Lecture Questions What's So Great About the Socratic Method?
What's so great about the Socratic Method when it only asserts the "rightness" of the instructor and the stupidity of students?questions David Lenson, professor and program director of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. On Wednesday, September 14, at 6:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Auditorium Lenson presents the first talk in this semester's Commonwealth Honors College Faculty Lecture Series.
Lenson's talk entitled "The Great Lie of Ideals: From Plato to General Education" offers a critique of Plato's The Apology. Lenson questions the value of the Socratic Method as an effective technique for teaching and learning, asserting that "Socrates’ antagonists are mostly buffoons who can’t wait to agree with whatever he says."The talk also analyzesSocrates' choice of death in The Apologyand argues that Plato’s legacy not only undermines empirical science, but also presents a counterweight to education in general.
David Lenson's teaching and research focus on cultural studies, literature, poetry, philosophy, and American studies. He has published two books on the theory of tragedy: Achilles' Choice and The Birth of Tragedy: A Commentary. He is best known for On Drugs, a cultural study of drugs users. Former editor of the Massachusetts Review, he has also served as president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors. A blues musician for over 50 years, Lenson plays saxophone with the Reprobate Blues Band.
Commonwealth Honors College introduced its Faculty Lecture Series during the spring 2011 semester in recognition of university faculty who have made significant contributions to research or creative activity. Through lectures that highlight academic excellence and scholarship, these faculty share their ideas and insight with honors students in sessions open to the campus community.
Many of the talks in the faculty lecture series relate to themes in "Ideas that Changed the World," the Honors Seminar in which honors students examine books and other works that have profoundly shaped the world we live in. The texts in this class and the related faculty lectures are meant to be exemplary for students who have the potential themselves to achieve outstanding things.
This semester's series will continue with three additional lectures:
Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor, Geosciences
"Puffers Pond: Open your eyes to your environment"
October 17, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Student Union Ballroom
SutJhally, Professor, Communication
November 7, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Campus Center Auditorium
Nicholas McBride, Associate Professor, Journalism
November 29, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Campus Center Auditorium