[log in to unmask]" type="cite">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
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Lisa Hazel Schattman
Librarian
Design Institute of San Diego
http://disd.edu/
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