Build Your Own Philosophy, 1/4/10, Period 2

[tyler_gone]

The chalkboard at the front of the classroom today had a sentence written on it for the students to ponder as they took their seats.

All is water -- Thales of Miletus

"That statement," Tyler said as he waltzed in front of the students, "is where philosophy started, way back in the sixth century B.C. Thales is the first person whose writing has come down to us who we consider a philosopher, meaning he thought about the world and how it worked outside an entirely religious context."

He was pacing as he continued to talk. "What we want to do in this class is exactly that. Be philosophers. Make sense of the world. I know, I'm supposed to be the guy who blows stuff up and makes people fight each other -- but that isn't just because I'm a jerk." Not that he was denying that he was a jerk. "It's because the way I understand the world is by looking at the abyss. Looking at destruction. You can think I'm right, or wrong, or crazy -- I'll be happy to talk it through. But by the end of the term, after we've talked about a different philosopher every week, I want all of you to be able to tell me how you see the world, in 50 words or less."

Gesturing to the board, Tyler added, "Now, after Thales said everything was water -- transitory, insubstantial -- other people started talking back. Anaximander said it was all apeiron, which basically means there's an infinite basic mass that never goes away. Scientifically speaking he was right, as it happens, more or less. Anaximenes said everything was air -- that water was just another form of air. And Hericlitus? He was my kind of guy. He said it was all fire."

"Your assignment this week is to take a few minutes to think about it, and then stand up and tell us your name, one interesting thing about you, and how you'd finish the sentence 'All is ________.'" He gave a slight smile to Ino at the last bit assuming she was there. See, he could vary his opening-day spiel.

"Think now. When you're done, we start with you," he said, pointing randomly. "Oh, and I haven't set up TAs yet. If you're up for it, come see me after class."

Comments

Sign In [1/04]

[tyler_gone]

First time in the new semester!

Re: Sign In [1/04]

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

Jak

General Class Stuff [1/04]

[tyler_gone]

Listen to the lecture, take notes, etc.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/04]

[intraspective]

Ino was just going to snicker when he looked at her. Shush. She'd been in his class long enough to know what he was smiling about.

And it was funny! And true!

And all was water, hmmm?

Re: General Class Stuff [1/04]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah was there, idly taking notes-- which meant underlining the parts of the Greek names that were different from each other, so she didn't confuse them. And trying not to look over at Jak.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/04]

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

If Jak didn't know any better, he'd say Torn had set him up for this one. He didn't remember signing up for a class on philosophy, and his increasingly dubious looks as Tyler talked...

...yeah, uneducated jungle boy on the inside, still.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/04]

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

First class of the new year, and Effy wasn't taking notes, as such, but she was at least listening. Paying attention was a start. Anything interesting to manage that was a pretty good kick off.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/04]

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

Joan jotted down some notes and wondered how much this class was going to make her head hurt.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/04]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir took notes and considered that perhaps this class was not a good thing. He had a philosophy, certainly; for someone who lived so very much inside of his own head, he couldn't really avoid it. But he also knew that his philosophy was the sort that most people objected to.

Privately, he thought that those people were deluded, but it was a delusion that he wished for, a veil over his eyes that he had never found and doubted he would ever find. His own restrictions were no less damaging, but he held onto them almost like a security blanket.

Whether this was healthy or not was hard to say as he'd never actually shared any of this with any living soul.

Introductions [1/04]

[tyler_gone]

Like you aren't going to do it 50 times this week.

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[trigons_child]

"My name is Raven," Raven said when her turn came. "An interesting fact about me is that I am an empath -- I can sense emotions and heal pain. And I think I would have to say that I would agree with Hericlitus and say All Is Fire. Fire is tied to emotions, and I have come to learn that emotions such as love or anger or pride are what motivates people most."

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[intraspective]

She wasn't even going to be a brat and say he already knew her and so she totally ought to be exempt from introducing herself. Ino was being good today, yes.

"Yamanaka Ino," she said, almost idly, "Ino's the first name."

Yes, she was still being stubborn about the order of her name. It was a thing.

"I'm not too terribly interesting," lies; she thought she was plenty interesting, "but once upon a time I graduated from a school with the second highest grades in my class in cooperation and class attitude." Just so Tyl--Mr. Durden could have a laugh. Surely he would.

