DOCSLIB.ORG

Stephen Parkin

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Stephen Parkin THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO THE IDEA OF THE CONSOLATORY: THE RHETORIC, ETHICS, AND MORAL PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSOLATION LITERATURE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE BY STEPHEN MICHAEL PARKIN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS DECEMBER 2019 The Idea of the Consolatory Copyright © 2019 by Stephen Parkin All rights reserved For my wife, Jill: constantiae amorisque praeclara. And for my children, Lenora, August, and Cassandra: aliquid gaudeo discere ut doceam. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... vi Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ ix Preface .......................................................................................................................................... xi A Brief Note on Rhetorical Terminology .................................................................................. xiii Introduction: Problems in the Study of the Consolatory Tradition .............................. 1 A Brief Review of Scholarly Approaches to the Study of Consolation ............................. 3 Overview of Consolatory Theory (Outline of the Argument) .......................................... 9 Case Study Methodology: The Lens of Examples and Vivid Narration......................... 13 Continuing Questions...................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 1. The Consolatory Situation: Occasion, Audience, Consoler, Empathy, Idea ................................................................ 18 Prelude: Defning the Consolatory Occasion .................................................................. 18 Consolation's Complex Audiences .................................................................................. 23 The Consoler: Author and Persona ................................................................................ 33 Empathy and the Consolatory ........................................................................................ 38 Real Consolations and the Idea of the Consolatory ....................................................... 54 Chapter 2. Case Study. Audience, Empathy, and Multivalent Address: The “Rhythm” of Plutarch's Consolation to His Wife ..................................................... 60 Setting the Tempo: Empathy and Audience Formation ................................................ 67 The Baseline Rhythm: Shifting Focus, Drifting Focus ................................................... 71 Collapsed Rhythms: Multivalent Address Through Vivid Description .......................... 80 Climax, Coda, Reprise .................................................................................................... 90 iv Chapter 3. The Therapeutic Program: Consolation, Grief Therapy, and Psychological Resilience .......................................... 94 Modern Empirical Models of Grief Therapy ............................................................... 103 Psychological Resilience: Consolation as the Development of Hardiness and Other Resilience Factors ............. 124 Conclusion: The Principles of Consolatory Therapy ................................................... 130 Chapter 4. The Moral Development Program: Self-Improvement Through Habituation and Preparation, Perspectivism, Ethical Doctrine, Refective Analysis, and Moral Resilience ......... 135 The Classical Roots of Consolatory Moral Development: Self-Improvement Through Preparation and Habituation .......................................... 139 Consolatory Moral Development: Perspectivism, Precepts, Analysis, and Resilience ................................................................................................ 146 Conclusion: The Role of Moral Development in the Consolatory .............................. 174 Chapter 5. Case Study. Seneca's Consolatory Perspectivism: Architectural Exempla in the Consolation to Marcia .................................................... 177 Therapy, Philosophy, Politics, and Society in the Study of Seneca's Consolatory Writings ............................................................. 181 Excursus: The Structure and Argument of the Consolatio ad Marciam ........................... 192 Framing Possible Responses for a Complex Audience: The Exempla of Octavia and Livia ................................................................................. 195 Creating Distance Through Sermocinatio and Exempla ................................................... 205 Three Prosopopoeia and the Formation of Moral Resilience .......................................... 211 The Consolation as a Catalyst for Moral Refection and Moral Education ................. 224 Conclusion: The Consolatory Idea ................................................................................... 