Course Descriptions

These are course descriptions for classes I either taught or intended to teach, as part of MIT's Educational Studies Program, many years ago. To some extent, they are the same course taught over and over again with slightly different emphasis, which should surprise nobody who knows me.

The Argument Clinic "Hi, I'm here for an argument." "No, you're not!" "They said this was the argument clinic..." "No, they didn't!" "You're just contradicting everything I say! That's not an argument!" "Yes it is!" Monty Python's Flying Circus Actually, it isn't. Come find out why. Editor's note: Here are some of my notes from this one.	Castles in the Sky "Neurotics build castles in the sky. Psychotics live in them. Psychologists charge rent." Source unknown We'll be going on a guided tour of those castles, pointing out some interesting rooms and pieces of furniture, and talking about some of the architecture. We will be discussing how you see what you see, remember what you remember, and make the decisions you make. This is a lecture course on how the mind is structured. The only prerequisite is a willingness to think about how you think.
Mind Science "Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders What the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of." They Might Be Giants Traditionally, psychology has been thought of as a soft science, one where standard criteria for scientific rigor cannot be met. We will be exploring some reasons why this idea is still widely believed, and constructing some models of the mind based on modern research that challenge it. While there are no prerequisites for this course, some background in biology may be helpful.	Symbolism "Any symbol symbolizes every symbol." Umberto Eco If that quote intrigues to you, take this class. (If it makes sense to you, teachthis class!) Humans are symbol-processing animals, to an extent likely unique among animals. We will explore that ability, its evolution and its use, and its role in consciousness, problem-solving, communication, and the development of society. Along the way we might touch on prejudice (is it avoidable?), money (does it exist?), religion, symbols that change meaning, the usefulness (or lack thereof) of definitions in decision-making, and the role of magic in modern society. Then again, we might not. I don't promise any answers, but the questions will hopefully be intriguing. While technical subjects will be explored, no technical knowledge is required. What are required are an open mind and a willingness to have some basic ideas challenged. Editor's note: This course also went under the name "What do you mean?". Here are some of my notes.
What do you know? "I'm not aware of too many things I know what I know if you know what I mean." Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians "Epistemology" is a long Latin word that means the study of what it means to know something. Like most long Latin words, it is usually used to make a perfectly ordinary subject seem confusing and hard to understand, which is why this course is not called "An Introduction to Epistemology" or something equally threatening. We will be discussing some ideas about how you know what you know, why you sometimes think you know things you don't know, and whether, in fact, you know anything at all. You know? Join us.	Zocial Zychology "If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?" every mother since the invention of cliffs Whenever people get together, there are forces at work "behind the scenes" that affect what we do, what we say, and how we feel -- usually without us ever knowing it. We will explore some of these forces and how they affect relationships between friends, coworkers, schoolmates, students and teachers, employers and employees, and other personal interactions, as well as how they affect relationships between larger groups like countries, religions, and races. Part 2 A continuation of the topics introduced in part 1. We will explore human social behaviors in greater depth, with an eye towards their origins and their advantages and disadvantages. The specific topics to be discussed will depend on class interests, but may include marriage, the origins of language, the development of agriculture, sexuality, advertising, insanity, political campaigning, violent crime, war, trade, body language, rape, patriotism, racism, and suicide, to name a few. This course will cover different material every session, so it can be taken multiple times.
Peoplewatching 101 "Who needs telepathy when you know your friends?" Drea Brandford It probably doesn't surprise you that people don't always say what they mean. It may surprise you that people often express exactly what they mean without meaning to -- and that we rarely notice. We'll be discussing body language, clothing, gesture, facial expression, voice, and other clues to what people are actually thinking.	What good is it? An exploration of quality and value Religious organizations, concerned-citizens groups, and political candidates have devoted considerable energy to discussions of "values". Depending on whom you ask, your generation has no values, has degraded, different, or superior values, or has the same values as your parents' generation. The legality of abortion, civil rights for homosexuals, minority education, drug use, and a host of other politically controversial subjects have become the focal points of this debate over values. With all this fighting going on, it may be time to explore what value is, whether it can be produced at will or even recognized on sight, and whether values can ever be agreed upon by large groups of free-thinking individuals. This course may not provide any answers, but will attempt to make the questions clearer. The only prerequisite is a genuine interest in the subject.
The Untitled Course I've been teaching in this program for several years, and have discovered that no matter what subject I teach, what I wind up actually doing is recounting entertaining anecdotes and illustrative facts, making outrageous assertions and trying to defend them, challenging my students' ideas about how things work, and answering random questions. For this course, I have given up all pretense of confining this to a single subject. If this sounds interesting to you, join me.