Besides, she'd been first in her class for assertiveness. That would surprise no one.

"And I'd go with Hericlitus. All Is Fire. Fire is passion and will and battle, and life. If you don't have fire in you, then you're already dead and your heart just ain't got the memo yet."

Had anyone expected she'd pick anything else?

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Dinah Lance." Raven had already mentioned her superpowers, and Dinah was trying to think of something else, so: "I played a dead body on the TV show Darkest Night last August. Plus I act in a lot of the plays in town. And, I'd say all is apeiron. Everything persists. It can be changed, back and forth, to different things. We're made of starstuff, right?" She took a breath. "Nothing gets lost, just transformed."

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

Jak's dubious look hadn't gone away. "I'm Jak," he said, finally. "Uh... my best friend is an ottsel?"

He wasn't sure what went for interesting. "And I'll go with fire," he added, "Everything burns up sky-high eventually." Cheery, Jak.

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[nodaintyflower.livejournal.com]

"I'm Mulan. I suppose the most interesting thing about me is that I am from China in the fourth century. I still don't quite understand electricity," Mulan said when it was her turn. "I also have to agree that All Is Fire. It's fire that creates emotion. And it's emotion that inspires us."

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[onlysmokesnics.livejournal.com]

"I'm Hayley Fitzpatrick, and I'm not too special. But, uhhh, I once got a diamond ring from the wife of the mayor of Gotham?"

That was a wonderfully obtuse description of events, in reality.

"As for finishing the sentence, I'd say 'All is calm, all is bright'..."

Hayley giggled at her little joke.

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[lovemykilt]

"I'm Priestly," said Priestly. "Fun fact: for most of my time here, only, like, one guy outside of the office knew what my first name was. Depending on how many people paid attention to my mom this fall, we might be up to, like, two people knowing it. As for everything being something, I think I'll have to go with 'all is stuff.'"

Hey, that was totally deep.

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[not_tylerdurden]

"My name's Calvin," he said, trying to think of something suitably interesting. "I once sold the Earth to an alien race for fifty leaves. They were kinda ticked when they found out about the whole axial tilt thing though."

The other part was much easier though. "All is tigers."

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

"Uh, my name is Marco." Marco said, remembering how boring this part was. "I've met dinosaurs. And All Is Atoms. I mean, is anything really not made out of atoms?"

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

"I'm Joan Girardi," she said. "One interesting thing about me is that, uh, I ended up on crutches the first time I tried to do laundry."

What? You thought she was going to share her big secret?

"And, um... I think I'd probably go with All is Perception because fifty people can witness the exact same event and tell fifty different stories about what happened."

Someone was showing her cop kid roots.

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[future_sandworm]

"I'm Leto Atreides," he said, "And as for interesting, that depends on the context. Here, it would be that I'm Fremen, from Arrakis. And I would say that all is change."

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"My name is Liir," which seemed a good, safe way to start things off.

"An interesting fact about me" completely escaped him, since he truly didn't consider himself 'interesting'. He'd recently allowed for 'competent', 'lovable', and 'not unattractive' but interesting was a long way off.

"is that I almost joined the military before coming here."

It was, after all, a somewhat interesting choice, given his history. And anyone who knew him, or of him, would probably find the idea mildly laughable.

"And 'all is...'" could he say it? would he tell the truth of what he thought?

"Lost."

Re: Introductions [1/04]

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Effy," she said, keeping it nice and simple for her first day. "... I'm distantly related to some French aristocrat beheaded during the French Revolution. Her eyes carried on blinking for 14 seconds and her lover had her teeth sewn into his pillow.."

Or not so simple. Unnerving people entertained her.

"And I'd say fire."

Talk to Tyler [1/04]

[tyler_gone]

He's around and eager to find a TA or two.

Re: Talk to Tyler [1/04]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, Liir made his way to the professor after the class.

"Professor?"

OOC [1/04]

[tyler_gone]

Up crazy early so I won't have to worry about this in the a.m. Distortions to the works of ancient Greek thinkers are for the sake of simplicity. Pings will be picked up tomorrow. Syllabus to come. Offer void in Missouri, Nebraska and Puerto Rico.