- Date: Oct 24
- Review: Oct 22
- Material covered: modules 3 and 4
- Format: essays on passages from readings
- Essay Guidelines: here
- Number of essays: 3 (you'll choose from 4 possible passages)
STUDY ADVICE
- Review each day's blog post and the reading, together. There's often an annotated version of the reading in the blog post (highlighted in blue). Look at passages. Make sure you can define key terms.
- Make sure you have a sense of the flow of ideas in each reading. You'll need that in order to accomplish the "situate" task. What question is the author addressing? How do they start addressing it? What comes next? What conclusions do they draw?
- Think about contrasts. For each author, consider who the author disagrees with most sharply and clearly. Also think about authors who are in the same camp. For example, Carstensen et al and Graham & Pozuelo are in the same camp. It wouldn't be wise to use them as contrasts of each other.
DURING EXAM
- Read the passage carefully. Make decisions about what needs to be explained.
- When you explain the passage, don't cover extraneous ideas. Don't cover points that are clear to begin with.
- Explain your contrast fully; you probably won't have time for more than one contrast
- First fully cover the explain, situate, and contrast tasks before commenting; the comment task is worth only one extra credit point.
POSTS
Access readings at Canvas; there are often annotated versions in posts.
Access readings at Canvas; there are often annotated versions in posts.
9/24 MODULE 3: What is an adult?
Reading: Jullie Beck, "When Do You Become An Adult?"
Content: social construction, factors affecting when adulthood begins, the stage of emerging adulthood
Reading: Jullie Beck, "When Do You Become An Adult?"
Content: social construction, factors affecting when adulthood begins, the stage of emerging adulthood
9/29 MODULE 3: The prime of life
Reading: Aristote, Rhetoric
Content: how virtue varies in youth, old age, prime of life
Also: EXAM 1 FEEDBACK
Reading: Aristote, Rhetoric
Content: how virtue varies in youth, old age, prime of life
Also: EXAM 1 FEEDBACK
10/1 MODULE 3: The prime of life
Reading: Michael Slote, "Goods and Lives"
Content: time preference (or importance, his many arguments for time preference)
Reading: Michael Slote, "Goods and Lives"
Content: time preference (or importance, his many arguments for time preference)
10/3 MODULE 3: Age and Happiness
Reading: Michael Slote, "Goods and Lives"; Graham & Pozuelo, "Happiness, Stress, and Age"
Content: Slote: internal vs. external questions, clarification of his arguments. Graham & Pozuelo: the empirical study of happiness, the U-shaped curve
Reading: Michael Slote, "Goods and Lives"; Graham & Pozuelo, "Happiness, Stress, and Age"
Content: Slote: internal vs. external questions, clarification of his arguments. Graham & Pozuelo: the empirical study of happiness, the U-shaped curve
10/6 MODULE 3: The midlife crisis
Reading: Kieran Setiya, Midlife
Content: the problem of desire, telic vs. telic activities, prevention/cure
Reading: Kieran Setiya, Midlife
Content: the problem of desire, telic vs. telic activities, prevention/cure
10/8 MODULE 4: What is it like to be old?
Reading: Atul Gawande, Being Mortal
Content: why we age, whether old age can be cured, becoming dependent, vignettes, video clips
Reading: Atul Gawande, Being Mortal
Content: why we age, whether old age can be cured, becoming dependent, vignettes, video clips
10/10 MODULE 4: The pessimistic view of old age
Reading: Simone DeBeauvoir, The Coming of Age
Content: start with the big picture: the projects of youth and middle age, what happens in old age, the few who thrive in old age, the many who don't thrive, a few good things
Reading: Simone DeBeauvoir, The Coming of Age
Content: start with the big picture: the projects of youth and middle age, what happens in old age, the few who thrive in old age, the many who don't thrive, a few good things
10/13. MODULE 4: The Optimistic View of Old Age
Reading: Cicero, On Old Age
Content: four reasons why it's thought that old age is miserable, Cicero's responses, being respected, respect for the elderly around the world
Reading: Cicero, On Old Age
Content: four reasons why it's thought that old age is miserable, Cicero's responses, being respected, respect for the elderly around the world
10/15 MODULE 4: The optimistic view of old age
Reading: Carstensen et al, "Taking Time Seriously"
Content: weak vs. strong optimism about old age, Cicero's strong optimism, the hedonistic argument for strong optimism, Carstensen's support for premise 1 (happiness is greater in old age), the 5 steps
Reading: Carstensen et al, "Taking Time Seriously"
Content: weak vs. strong optimism about old age, Cicero's strong optimism, the hedonistic argument for strong optimism, Carstensen's support for premise 1 (happiness is greater in old age), the 5 steps
10/17 MODULE 4: Old age as a stage of life
Reading: Kazez, "Old Age as a Stage of Life"
Content: hedonistic argument for optimism, objective list theory agument for pessimism, midlife bias, stage-based approaches to childhood and old age, the goods of old age, whether this view is optimistic about old age
Reading: Kazez, "Old Age as a Stage of Life"
Content: hedonistic argument for optimism, objective list theory agument for pessimism, midlife bias, stage-based approaches to childhood and old age, the goods of old age, whether this view is optimistic about old age