232 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 243 v Acknowledgements More people than can be acknowledged deserve my sincere gratitude for their support throughout the process of writing this dissertation, as well as for the educational history that undergirds it. Long before I arrived at the University of Chicago, my intellectual journey was shaped by dedicated, accomplished teachers. Ms. Brenda Millay-Mai, Mr. Mike Cantlon, Ms. Jeri Giachetti, and Dr. David Carey have left lasting impressions on all their students, myself very much included. Mr. Jonathan Knight taught me even more about resilience and moral integrity than he did about American history—and he was an excellent history teacher. At Whitman, Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver not only introduced me to classical antiquity, but became a treasured mentor, while Dr. Dana Burgess did more to shape my intellectual disposition than anyone before or since. His aside on an undergraduate paper in the distant past—“I see that studium is important to your argument here”—quite literally catalyzed the scholarly arc to which this dissertation belongs. At the University of Chicago, my studies were enriched by many colleagues, mentors, students, and friends. Many thanks are due to my dissertation committee: Dr. David Wray provided the light hand and gentle guidance that I needed to complete this project, while Dr. Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer challenged, supported, and invited me to deeper insights, from my frst graduate course (a survey of Latin poetry) through the completion of this project. Drs. Glenn Most and Elizabeth Asmis deeply infuenced my intellectual and professional development, all for the better. My fellow Comparative Literature graduate students were a wellspring of inspiration and emotional support. From my cohort, Nana Holtsnider and Dan Olaru provided many hours of friendship, conversation, and commiseration. Through our dissertation writing group, Brian Berry, Chloe Blackshear, and Mollie McFee provided fellowship and support at a crucial time. vi Chandani Patel provided friendship, wise counsel, and professional support for many years. Most of all, Monica Felix became not just a colleague, but a dear friend and spiritual companion during my time in Chicago; without our friendship, my graduate experience would have been inexpressibly poorer in every way. Outside of my department, many people made me feel that the University was my professional home. In the Writing Program and the Chicago Center for Teaching, I found a family of colleagues as dedicated to excellence in teaching as I am. I thank the staff, directors, Lectors, and Teaching Consultants for many stimulating conversations about teaching and learning. At the Writing Program, Dr. Tracy Weiner deserves special acknowledgement for her lasting, and deeply felt, infuence on my professional development. At College Housing, my fellow Resident Heads helped me maintain perspective through the trying and rewarding years at the helm of Phoenix House, while the residents of Phoenix grounded me and reminded me daily of the practical importance of education. Thanks must especially be given to Ajith John for two years of dedication, hard work, and continuing friendship. No scholarship happens in isolation. Outside of the university, Maggie Bridger and Paul Krause provided a much needed anchor to the broader world, not to mention years of transformational friendship and unconditional love for my family. Most of all, my family deserves my deepest, everlasting gratitude. Sandi and Steve provide constant love, support, and compassion. Veronica remains my best friend: your zest for life is infectious and enriches everyone you touch. My parents, Janice and Mike, have shaped me in too many ways to count. From them I have learned, among many other things, the most important qualities in life: kindness, creativity, curiosity, responsibility, empathy, and resilience. Without the patience, love, and spiritual companionship of my wife, Jill, I would be a worse friend, a worse partner, a worse vii parent—a worse person. I am in awe of your beauty, your compassion, and your strength. My love for you grows every day. And, fnally, the most precious people in my life, without whom my life would not be complete: Lenora, August, and Cassandra, you have taught me how to love in ways that I never knew I could. You have brought light and divine joy into my
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Selections from Joe Sachs's Introduction to His Translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics (Sachs's Extensive Footnotes Have Been Omitted from This Selection.)
    Selections from Joe Sachs's Introduction to His Translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics (Sachs's extensive footnotes have been omitted from this selection.) How and Why this Version Differs from Others We cannot give an accurate summary of Aristotle's conclusions about the way things are unless we have some way to translate his characteristic vocabulary, but if our decision is to follow the prevalent habits of the most authoritative interpreters, those conclusions crumble away into nothing. By way of the usual translations, the central argument of the Metaphysics would be: being qua being is being per se in accordance with the categories, which in turn is primarily substance, but primary substance is form, while form is essence and essence is actuality. You might react to such verbiage in various ways. You might think, I am too ignorant and untrained to understand these things, and need an expert to explain them to me. Or you might think, Aristotle wrote gibberish. But if you have some acquaintance with the classical languages, you might begin to be suspicious that something has gone awry: Aristotle wrote Greek, didn't he? And while this argument doesn't sound much like English, it doesn't sound like Greek either, does it? In fact this argument appears to be written mostly in an odd sort of Latin, dressed up to look like English. Why do we need Latin to translate Greek into English at all? At all the most crucial places, the usual translations of Aristotle abandon English and move toward Latin. They do this because earlier translations did the same.
