myself in, probably too many people, and consequently I feel like I am being pull from pillar to post. Everyone has an opinion, and of course that’s the reason I ask them in the first place. This is already sounding silly. My sister is trying to convince me I should be doing something I am interested in, while my colleagues are telling me I should consider carefully what is beneficial to my career. To be truthful, neither of those responses surprise me. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that I have so many interests. So there’s philosophy, psychology, linguistics and language (particularly semitic languages, but French and Hindi make an appearance too), and of course Israel and all things Hebrew. I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point. With so many interests where do I go?
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hegemony
Glossary
Unit: SSK12
Week: 7 (in Week 8.)
Date: 22 October 2009Word: hegemony n. hegemonic adj.
Context: Hegemonic appears in the Bizzell (1986) article: “Hence the world view Perry describes can be taken as hegemonic…”
Definition: Hegemony (from Greek hegemonia, via hegemon, meaning leader or ruler, from hegomai, meaning to lead or command) has been used since the 19th century “to describe the predominance of one state over others”. The term was used most frequently to describe the political domination of one nation over others, for example the French rule over much of Europe during the Napoleonic area. During the 20th century a new definition arose, developed fully by (and associated closely to) Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, who used it to “denote predominance of one SOCIAL CLASS over others”. Hegemonic can simply mean dominant, ruling, or supreme. In Bizzell’s case she refers to a dominant, ruling or supreme worldview over others.
Word in Use: Some commentators say that the left-wing has a hegemonic hold over article writing for the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.Bullock, A., and Trombley, S., eds. 2000. The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. 3rd ed. London: Harper Collins.
Bunnin, N., and Yu, J., eds. 2009. The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy. West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell.
The Australian Oxford Dictionary. 2004. 2nd ed. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
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Directive verbs and their associated structure
Reflection
Unit: SSK12
Week: 8
Date: 21 October 2009Koral provides some explanation regarding essay structure according to the directive verbs found in the topic question:
Ok thanks for the reminder, at this point in the edsay process I like to post some stuff from a colleague at Murdoch, Ian Cook:
Ian Cook tells us that there are four basic types of directive words to be found in essay questions and, therefore, four basic essay structures. Each structure then will have a slightly different plan style. (Essay questions will also contain ‘content words’, i.e. what concepts or ideas the essay is about.)
Sometimes there will be more than one directive word in a question however.
In this case, the essay will need to be organised into section in which each of the directive words is used as the basis for the structure of that section.The types of question are as follows:
1) ‘is/can/does’ type of questions
2) ‘explain/outline/why/account for’
3) ‘discuss/critically assess/critically evaluate’
4) ‘to what extent’ type of questions..(“How” is a difficult one as it could be “How does X relate to Y?” or it could be “How important is X?”)
These do not exhaust the possibilities with respect to directive words and are intended to illustrate the general principle.
Answering a question or responding to a topic with one type of directive word is entirely different from answering a question or responding to a topic with another type of directive word.
Identifying the directive word that governs a question or topic means that we can identify the basic structure (what I refer to as a “block plan”) of the essay that would answer the question or respond effectively to the topic. The basic structures that match the types of directive words are indicated by the following:1) yes case-no case-my case or no case-yes case-my case
2) list
3) model & analysis
4) continuumOK. I will post further on these structure soon.
What have you got there in relation to these models?
K. -
Grant (1997)
Reflection (Do not use for the Learning Log)
Unit: SSK12
Week: 7 (in Week 8.)
Date: 20 October 2009Grant’s essay Disciplining Students: the construction of student subjectivities is one of ambiguities. I quite enjoyed it, if not purely for the skilful use of these two words that Koral has called out, which bear double meanings, then definitely for the extensive referencing of Michel Foucault. I’ve always been fascinated by Foucault, his understanding of power and how it forms our understanding of self.
