Great stuff, Nita. Jean Baudrillard of France once said that America will someday elect an actor for President, the ultimate bow to hyperreality. He said this long before Ronald Reagan or Trump came onto the political stage.
In high school, I had a philosophy teacher that would constantly recreate Magritte's experiment in one form or another. He'd do something like show a picture of a cat, and ask "what is this?" Of course, as soon as someone responded with " a cat," he'd correct them by saying it was, in fact, a /picture/ of a cat.
At the time, we all just thought he was acting on-brand for a philosophy teacher. Only later did I realize that he was getting us to push up against the boundaries of rote memorization & standardization. It completely changed the way I think, and I'm grateful for it.
I had a social science teacher in middle school who was the same way. She was also rumored to be a CIA field agent. Brings to mind Feynman's discussion on the difference between knowing and understanding (https://coffeeandjunk.com/knowing-something/), in which he recounts a vignette about the folly of memorizing the names of various species of birds without observing their behaviors.
Waooooo! This is a mental food, thanks
Great stuff, Nita. Jean Baudrillard of France once said that America will someday elect an actor for President, the ultimate bow to hyperreality. He said this long before Ronald Reagan or Trump came onto the political stage.
Prescient words, indeed. Democracy is a fragile thing.
In high school, I had a philosophy teacher that would constantly recreate Magritte's experiment in one form or another. He'd do something like show a picture of a cat, and ask "what is this?" Of course, as soon as someone responded with " a cat," he'd correct them by saying it was, in fact, a /picture/ of a cat.
At the time, we all just thought he was acting on-brand for a philosophy teacher. Only later did I realize that he was getting us to push up against the boundaries of rote memorization & standardization. It completely changed the way I think, and I'm grateful for it.
I had a social science teacher in middle school who was the same way. She was also rumored to be a CIA field agent. Brings to mind Feynman's discussion on the difference between knowing and understanding (https://coffeeandjunk.com/knowing-something/), in which he recounts a vignette about the folly of memorizing the names of various species of birds without observing their behaviors.
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