    [Show full text]
  • HEXIS and GRACE: the FORMATION of SOULS at PORT ROYAL and ELSEWHERE INTRODUCTION N the Middle of the Seventeenth Century The
    RICH COCHRANE HEXIS AND GRACE: THE FORMATION OF SOULS AT PORT ROYAL AND ELSEWHERE INTRODUCTION n the middle of the seventeenth century the Cistercian convent known as Port Royal became simultaneously, and connectedly, a centre of pedagogic innovation and religious I controversy. Its “little schools,” which educated (separately) both girls and boys, are now famous largely for the publication of two textbooks, one on logic and another on grammar, which have been seen by some commentators as early documents of the Enlightenment.1 These were associated exclusively with the education of the boys. The girls’ education, however, also produced an important document: the Rule for Children of Jacqueline Pascal,2 who directed the girls’ school at Port Royal des Champs (the old site that lay outside Paris) during the 1650s. This paper gives an interpretation of this text and the educational practice it records and suggests not only that this practice has deep roots in the Christian tradition but also that it continues to exert a powerful, albeit indirect, influence on our thinking about education today. I begin by discussing in some detail the related notions of hexis and divine grace, which in Augustine come together to create a doctrine that had a profound influence on Jansen and his followers. I then proceed to read Pascal’s Rule in the light of this doctrine. I show that the purpose of the regime she supervised was the preparation of the soul to receive grace, making it an early example of a formative pedagogy as opposed to an “informative” one. My aim is to understand the theory embedded in the pedagogic practices Pascal describes rather than to import a theory of practice from elsewhere.3 The extent to which the roots of Pascal’s pedagogy 1 Michel Foucault, The Order of Things (London: Routledge, 1989), 46; 67 et passim; 104 et passim; 195.
    [Show full text]
  • The Stoics and the Practical: a Roman Reply to Aristotle
    DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences 8-2013 The Stoics and the practical: a Roman reply to Aristotle Robin Weiss DePaul University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd Recommended Citation Weiss, Robin, "The Stoics and the practical: a Roman reply to Aristotle" (2013). College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 143. https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/143 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE STOICS AND THE PRACTICAL: A ROMAN REPLY TO ARISTOTLE A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August, 2013 BY Robin Weiss Department of Philosophy College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences DePaul University Chicago, IL - TABLE OF CONTENTS - Introduction……………………..............................................................................................................p.i Chapter One: Practical Knowledge and its Others Technê and Natural Philosophy…………………………….....……..……………………………….....p. 1 Virtue and technical expertise conflated – subsequently distinguished in Plato – ethical knowledge contrasted with that of nature in
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotle: Movement and the Structure of Being
    Aristotle: Movement and the Structure of Being Author: Mark Sentesy Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2926 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2012 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Philosophy ARISTOTLE: MOVEMENT AND THE STRUCTURE OF BEING a dissertation by MARK SENTESY submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2012 © copyright by MARK SENTESY 2012 Aristotle: Movement and the Structure of Being Mark Sentesy Abstract: This project sets out to answer the following question: what does movement contribute to or change about being according to Aristotle? The first part works through the argument for the existence of movement in the Physics. This argument includes distinctive innovations in the structure of being, notably the simultaneous unity and manyness of being: while material and form are one thing, they are two in being. This makes it possible for Aristotle to argue that movement is not intrinsically related to what is not: what comes to be does not emerge from non‐being, it comes from something that is in a different sense. The second part turns to the Metaphysics to show that and how the lineage of potency and activity the inquiry into movement. A central problem is that activity or actuality, energeia, does not at first seem to be intrinsically related to a completeness or end, telos. With the unity of different senses of being at stake, Aristotle establishes that it is by showing that activity or actuality is movement most of all, and that movement has and is a complete end.
