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Hello ARLIS folks, A belated thank-you to everyone who responded to my query about philosophy books that might appeal to our design students. I've compiled the results below in case anyone else is interested. ----------------------------------- What's more visually appealing than a video? We have purchased a lot of DVDs from Films for the Humanities, and they have many philosophy films. I just spoke to our philosophy professor recently, and he really liked them. Here's a link to their philosophy collection: http://ffh.films.com/Subject.aspx?psid=620&SubjectID=623 ----------------------------------- Several people recommended the "For Beginners" series. The publisher is variously identified as Writers and Readers, or For Beginners. The series is presented in a graphic novel/ comic book format - the books are completely illustrated. There are lots of titles to choose from in this series, including overviews of eastern/ western philosophy, postmodernism, existentialism, etc., as well as individual philosophers. Here is a Google books preview of "Philosophy for Beginners": http://books.google.com/books?id=_hIWb6Z8mX0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=philosophy+for+beginners&hl=en&ei=jq5aTNKELIP_8Abfk9DuAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Here is a link to a few WorldCat records: http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=hotseries&q=se%3A%22A+Writers+and+Readers+beginners+documentary+comic+book.%22 ----------------------------------- I really liked the Action Philosophers! comic series for explaining a lot of complex ideas pretty well (http://www.eviltwincomics.com/ap.html) and a philosophy friend recommended "The Simpsons and Philosophy": http://www.amazon.com/Simpsons-Philosophy-Homer-Popular-Culture/dp/0812694333 ----------------------------------- The "Introducing..." series of non-fiction comics is great: http://www.introducingbooks.com/book It's a series of comic-book style intros to academic topics. Many are about philosophers or concepts in philosophy. The series is inspired by the 1970s books by the Mexican cartoonist/intellectual Rius whose *Cuba for Beginners*and *Marx for Beginners *were probably the first non-fiction comis of this type to hit the mass market in the U.S. ----------------------------------- Kandinsky, Wassily. Concerning the Spiritual in Art * *Klee, Paul. *Pedagogical Sketchbook *Tolstoy, Leo. *What is Art? *Koestler, Arthur. *The Act of Creation * ----------------------------------- I have been getting some of Oxford University Press's "A Short Introduction" series. The one on basic philosophy is very good, I think, covering the basics in rather simple, but not condescending language. Check it out at http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Philosophy/History/?view=usa&ci=9780192854216. There are other, more focused titles in the group that might also be useful. I also like anything by Simon Blackburn (also Oxford Press), especially * Think*, *Truth* and *Being Good*. Clear concise language, though not terribly "visual". ----------------------------------- Several people recommended the novel Sophie's World: http://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281030316&sr=8-1 ----------------------------------- Coincidentally, I just picked up a philosophy book at my local Barnes & Noble store that might be appropriate. One of our staff members happens to have a PhD in philosophy and he teaches part-time at one of the local colleges; when I showed him the book, he thought it would be useful for undergraduates -- but its simplified format made him think that his school would probably frown on him assigning it as a textbook for his students. So it might not be appropriate... http://search.barnesandnoble.com/30-Second-Philosophies/Barry-Loewer/e/9781435109575/?itm=1&USRI=30+second+philosophies+the+50+most+thought+provoking But even though the concepts are presented in very simple terms, it seems very intelligently written, and I think it might be useful as an undergraduate student's first introduction to various philosophical concepts. The book is part of a series of titles that all begin with "30-Second...", the point being that the text describing each theory presented can be read in about 30 seconds. It may be too basic for your purposes, but for someone without much background in philosophy, I think it might be very useful. ----------------------------------- I would suggest the books by and edited by Gyorgy Kepes. True, a bit dated, and not necessarily the type of "philosophy and values" you are describing, but Kepes did delve deeply into the human condition, why design matters, how art, science, and technology can interact positively to better the human experience. If you can work in a bit of historiography on the literature of design and design pedagogy, Kepes is required reading. Also, the writings and work of Frederick Sommer would fit in nicely here. These two would help provide the necessary link between the questions, "What is philosophy?" and "Philosophy, what does it have to do with me being a designer?" ----------------------------------- My first recommendation would be to purchase one or two sets of The Teaching Company's "Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition" (3rd edition), on sale until August 19th for $179.95 (regular