Professor Simon Stow at William and Mary
Posted by Kevin Dayhoff October 5th, 2006
Posted above is a photomontage from the class I observed Thursday, October 5th, 2006 at the College of William and Mary. For more explanation, please see my previous post: “Breakfast and a class at William and Mary.”
I attended a Government 303 class: “Survey of Political Philosophy – Ancient Political Thought, Fall 2006.
Today’s lecture was on Plato’s Republic, Books III-VI.
I did not take my laptop to class. I wanted to quietly observe in the back of the room and I was concerned that bringing a laptop would attract undue attention.
I was incorrect in that assumption. Out of about 40 students in the class, 7 took all their notes on a laptop.
And for another even greater reason that I was wrong; the students in the class were very focused and could have cared less nor have noticed that an aging political scientist was in the back of the room taking notes. I could have taken a clanky typewriter to class and I don’t think anyone would’ve noticed.
I’m not in a position to keyboard much more this evening as I am on deadline for my next Westminster Eagle column…
But I was very impressed with the class and the professor - although, of course, drawing conclusions from one brief experience may be erroneous. Then again, I have had a good opportunity to take many classes and observe many professors and I liked this professor.
Indeed, I have been very impressed with William and Mary and the students who attend.
But getting back to the class I observed; ‘Ancient Western political theory and thought’ is a very difficult class to teach. Professor Stow really brought Plato’s Republic to life. The professor was animated, engaging and he successfully brought the Republic to the today with contemporary references and examples of relevancy.
I'm a big fan of Plato's Republic as it is the basic foundation of all western government and a political scientist will draw upon it throughout a professional life and the students in this class have a great opportunity with this professor to learn, what is otherwise dry and difficult material.
I took many pages of handwritten notes; however, a nice William and Mary student e-mailed me electronic notes from the class… (A big thank you.) I’ve pasted a sampling of the major issues discussed in the class below, from the students notes...
Stowe’s Recap- Glaucon missing the point of the ideal city; too many details
Socrates- justice nothing to do with laws- cutting the head off of a hydra 104 426c
Diodotus says the same in Thucydides- he took from that that laws aren’t enough, led to might becomes right; Not what Socrates was saying, he’s saying it’s who you are, not what you do
Objective= fixed standards; Subjective=contextualized/Arbitrary; Intersubjective= grey area- widely shared values
Justice is about who you are-
Why is Socrates claiming agent based case?
About training the soul to become more just
In an era when many pundits are busy at the keyboard writing about examples of left-wing professor’s running amok on today’s college campuses. I have not seen too many examples in what I have observed at William and Mary and McDaniel College in
To be sure, I can only imagine that examples exist to perpetuate passages such as this one I read recently: “Sadly, in regard to extreme liberalism being force fed to our children, many colleges and universities are still, as they were in the 1970s, havens for professors who profess politically correct, virulent anti-American thinking.”
I’m back to work on my next Westminster Eagle column.
Kevin Dayhoff writes from
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