    [Show full text]
  • International Journal of Action Research Volume 5, Issue 1, 2009
    International Journal of Action Research Volume 5, Issue 1, 2009 Editorial Werner Fricke, Øyvind Pålshaugen 5 Popular Education and Participatory Research: Facing Inequalities in Latin America Danilo R. Streck 13 Organizing – A Strategic Option for Trade Union Renewal? Klaus Dörre, Hajo Holst, Oliver Nachtwey 33 Phronesis as the Sense of the Event Ole Fogh Kirkeby 68 Opening to the World through the Lived Body: Relating Theory and Practice in Organisation Consulting Robert Farrands 114 Book review Olav Eikeland (2008): The Ways of Aristotle. Aristotelian phrónêsis, Aristotelian Philosophy of Dialogue, and Action Research reviewed by Ole Fogh Kirkeby 144 Phronesis as the Sense of the Event Ole Fogh Kirkeby In this article, the Greek concept of phronesis is analyzed on the basis of its philosophical roots, and the indispensability of its strong normative content is emphasized. This creates a distance to most of the recent under- standing of phronesis as prudence, and hence as practical wisdom with a pragmatic and strategic content. The strong dilemmas created by the nor- mative background of real phronesis present management and leadership as a choice in every situation. From this foundation, phronesis is inter- preted as primarily the sense of the event, and an alternative concept of the event is developed. The presentation of the event also demands a theory of the relation of mind and matter, and hence of the body in the event. This is achieved under inspiration from Stoic philosophy. With this in mind, the more serious approaches to practical wisdom: phronesis as determinant of meta-concepts of research; phronesis as a liberating organizational strategy of learning; phronesis as a strategy of knowledge management; phronesis as a narrative strategy; and phronesis as the capacity of the leader, are presented and analyzed.
    [Show full text]
  • Heidegger's Reading of Aristotle's Concept of Pathos
    The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences Spring 2012 Heidegger’s Reading of Aristotle’s Concept of Pathos Marjolein Oele University of San Francisco, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.usfca.edu/phil Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Oele, Marjolein, "Heidegger’s Reading of Aristotle’s Concept of Pathos" (2012). Philosophy. Paper 18. http://repository.usfca.edu/phil/18 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts and Sciences at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HEIDEGGER’S READING OF ARISTOTLE’S CONCEPT OF PATHOS Marjolein Oele, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Dept. of Philosophy University of San Francisco 2130 Fulton Street San Francisco, CA 94117-1080 Email: [email protected] Tel: 415-455-9030 . HEIDEGGER’S READING OF ARISTOTLE’S CONCEPT OF PATHOS Abstract This paper takes as its point of departure the recent publication of Heidegger’s lecture course Basic Concepts of Aristotelian Philosophy and focuses upon Heidegger’s reading of Aristotle’s concept of pathos. Through a comparative analysis of Aristotle’s concept of pathos and Heidegger’s inventive reading of this concept, I aim to show the strengths
    [Show full text]
  • Translating Mimesis of Orality
    Translating mimesis of orality: Robert Frost’s poetry in Catalan and Italian Marcello Giugliano TESI DOCTORAL UPF / ANY 2012 DIRECTORS DE LA TESI Dra. Victòria Alsina Dr. Dídac Pujol DEPARTAMENT DE TRADUCCIÓ I CIÈNCIES DEL LLENGUATGE Ai miei genitori Acknowledgements My first thank you goes to my supervisors, Dr. Victòria Alsina and Dr. Dídac Pujol. Their critical guidance, their insightful comments, their constant support and human understanding have provided me with the tools necessary to take on the numerous challenges of my research with enthusiasm. I would also like to thank Dr. Jenny Brumme for helping me to solve my many doubts on some theoretical issues during our long conversations, in which a smile and a humorous comment never failed. My special thanks are also for Dr. Luis Pegenaute, Dr. José Francisco Ruiz Casanova, and Dr. Patrick Zabalbeascoa for never hiding when they met me in the corridors of the faculty or never diverting their eyes in despair. Thank you for always being ready to give me recommendations and for patiently listening to my only subject of conversation during the last four years. During the project, I have had the privilege to make two research stays abroad. The first, in 2009, in Leuven, Belgium, at the Center for Translation Studies (CETRA), and the second in 2010 at the Translation Center of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA. I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to my tutors there, Dr. Reine Meylaerts and Dr. Maria Tymoczko respectively, for their tutoring and for offering me the chance to attend classes and seminars during my stay there, converting that period into a fruitful and exciting experience.
