Practical Philosophy, Monday

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There was no sun to speak of, but it was also pleasantly warm out here on this planetoid - so Ender decided to brave the dorm lawn. He'd packed more than his fair share of water bottles and sandwiches today.

He greeted the arriving students with a, "Sit down in a circle, please." He smiled. "You may well be the biggest class I've had in some time, actually. This way, we keep things fair."

He shoved his sandwiches to the center of the circle, so everyone could access it.

"Welcome," he said. "My name is Andrew Skywalker. I'm an alumnus of this school; I graduated several years ago." That was all they needed to know, as far as he was concerned. "And you might be wondering what you signed on for. I'll give you the spiel I give my students every year I'm here - but this is the only class that is prepared or rehearsed to any capacity. That, after all, is the point of it."

"While 'philosophy' is in my class's title, we're not here primarily to talk about the philosophers of old or the specifics of particular lines of thought in philosophy. In this class, we try to put our own experiences into a greater perspective through conversation and debate. Above all, philosophy is about asking questions about everything in the world around us - and about everything we feel about it. That means I expect some level of participation from all of you."

He smiled wryly. "That doesn't mean you always need to speak up about yourself," he said. "No topics are everything to everyone. If that week's subject veers too close to something you want to keep private, be my guest - just try and pitch in when someone else speaks. Ask questions."

"You can even ask questions of me, if you feel the need. And maybe together we can get to the core of our joint and individual experiences." His mouth quirked a bit more. "That doesn't mean we're always going to be lingering on the existential questions - or staring at our belly buttons. It just means we're going to try and dig and come to some understanding about each other, ourselves, and the world."

He picked up a bottle of water. "As for today, let's open a dialogue," he said. "Even the new among you have been here for half a semester. So I have to ask: how do you feel about where you are now? Is the island speaking to you, in a metaphorical sense? What kind of experience has it been for you? As for the rest of you, how has the past year treated you? Has there been anything that made you cry or made you think or made you wonder?"

"We can talk about that. Or you can bring up something else you feel is worth questioning. I consider most topics fair game, as long as they're brought up with regard for your fellow students. I can't claim knowledge on most, but I can claim an ability to annoy you with questions about just about anything."

He grabbed a sandwich from the bag. "Every week, we'll reflect on something that happened since we last met, but I'm always open to talking about anything that comes to mind." He nodded at one of the students. "Anyway, I've talked for long enough. It's your turn."

Comments

Sign In!

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Traditional intro class time.

Re: Sign In!

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot

Re: Sign In!

[studyingfear]

Rufus Shinra

Re: Sign In!

[boneyard_girl]

Ada Miller

Re: Sign In!

[notfinnyet]

FN-2187

Re: Sign In!

[candycrushlove]

Maria DeLuca

Listen to the Lecture

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As it is.

Talk.

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How do you feel about where you are now? Is the island speaking to you, in a metaphorical sense? What kind of experience has it been for you? As for the rest of you, how has the past year treated you? Has there been anything that made you cry or made you think or made you wonder?

Re: Talk.

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot looked thoughtful for a moment, and then, finally, settled on saying, "I'm Peridot, and since coming here I've learned that humans find the 'Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG' part of my designation to be cumbersome, that they don't fly," sorry, Tip, "they get just as angry if you hold up the line to their coffee, they value fun over practicality, and that... I don't think I'll ever understand them at all. It has been a... frustrating experience."

To say the least.

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"And what," Ender said, after a moment of studying Peridot (because god help him, he'd never find an alien he wouldn't nerd out about), "Do you find so hard to comprehend about them? In the essence, I mean, not the incidence."

Re: Talk.

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot paused to consider that, and then settled on, "It doesn't make sense to me how a species whose members live for such a short amount of time, entirely negligible by our standards, can put such a strong emphasis on frivolity and mindless amusements. I don't... don't understand why the first thing most humans ask me is whether I even know what fun is."

She hesitated, and then added, "Or why, as members of a species that claims to be so diverse, many seem to assume that my personal difficulty grasping these concepts is indicative of how every Gem must feel about things like fun and beauty."

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"Because many of us have been conditioned by years of exposure to particular kinds of fun, to believe that others - especially others not of our species - are fundamentally a cultural monolith," Ender said. "That each species outside of ourselves must, in being different, be different in the exact same way. It's a process called 'otherization', which is also often used to marginalize subgroups in humanity itself."

He took a sip of his water. "You value efficiency?"

That was what he got from the rest of it.

Re: Talk.

[studyingfear]

"Not all fun has to be mindless," Rufus said, because he was a brat. "Or frivolous."

Also because it was true, so far as he was concerned.

Re: Talk.

[studyingfear]

"Rufus Shinra," he said from where he was lounging on the grass, when it was his turn to speak. "It's been interesting. I have a greater amount of freedom here but the people are not really that different, no matter what they look like."

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"That is usually true, regardless of where you go," Ender agreed amicably. "You have overbearing parents?"

Re: Talk.

[studyingfear]

"My father," Rufus admitted, in much the same tone. "Not without reason, I admit, but it can be stifling."

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"Have you been able to do things here so far that you wouldn't have been able to under his gaze?" Ender asked. "What does he frown on?"

Re: Talk.

[boneyard_girl]

"Ada Miller, an' I guess th' only thing th' island ever says to me is 'here have some trouble that you ain't seen yet' an' 'm startin' to think it likes makin' us tumble."

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

Ender smiled, nodding at her in greeting. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing, you think?"

Re: Talk.

[boneyard_girl]

"I ain't exactly a fan of havin' big aliens punch holes in me," Ada said bluntly. "But it ain't like Fandom got a monopoly on bad shit. Just maybe one on th' really weird shit."

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"That depends on who you're asking, I imagine," Ender said wryly. "I've known a lot of people people who were from 'some weird shit' in my time here."

Re: Talk.

[notfinnyet]

"FN-2187," said FN-2187. Yeah. "I don't really know, still? Everything seems very..." he hesitated, searching for the right word that hopefully would not offend. "Disorganized?" If he seemed uncomfortable, that was because he was. The 'thinking for yourself' thing was still pretty new.

Re: Talk.

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"Disorganized," Ender echoed, smiling faintly. "That's a very tactful way of putting it. What do you consider disorganized about it?"

Talk to the Teacher

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If you haven't done enough of that yet, or want to volunteer as TA.

OOC

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God bless Fabian Nicieza.