Category Archives: philosophy

July 10th-Tuesday

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At St. Hilda’s

A slightly cooler day, if still sunny, which raised everyone’s spirits.  The lack of air conditioning on a grand scale has been noted more than once by our crew!   Today we explored the story of the “Oxford Martyrs” as well as the area around St. Giles Street as our geographic area.  The presenting students had written a well nuanced play which a group of them performed.  The students explored a range of historical topics:

 

  • the nature of a conversion expereince, its orgins (the story of St. Paul) and the varied reasons for such
  • the meaning of tolerance and its limits
  • the relationship between the legal and moral limits regarding free speech
  • how to speak across different viewpoints without silencing one
  • the fascination with public executions as entertainment and the modern day replacement of reality TV as both signally a dark side of human nature
  • the power of belief, and its expression as integrity

where Cranmer was burned

Later our team took us on a tour which included a visit to St. Mary’s University Church to witness where Cranmer was charged and tried to defend his beliefs, the cross on Broad Street that represents where he was burned at the sake, and the Martyrs Memorial on St. Giles.

Afterwards we all visited the Ashmolean where the students could engage in a scavenger hunt for a number of art works and artifacts found around the museum. Tomorrow is our final class meeting.

At the Martyrs Memorial

July 9th-Monday

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After a weekend of independent activities, spanning visiting Paris to participating in London Pride day to shopping in Oxford to working on class (the last was me), we all came back to class this morning.  Well, two of the students got stuck in Paris.  Poor them, right?

Holy Trinity Church-Headington Quarry

Our chapter theme was C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein and the quadrant of the city was just east of us up St. Clemens Road to Headington.  C. S. Lewis is buried in Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry and I had visited the site early last week on my own.  It is a quiet place and quite moving. 

 

 

 

 

photo of shark in roof This chapter told the story of the Headington Shark, a full size model of a shark which sticks out of a house in Headington.  When first “installed” there was a huge uproar but over time the ruckus died down and now there is a movement to save the shark.  The fascinating question that did capture the students attention was whether this was art and if yes, did that give it a sacred status of some sort?  That is, versus an eyesore that we would argue should be pulled down for the good of the community and property values.  From there our conversations ranged afield:

 

 

  • What is the difference between art and propaganda?
  • Can anything be art?
  • How do we judge the quality of historical accounts, past and present?
  • How have corporations taken over so many aspects of our culture in places and activities that eveything has a logo promoting that company?
  • What is the difference between overbearing corporate sponsorship and philanthropy?
  • What do we need to be able to make clear judgements as to the quality of the information given us by the media, scholars, anyone?
art from RA Summer Exhibit

art from RA Summer Exhibit

I may have been alone in advocating for some notion of truth or standard for truth claims–and claims about art and beauty.  Somebody has to be the rationalist in the group. Despite the delightfully lively discussion, I fear we may not have made any progress.  I think that may be a theme for tomorrow:  when has a discussion brought about more clarify, changed minds, or simply seemed productive in the end?  How can we construct those?  Clearly this issue is not one simply for our SJC class but is sorely needed at every level of community and organization.

Tuesday- July 3rd

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Another relentlessly sunny day in Oxford!  The students are getting the entirely wrong idea of the weather here.  I long for rain.

Today we discussed a provocative chapter centering around Alice in Wonderland and the creator, Charles Dodgson.  The author clearly loathes him and underscores his seemingly unnatural desire for young girls… to photograph naked.  This took us to the west side Oxford to Ports Meadow, up to Godstow with its medieval miracle legends and down through Jericho and the OUP. Our discussion themes were on rowing and competition among the colleges but the big theme was that of art and morality.  Should we engage with art–music, paintings, literature–written by people who are immoral and live unethical lives?  We were deeply divided on this one.  On one side it was argued that what art would be left?  Does not the art work take on a life of its own and survive on its own merit, or not?  But the other side highlighted that in attending to such art we are honoring or at the very least accepting the artist him or her self.  And for artists who are alive, we are giving them money and glory–even as they do awful things.  Chris Brown featured in our discussion.  This led to a much larger exploration of where morality comes from.  Alas, we ran out of time and I cannot offer a definitive response.  But spoiler alert:  trust neither one’s own self nor one’s society to always be right.

Gate to All Souls’ College

Later in the afternoon we had an official walking tour of central Oxford with Lucy, a knowledgable guide who offered delightful tidbits of information about how landmarks inspired writers like C.S. Lewis but also how these very landmarks now mirror back the great writers in grotesques added to the Bodleian or busts in Exeter Chapel.

Did this faun inspire Narnia?