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Hi Lisa, This may not be quite what you are looking for, but 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?" Best, Peter ----------------------------- Peter P. Blank Head Librarian Art & Architecture Library 102 Cummings Art Bldg. Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-2018 [log in to unmask] Voice (650) 725-1038 FAX (650) 725-0140 Lisa Schattman 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] > <mailto:[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] <mailto:[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] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~