price $699.95). Put the set(s) on reserve for students to use in the library. This is a DVD set of 84 half-hour lectures on all the philosophers you have named, plus dozens more. I own the set, and I have taken courses at the University of Texas from 2 of the 12 professors who deliver the lectures, have heard three others lecture in person, including Kathleen Higgins, for whom I was an academic assistant at UT in 1984; her husband, the late Robert Solomon, is another of the teachers in the series. By the way, he appears as a rotoscoped version of himself in Richard Linklater's film "Waking Life," which itself would be a marvelous way to get visually oriented students thinking about philosophical issues. The Teaching Company can be reached at www.teach12.com< http://www.teach12.com> or 1-800-TEACH-12. ----------------------------------- When Architecture prof Ben Jacks and I co-taught the Interior Design Theory course at Miami University, we used the following reading list: Cranz, Galen The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. Gallagher, Winifred. The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions. New York: Poseidon Press, 1993. Hall, Mildred R., and Edward Hall. The Fourth Dimension in Architecture: The Impact of Building on Man's Behavior: Eero Saarinen's Administrative Center for Deere & Company, Moline, Illinois. Santa Fe, N.M.: Sunstone Press, [1975] Heschong, Lisa. Thermal Delight in Architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1979. Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA: Technology Press, 1960. Strunk, William. The Elements of Style, With Revisions, an Introduction, and a Chapter on Writing by E.B. White. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. The Gallagher book and the Heschong book are probably the best ones for your purposes. Heschong especially requires students to think about human relationships and the meaning of home and family, etc. ----------------------------------- It is rather dated [c.1959] but still useful, so you might look at Bertrand Russell's "Wisdom of the West; a historical survey of Western philosophy in its social and political setting," which has copious and encyclopedic illustrations which should appeal to visual learners. ----------------------------------- Thinkers for Architects series from Routledge: http://www.routledge.com/books/series/thinkers_for_architects_THINKARCH/ ----------------------------------- Here is a thesis that presents a curriculum unit for using art to teach philosophy : ted.coe.wayne.edu/sse/finding/Lindholm.doc ----------------------------------- Thanks again!!! Lisa --- Lisa Hazel Schattman Librarian Design Institute of San Diego http://disd.edu/ On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 6:38 PM, Lisa Schattman <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > Hello collective brain, > > I'm looking for books on philosophy, values and/or ethics that could be > used in a college-level course and might appeal to visual learners. > > Here's the context ... the Design Institute of San Diego offers a BFA in > Interior Design. The "general ed" courses make it a BFA instead of an > interior design certificate, and one of the general ed classes is Philosophy > and Values. As you might guess, the design students don't tend to put the > general ed classes at the top of their priority lists, so our program > director is always working with the faculty to make sure that those classes > are as relevant and engaging as possible. > > The Philosophy and Values course is currently organized around themes, or > the big questions in life: Is knowledge possible? Can science tell us the > truth? > What is truly real? Are we free or are we determined? What/Who am I? Is > there a God? How can I know what is right? What makes a just society? What > is art? (etc.). The readings come from two anthologies that are required > texts for the course: > -- Voices of Wisdom: A Multicultural Philosophy Reader by Gary E. Kessler > -- Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy by G. Lee Bowie, > Meredith W. Michaels, and Robert C. Solomon > > Almost all of the readings are on the dense side -- Plato, Aristotle, > Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, John Stuart Mill, Hume, Kant, Sartre, > Kierkegard, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, et al. It includes only a smattering of > non-Western readings, including the Qu'ran, Laozi, the Buddha, Confucius, > Gandhi, and a few others. The program director asked me if I could find any > alternate books that could be used instead of, or in addition to, the > current texts. > > The only one I've found so far is a DK book ... Story of Philosophy by > Bryan Magee and Jonathan Metcalf. It obviously couldn't be the only resource > used for a college-level course, but maybe it would provide an overview or > framework that the students could refer to as they read the primary sources? > > > If you have any suggestions at all ... books, websites, exercises, teaching > strategies, anything! ... I would be very grateful to read them. I'll > compile the results if I get off-list responses. > > Thanks! > Lisa > > --- > Lisa Hazel Schattman > Librarian > Design Institute of San Diego > http://disd.edu/ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.arlisna.org Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~