The following books are on reserve in VCU's Cabell Library, at the Circulation Desk. They may be checked out for one day at a time. By our meeting on January 29, read at least the pertinent sections of one of the books. We need at least two people reading each book, so when you have decided which book to focus on, send an e-mail to everyone staking your claim.
- S.I. Hayakawa "Language in Thought and Action", 4th Edition (1978)
Hayakawa attempts to unpack the language we use routinely, to separate the sensations a word evokes from the object it may represent, the reach of a statement from the observations underlying it. Although he seldom talks about science, the book often brings to consciousness the ethos of scientific communication that is seldom spoken about. Consider how what you read might help you in distinguishing what concerning genome modification has been established through evidence in contrast to what has been asserted.
The entire book is worth reading, but the following chapters are most pertinent for our purposes (Buck up! The chapters are short!):
- Forward to Books I and II
- Chapter 2: Symbols
- Chapter 3: Reports, Inferences, Judgments
- Chapter 10: How We Know What We Know
- Chapter 13: Classification
- Chapter 14: The Two-Valued Orientation
- Chapter 15: The Multi-Valued Orientation
- Jonathan Haidt "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion" (2013)
Haidt argues that our view of reason as guiding our search for truth is backwards. Rather, it is our preconceptions that are generally in control, directing our reason to find a basis for what we already know to be true. Two groups with different preconceptions, common enough in political discourse, are not likely to find a rational path towards agreement... unless members of each group are aware of the moral foundations on which their preconceptions rest and those of the other group as well. Consider how what your read might help you see how to combine necessarily biased perceptions into a whole greater than its parts.
The entire book is worth reading, but the following chapters are most pertinent for our purposes:
- Chapter 4: Vote for Me (Here's Why), pp.72-92
- Chapter 7: The Moral Foundations of Politics, pp.129-154
- Chapter 12: Can't We All Disagree More Constructively? pp.274-318
|