Last time

We worked with the survey forms, marking beliefs that seemed "most fundamental -- the ones that have the widest applicability, the ones that other beliefs and opinions seem to arise from or depend on." I've sorted through those and I'd like to talk about them, but not today; similarly, I said I'd look for patterns among the rankings of all those belief statements ("yes," "no," "depends") but that's turned out to be a mammoth undertaking, and I may get to it over the weekend. Today I want, first, to look back at the assignment from last time, and then to start something quite different.

Today in class

I was astonished to discovered that nobody at all posted on two of the four cartoons, and I'd like to begin by exploring that for a minute. So, first, take one of the half sheets of yellow paper I'll pass around and write a short explanation of how you decided on the cartoon you chose to write about. These will be anonymous: I'm simply trying to get a sense of what people did as they made that decision. Be as clear as you can, but obviously you can't precisely remember your mental processes from two days ago. I'll collect those.

When that's done I'll set up four groups and give each group a set of the original postings on the cartoon members of the group did not choose. That is, if you wrote on "no." you'll have the first replies to the cartoon labeled "hysteria," and vice versa. I do this so that you'll be coming at the texts "cold," not having already responded to (or written) some of them yourself.

What I'd like you to do is go through the ten comments you'll have and look for anything that is a statement of belief (not an opinion about the cartoon, not an offered interpretation, but a statement that could be considered a "belief." Your group will have a highlighter; when you've decided on one, please just highlight it. Discuss all of them, and make sure you agree (or that only one or two people are holding out). Try not to miss an obvious one, but only mark ones you think actually are statements of someone's belief. I think it should take a while. When you've done that, we'll talk about the process.

For next time

I want to change directions. Instead of working from an abstract idea of what a belief might be, I'd like to invite people to start thinking about some of their own beliefs.

I've created yet another Forum. This one has five reasonably short texts, and a Forum for responses below them. Between now and Tuesday afternoon, read all five texts, and respond to four of them by writing in the appropriate forums about what beliefs of your own seem to be invoked -- challenged, perhaps, or supported -- by the document you've read. Think as deeply as you can about what you believe that makes you agree, or disagree, with various statements in the document. A good way to do this is to say something like: "the document says X, and this makes me aware that I believe Y." The X should be as specific as you can make it; it's always good to quote things. Respond to four of these by Tuesday at class time.