Hobbsy gives a fine definition of ‘discipline’ in her post. I don’t believe I need to add anything to it other than to mention that Grant refers to the double meaning of discipline herself, when she writes, “In the concept ‘discipline’, there is yet another interesting ambiguity in that it both refers to the distinct forms of knowledge as we conceive them and to the action of bringing about obedience”.
The other word Grant uses that is loaded with ambiguity is of course, subject. The philosophical sense of subject according to The Australian Oxford Dictionary is one of “a thinking or feeling entity; the conscious mind; the ego…” as well as the one that is poignant to Grant’s paper; “a person owing obedience to another”, by which she means a student who is subject to the authority of the university.
At the risk of being the class prat, I would like to suggest that –ivity is actually the combination of two suffixes: -ive and –ity. As Hobbsy points out, the suffix –ive forms adjectives expressing meanings of “tending to, or having the nature of”, for example, subject becomes subjective and therefore shifts from being “a thinking or feeling entity” to (in a philosophical sense) something “proceeding from or belonging to the individual consciousness”. While the suffix –ity forms nouns “denoting: …quality or condition”. Subjective becomes subjectivity, and again, its meaning shifts from the one stated above to “a condition of being subjective”. This might seem like semantics (well actually it is ;)), but I believe that it is important to make the distinction in order to answer Hobbsy’s question.
Hobbsy asks, “Why didn’t Grant just use subject?” It’s an excellent question because it also helps us understand Foucault’s worldview. My answer is: although the two words are nouns they are in fact different and therefore bear different meanings. Within the context of this paper, subject means “a thinking or felling entity” (i.e. the student) that is also subjected to, “the technologies of domination, which originate in the [university], and those of the self”. On the other hand, subjectivity means “a condition of being subjective”. I’d rather put it like this: subjectivity is the perception a subject has of the world. Foucault proposes that subjectivity is a product of power. Grant, using references to Foucault, wants to illustrate that the students’ perception of themselves is formed by their subjectedness to the power relations found in the university. This I believe is the construction of student subjectivities.
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Avruch (2002)
Reflection (Do not use for the Learning Log)
Unit: SSK12
Week: 7
Date: 17 October 2009Patrick shows us that the “inadequate ideas of culture” over simplify culture and disconnect culture from the very individuals that perpetuate its existence. I believe in one sentence Patrick beautifully captures the problem the inadequate ideas present, but you know me (or at least you’re learning, somewhat painfully), I don’t do one sentence. 🙂 May I take the liberty of expanding upon this nugget of truth (if there is even such a thing ;))?
I believe Avruch is saying that the “inadequate ideas” individually or collectively, limit the diversity of culture(s), restrict the sense of cultural change, and/or confine culture merely to a set of national/ethnic customs.
If we used all or most of the 6 “inadequate ideas” to form our understanding of culture, I believe we would find that it would be this monolithic thing (almost existing independent of humankind), everyone in a national or ethnic people group would have the same one, and that it would be unchanging and timeless. That might have worked for Tylor, but it is, as the words suggest, inadequate for Avruch.
Dallas points out that Avruch says, “Using [the inadequate ideas of culture], we argue, greatly diminishes the utility of the culture concept as an analytical tool for understanding social action…” You might ask, “How so?” I suggest this is the key to Avruch’s argument. I would like to contextualise the context again. The title of the book is Culture and Conflict Resolution. Immediately we get a sense that we’re not just talking about culture, but rather Avruch’s understanding and desired use for understanding culture are put in context. That it’s about how culture affect peoples’ behaviour and their thinking, and how understanding peoples’ culture might help in conflict resolution, both on a grand scale or something as small as a discussion between two people or even the differences of opinion in our own tutorial group.
