Kelsey Steven - Stories as a Solo Activity

Walter Ong, in his book Orality and Literacy, explains how stories, in an oral culture were all about experiencing a story with others as they too experienced the story. One couldn't hear a story without interacting with at least one other person who had different ways of thinking about the world with different perspectives. A person could form their own thoughts about a story, but they would also get influenced by other who might be able to present a new perspective that the person might never have thought about on his or her own. But when stories starting getting told in books, a person did not have to see anybody or interact with anyone but his or herself. A person could form an idea uninfluenced by anyone else, which could be a good thing but it doesn't allow for ideas to be spread except from author to reader. People can discuss the book after the fact, but never during the actual experience of reading it and living the story. Only hearing an oral story will do that.

Kelsey Steven - Nature and Society

In Original Visions, the Carmodys describe the relationship between nature and human to be one characterized by myth and stories. Shamans were present in order to maintain the myths and rituals within the society. One such myth that gets discussed in the text is the myth of Desana People about how the universe was created. The sun used to be something that humans would not have even been able to sense had they been around yet. It was an invisible, supreme being that one day emitted a "yellow intention" without purpose, which sparked the creation of the earth. The story has a bit of the supernatural and the natural to describe the creation of the world. Nature is regarded as both magical and tangible. This gives society stimulation to seek a higher power in order to avoid living in chaos.

Kelsey Steven - Ghost of White Deer

An old Chickasaw myth, Ghost of White Deer is about a man who wants to wed a chief's daughter but the chief does not like the man. So, the chief tells him that the price to wed his daughter is to kill an albino deer, for he knows that these are very rare and it's unlikely that the man will ever find one. The night before the man leaves on the hunt, he tells the daughter that he will return in one month. The man goes out hunting and actually finds a white deer, which he swiftly shoots with an arrow. The deer is struck but does not fall and starts running toward the man with eyes glaring and antlers poised to strike. The man did not return in the month's time he promised so the people presumed he would never come back, but the daughter knew better. Whenever the moon would shine bright she would see the white deer running in the smoke of the fire. The Chickasaw People have revered the white deer ever since and consider it to be the best wedding dress material. I found this myth to be beautiful its imagery and interesting how they came to consider the albino deer to be rare.

Kelsey Steven - Cross-Cultural Communication

Today in class, we discussed how when two tribes with different sets of beliefs meet, they clash and have problems. They will try and maintain their own cosmos and have an "I-It" relationship with the other tribesmen. Being a Communications Major, we talk about how cultures mix and handle differences a lot in the discipline. I connected the lecture to previous discussions of intercultural communication, or cross-cultural communication where we talk about how people see another cultures as a threat because of the culture they grew up in. If they were raised in a way that makes any other culture seem alien, than they will keep an "I-It" view on the opposing culture. However, if one learns how maintain their own culture, but also incorporate another's culture in peace, then an "I-Thou" relationship will occur.

Cahoone. Modest or immodest philosophy?- Corey Maiden

In the beginning of the text, Cahoone describes the relationship between philosophical tasks construed modestly and immodestly. He describes philosophy as, "Part of the body of knowledge society wishes to bequeath to subsequent generations."(Cahoone) My understanding of the two terms is that modest philosophy is the applied science of reason, while immodest philosophy is asking questions for the sake of exercising philosophical strength. It is implied that there is no reason to ask such questions knowing that they cannot yet are possibly ever be answered but doing this can help philosophers better master their art. "Immodestly construed, the tasks of philosophy are so monumental that no justification seems possible."(Cahoone) If this is the case then maybe this is what philosophers do when they have run out of things to argue about. These types of exercises help prepare the mind to break down and analyze questions and answers in a way that can best reveal the truth, or in many religious and immodest cases, the desired truth is produced through these logical steps. It seems that modest philosophy tends to looks at problems from the bottom up and immodest thinks of problems from the top down. An immodest philosopher may ask “Is the sky really there?” It does not really matter if it is really there or not we perceive it and so it is a part of our life whether it is “really there” or not.

Cahoone- Corey Maiden

I have done some outside reading about the study of philosophy in general and one of the things I came across was an interesting definition of philosophy by Cahoone. In "The Ends of Philosophy", Cahoone is defining philosophy in two different sections. The question that the introduction of the book brings up for me is whether or not Cahoone thinks that it is responsible to seriously discuss questions that can clearly not be answered with the knowledge that we have today. The two different sections of philosophy that Cahoone describes are tasks construed modestly and tasks construed immodestly. Modestly being those tasks which are answerable through logical steps and immodest being those tasks that are not answerable by taking logical steps. In the first few sentences he states, "Construed modestly, the tasks of philosophy are eminently achievable, making its justification unnecessary. Philosophers increase our knowledge of our ideas and theories." (Cahoone1) I found this funny because he makes no mention of immodestly construed philosophical tasks before making the statement about how modest philosophy increases our knowledge. The tone that is set even in the first few sentences of the text is that modestly construed philosophy is the branch which offers all of the advancement of knowledge. Cahoone also defines philosophy by giving the counter argument which he describes as "Anti-philosophy".(Cahoone 4) By doing this he shows that his argument for philosophy being for the betterment of society is stronger, and all the reasons why the argument against philosophy is lazy and complacent, but does he include immodest philosophy in his defense of the practice modestly construed philosophy? I don’t think so. "Philosophy is a respectable citizen, whose membership in the cultural community is not in question." (Cahoone 1) This is the last thing that Cahoone states before he begins to talk about immodest philosophy. Then he moves directly into saying things about immodestly construed philosophical tasks to suggest that this form of philosophy is almost arrogant. He describes immodest philosophy as taken "...too seriously." (Cahoone 1) This is such a clear example of how Cahoone feels toward immodestly construed philosophical tasks. He sees this brand of philosophy as silly and not bettering our body of knowledge or at least not as well as those tasks construed modestly. Maybe he sees modest philosophy as working on problems from what we know rather than looking at what we don’t know to try and figure out capital T-Truth.

Into the Wild-Corey Maiden

I just watched the movie Into the Wild and I have never wanted to walk out into the woods and never come back so badly in my life. I feel like everytime i see a wilderness movie i just want to hike around and live in the woods. I cant wait to hit the appalachian trail again this summer. Just picked up a new hammock tent and some boots that i cant wait to test out. Anyway the movie was good accept for the fact that the guy was an idiot. I mean how can you not survive after all the planning and wilderness books he had! I wonder how that bus got out into the wilderness...