    [Show full text]
  • King Lear and the Winter’S Tale 135 Sanford Budick
    Entertaining the Idea shakespeare, philosophy, and performance Edited by Lowell Gallagher, James Kearney, and Julia Reinhard Lupton ENTERTAINING THE IDEA: SHAKESPEARE, PHILOSOPHY, AND PERFORMANCE THE UCLA CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY SERIES ENTERTAINING THE IDEA SHAKESPEARE, PHILOSOPHY, AND PERFORMANCE Edited by Lowell Gallagher, James Kearney, and Julia Reinhard Lupton Published by the University of Toronto Press in association with the UCLA Center for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Studies and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library © The Regents of the University of California 2021 utorontopress.com Printed in the U.S.A. ISBN 978-1-4875-0743-5 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-4875-3624-4 (EPUB) ISBN 978-1-4875-3623-7 (PDF) ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Title: Entertaining the idea: Shakespeare, philosophy, and performance / edited by Lowell Gallagher, James Kearney, and Julia Reinhard Lupton. Names: Gallagher, Lowell, 1953– editor. | Kearney, James (James Joseph), editor. | Lupton, Julia Reinhard, 1963– editor. Series: UCLA Clark Memorial Library series ; 29. Description: Series statement: UCLA/Clark Memorial Library series ; no. 29 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200255657 | Canadiana (ebook) 2020025572X | ISBN 9781487507435 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781487536244 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781487536237 (PDF) Subjects: LCSH: Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616 – Criticism and interpretation. | LCSH: Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotle's Theory of Actuality SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy Author : Bechler, Z
    title : Aristotle's Theory of Actuality SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy author : Bechler, Z. publisher : State University of New York Press isbn10 | asin : 0791422399 print isbn13 : 9780791422397 ebook isbn13 : 9780585046068 language : English subject Aristotle, Philosophy of nature. publication date : 1995 lcc : B491.N3B43 1995eb ddc : 113 subject : Aristotle, Philosophy of nature. cover Aristotle's Theory Of Actuality cover-0 SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy Anthony Preus, Editor cover-1 Aristotle's Theory OF Actuality Zev Bechler State University of New York Press cover-2 Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1995 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246 Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Fran Keneston Composition by Kelby Bowers, Compublishing, Cincinnati, Ohio Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bechler, Z. Aristotle's theory of actuality / Zev Bechler. p. cm.(SUNY series in ancient Greek philosophy) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-2239-9 (alk. paper).ISBN 0-7914-2240-2 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Aristotle. 2. Philosophy of nature. I. Title. II. Series. B491.N3B42 1995 185dc20 94-1045 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 cover-3 To Niza Dolav For her special friendship cover-4 Contents Acknowledgments xi Introduction: The Idea of Anti-Informationism 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Space in Hellenistic Philosophy
    Graziano Ranocchia, Christoph Helmig, Christoph Horn (Eds.) Space in Hellenistic Philosophy Space in Hellenistic Philosophy Critical Studies in Ancient Physics Edited by Graziano Ranocchia Christoph Helmig Christoph Horn ISBN 978-3-11-036495-8 e-ISBN 978-3-11-036585-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2014 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Acknowledgements This volume has been published with the financial support of the European Research Council (ERC) and the National Research Council of Italy (CNR). Thanks are due to Aurora Corti for her editorial work and to Sergio Knipe for the linguis- tic revision of the manuscript. Table of Contents Abbreviations IX Introduction 1 Keimpe Algra Aristotle’s Conception of Place and its Reception in the Hellenistic Period 11 Michele Alessandrelli Aspects and Problems of Chrysippus’ Conception of Space 53 Teun Tieleman Posidonius on the Void. A Controversial Case of Divergence Revisited 69 David Konstan Epicurus on the Void 83 Holger Essler Space and Movement in Philodemus’ De dis 3: an Anti-Aristotelian Account 101 Carlos Lévy Roman Philosophy under