Not just the book name, but also Avruch’s name raised questions for me. Avruch is a Jewish name, and so for me at least, this further contextualised the book and chapter. I wondered if he is Jewish then might the Middle East conflict and the Herculean task of finding a resolution there be at the forefront of his thinking. I did a little research and sure enough, Avruch might be considered an expert in Hebrew religious and secular culture, Israeli society, politics and government. He has written extensively in this field, so it would seem the Middle East is at the forefront of his mind. Being Jewish doesn’t invalidate his opinions of the situation; he is actually quite critical of Israel. As are many Jews, one reading of Ha’aretz Daily newspaper will show you that.
Going back to the concept of culture with all of the above in mind we should get a better understanding of why the 6 “inadequate ideas”, the first and second definitions (at the very least) of culture, and especially the concept of “Culture as custom” are of little value to the analysis and assistance toward the resolution of conflict, big or small. These ideas and definitions inadequately address the complexity of varied and plural cultures, they don’t account for cultures’ fluidity and dynamism, and if culture is this reified thing, then it doesn’t allow for human individuality.
In relation to Koral’s second question, I am a firm believer in the plurality of culture in the individual. I belong to a western culture; an Australian culture; I’m heavily influenced by British and American culture; I am saturated in popular culture through the mass media (how many of us have related something we saw or said back to The Simpsons?); I have a team culture at work that promotes professionalism, dressing smartly (i.e. suit and tie), going the extra mile attitude and always being prepared to help your fellow soldier in the trenches.
I’m not sure I like to think of all of the above being influences for a conglomerated individual culture. I think they are distinct and separate. Whether they can stand on their own or they are interdependent, and especially dependent upon western culture is for another discussion. Perhaps this is why the term sub-culture is a good one. My workplace is an interesting illustration of this. I have worked for St.George Bank for many years and St.George has a well-entrenched and distinct culture, it’s a good one, a friendly one. For many years I have acted and thought according to the culture promoted. Since December of last year St.George Bank has been a part of The Westpac Group and Westpac has a very different culture, in many respects these cultures are in conflict. I have had to learn to think and act in a certain way for my colleagues in Westpac, while continuing to think and act the St.George way for my St.George colleagues. They have not blended for me; I participate separately in the collective cultures of each institution. Is this what Penny Oakes was referring to? Finally, I like Avruch’s example that “A person possesses and controls several cultures in the same way, as sociolinguists tell us, that even a so-called monolingual speaker controls different “registers” of the same language or dialect”. This is self-evident when you observe the way you talk and behave differently from the work or professional context to the familiar or social context.
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Discursively
Glossary
Unit: SSK12
Week: 7
Date: 16 October 2009Word: discursive adj. discursively adv.
Context: Discursively is in the Barbara Grant article: “The a priori Cartesian mind/body dualism is replaced by the discursively produced body/subject…”
Definition: The Oxford Dictionary of English defines discursive as follows:1. digressing from subject to subject: students often write dull, second-hand, discursive prose. • (of a style of speech or writing) fluent and expansive: the short story is concentrated, whereas the novel is discursive.
2. relating to discourse or modes of discourse: the attempt to transform utterances from one discursive context to another.
3. (Philosophy, archaic) proceeding by argument or reasoning rather than by intuition.I believe Grant is using the last definition of discursive in her article.
Word in Use: In the same sense as I believe the word is used by Grant, we can say, Descartes was discursive when he determined that he existed.Grant, Barbara. 1997. Disciplining students: the construction of student subjectivities. British Journal of Sociology of Education 18(1): 101-114.
“discursive adjective” The Oxford Dictionary of English (revised edition). 2005. Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Murdoch University. <http://0-www.oxfordreference.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t140.e21471>
(Accessed 16th October 2009 ) -
Contextualise the context
Reflection
Unit: SSK12
Week: 7
Date: 15 October 2009Koral has made a note in the discussion forum that items she refers to below are required for the exam:
There are three key aspects to learning she gives us (which you need to be familiar with for the exam):
‘contextualise, to clarify and to problematise’
for me ‘problematise’’ is not a nice word, but it is important in meaning –
to bring something into question.So knowledge must be in context, and everything must be clarified …
K.
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