Prerequisite: You have to be a fool
to argue with a fool.
and over again and expecting
different results.”
"We can't solve problems by using
the same kind of thinking we used
when we created them.
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah: Easy for Einstein
to say, he's a genius.
Dear Gary & colleagues, of course:
who else would I address, coursing
without borders. . .
Re: teaching & learning & “problem creation.”
Thinking about “same kind of thinking” on the
one hand and “not the same kind of thinking”
on the other hand.
A thesis versus antithesis kind of a deal (which
is an ancient kind of thinking) : protagonism on
the one hand, antagonism on the other.
A proper agon —and we don’t want either to win
so as to sustain opposition (without which there’s
no progress) and anticipate emerging new values
and properties.
The not-wanting-either-side-to-win . . .
(thesis or antithesis, protagonist, antagonist
because it’s the game-going-on that counts,
not the winning or losing but how-we-play,
not the solutions but the probes and problems )
. . . is maybe a good kind of not-the-same-kind
-of-thinking that stands in proper opposition to
the same kind of thinking that created problems
that w e acknowledge we can not solve (though
from the not-the-same-kind-of-thinking stand
point: it’s not solutions that we aim for, but
maybe a discontinuation of the same old
same old kinds of problems if not a
jump, leap to a higher level: a
synthesis that preserves
the agon. Innovation on
a higher order.
It's possible.
“If a Fool Persist in his Folly, he becomes Wise.”
How else?
“The Road of Excess leads to the Palace of Wisdom.”
The wayfarer, Perceiving the pathway to truth,
Was struck with astonishment. It was thickly grown
with weeds. "Ha," he said, "I see that none has passed
here In a long time." Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife. "Well," he mumbled at last,
"Doubtless there are other roads."
Forth went the candid man And spoke freely to the wind --
When he looked about him he was in a far strange country.
Forth went the candid man And spoke freely to the stars --
Yellow light tore sight from his eyes. "My good fool," said
a learned bystander, "Your operations are mad." "You are
too candid," cried the candid man, And when his stick left
the head of the learned bystander It was two sticks.
William Blake and Steven Crane, reformatted to
suit my screed.
Humanities Division stuff. Samples. We study the
best which has been thought and said, says Matthew
Arnold. Us in humanities. That’s our job. Look at
THAT, we say—pointing to a famous text: what do
you think? Write a paper on it. Compare it with
something else. Critical Thinking.
Sort of like Howard Cosel pointing to Mohammed
Ali—boxing like a son of a gun. “See, that jab to
the solar plexus! That upper cut! How he dances
like a butter fly, stings like a bee. Rope-a-dope
when circumstances demand it.”
Interpretation of live action. Not the live action
itself but the live action of interpreting the
live action.
There’s a difference.
Look at that fool persist in his folly.
He’ll be wise one day.
Mark my words.
Take care.
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