Today I attended a video watching event for my Great Books III class.
We watched three videos in which Dr. Robert Woods offered a lot of good advice as well as
several interesting quotations to assist students in gaining a deeper understanding from the
books they will be reading. My favorite piece of advice that I heard about today concerned the
element of impartiality as one of the three conditions that cultivate a well conducted
disagreement. Dr. Woods stated that in order to disagree well, the student must first make an
attempt at impartiality while reading. This really intrigued me, because, as a Legal Studies
major, the importance of impartiality in the field of law is an idea that has been drilled into
me since Day One of my whole college experience. As my education progresses, I am
becoming more and more aware as to why impartiality is so necessary in the area of law and
justice. This understanding has helped me to accept the notion that impartiality is also
essential in reading the Great Books. When we strive to look at the new and different ideas
and opinions expressed in such books with an unbiased perspective, we are able to see more
clearly than if we were allowing ourselves to become emotional, and without the
brain-fogging, distressing effects of becoming emotional, we are able to better express
ourselves in explaining why we disagree.
We watched three videos in which Dr. Robert Woods offered a lot of good advice as well as
several interesting quotations to assist students in gaining a deeper understanding from the
books they will be reading. My favorite piece of advice that I heard about today concerned the
element of impartiality as one of the three conditions that cultivate a well conducted
disagreement. Dr. Woods stated that in order to disagree well, the student must first make an
attempt at impartiality while reading. This really intrigued me, because, as a Legal Studies
major, the importance of impartiality in the field of law is an idea that has been drilled into
me since Day One of my whole college experience. As my education progresses, I am
becoming more and more aware as to why impartiality is so necessary in the area of law and
justice. This understanding has helped me to accept the notion that impartiality is also
essential in reading the Great Books. When we strive to look at the new and different ideas
and opinions expressed in such books with an unbiased perspective, we are able to see more
clearly than if we were allowing ourselves to become emotional, and without the
brain-fogging, distressing effects of becoming emotional, we are able to better express
ourselves in explaining why we disagree.
Ta ta for now!
Nikki