    [Show full text]
  • Facilitating an Ethical Disposition (Hexis) As “Care of the Soul” in a Unique Ontological Vision of Socratic Education James M
    College of DuPage DigitalCommons@COD Philosophy Scholarship Philosophy Spring 2015 Facilitating an Ethical Disposition (Hexis) as “Care of the Soul” in a Unique Ontological Vision of Socratic Education James M. Magrini College of DuPage Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/philosophypub Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Magrini, James M., "Facilitating an Ethical Disposition (Hexis) as “Care of the Soul” in a Unique Ontological Vision of Socratic Education" (2015). Philosophy Scholarship. Paper 43. http://dc.cod.edu/philosophypub/43 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at DigitalCommons@COD. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Scholarship by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Facilitating an Ethical Disposition (Hexis) as “Care of the Soul” in a Unique Ontological Vision of Socratic Education Dr. James M. Magrini College of Dupage, USA Abstract This essay adopts a Continental philosophical approach to reading Plato’s Socrates in terms of a “third way” that cuts a middle path between doctrinal and esoteric readings of the dialogues. It presents a portrait of Socratic education that is at odds with contemporary views in education and curriculum that view Plato’s Socrates as either the teacher of a truth-finding method or proto-fascist authoritarian. It argues that the crucial issue of attempting to foster an ethical disposition (hexis) is a unique form of education, in terms of “care of the soul,” that unfolds only within the context of sustained dialectic interrogation. Education is a “difficult” process that entails the “turning” of the soul back to itself in an enlightened form, which is bound up with an ontological relationship of distance to the so-called “truth” of the virtues that appear in limited and dissembling ways to Socrates and the interlocutors.
    [Show full text]
  • A Phenomenology of Mimetic Learning and Multimodal Cognition: Integrating Experiential Knowledge Into Programs in Rhetoric, Composition, and Technical Communication
    Michigan Technological University Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open Reports 2014 A PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIMETIC LEARNING AND MULTIMODAL COGNITION: INTEGRATING EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE INTO PROGRAMS IN RHETORIC, COMPOSITION, AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION Kevin R. Cassell Michigan Technological University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etds Part of the Communication Commons, Rhetoric Commons, and the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons Copyright 2014 Kevin R. Cassell Recommended Citation Cassell, Kevin R., "A PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIMETIC LEARNING AND MULTIMODAL COGNITION: INTEGRATING EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE INTO PROGRAMS IN RHETORIC, COMPOSITION, AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION", Dissertation, Michigan Technological University, 2014. https://doi.org/10.37099/mtu.dc.etds/810 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etds Part of the Communication Commons, Rhetoric Commons, and the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons A PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIMETIC LEARNING AND MULTIMODAL COGNITION: INTEGRATING EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE INTO PROGRAMS IN RHETORIC, COMPOSITION, AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION By Kevin R. Cassell A DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In Rhetoric and Technical Communication MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2014 This dissertation has been approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements
    [Show full text]