Muhammad Khalifa Betz (mbetz@mcafeemail.com)
Sat, 26 Jun 1999 15:06:55 -0800
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 15:06:55 -0800 From: "Muhammad Khalifa Betz" <mbetz@mcafeemail.com> Subject: Sophistry or not?
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Dear Readers:
I am forwarding an off-list exchange of messages related to
an on-going dialogue on the list. It is interesting
enough to pass on to all.
In the spirit of education,
Muhammad Betz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Southeastern Oklahoma State University
-----Original Message-----
From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi
Sent: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 11:21:57 -0500
To: mbetz@sosu.edu
Subject: To demonstrate a certain point bymeans of
sophistical arguments
Dear Prof. Betz,
A strong theme in the philosophical work of Maimonides
is an insistence
that one should never indulge in specious rhetoric, even
for a supposedly
good cause. He wrote:
"If a man claims that he sets out to demonstrate a
certain point by
means of sophistical arguments, he does not, in my opinion,
strengthen
assent to the point he intends to prove, but rather weakens
it and opens the
way for attacks against it. For when it becomes clear that
those proofs are
not valid, the soul weakens in its assent to what is being
proved. It is
preferable that a point for which there is no demonstration
remains a
problem, or that one of the two contradictory propositions
simply be accepted."
In addition to being a physician and a philosopher,
Maimonides was also
a scientist, and wrote work on astronomy, physics and many
other subjects.
Any thoughts!!
Regards
Arun
Good Professor Tripathi,
I am sorry that you feel my contributions were "sophistry,"
although I can not be sure of your meaning. Is that what
you meant by the quote from Maimonedes, of whom I have some
familiarity. You will recall that he was a physician and
court advisor during the day for the Muslim government in
Egypt and then spent his nights with his Jewish community
in a nearby suburb to the court. (At about 1000 CE?) A
quite interesting and impressive individual, who led a dual
life, as it were.
Let me assure you that I am not speaking sophistry. It
could be called a dialectical response, if you will, to the
more student-centered theorists, but you will find no
circular reasoning involved. Further, a subject-centered
curriculum is a valid concept, even in our age, and many
educators agree on this point.
Have you read my original messages? I was quoted out-of-
context by one contributor, who severed a compound sentence
in order to make his point. Recall that my first message
called for a mastery curriculum to consume 60%-75% of
teaching time, leaving 40%-25% of allotted time for more
student-centered learning endeavors. Believe me, the
reality I face as a teacher educator is just as I explained
it. One need not be an Idealist to be a philosopher of
truth; there is realism and existentialism and even
phenomenology. It seems to me that you are claiming a
special acquaintanceship with TRUTH that would not allow an
alternative, dialectical view. Plato, who certainly was
not a Sophist,nor was Socrates, "The life unexamined is not
worth living,"
Please also refer to the Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development, which is the premier association in
the United States for curriculum development at
www.ascd.org.
Now, to the issue at hand, When you make an innuendo, if
that is your intention, without specific reference to any
points that I made, I don't know what I can say in reply.
Are you referring to the concept of mastery curriculum, as
coined by Professor Glatthorn?
Are we agreed that the topic of conversation was the role
of the teacher in relation to students: what teachers
should be teaching and what students should learning as
well as other related issues?
Have you checked with Martin Owen on this? Please see if
he or the other contributors would agree to your indictment
of sophistry.
And please don't take my reply to you as angry or hostile.
I don't mean it that way. These are my thoughts, unaffected
and without ulterior motive, and I would be delighted to
hear yours.
best wishes,
Muhammad B.
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