Philosophy
I have to give a talk today to the Pennsylvania Planners Association which is meeting in Gettysburg this year. They have an annual gathering, and there is a code of ethics that gets a panel discussion each session. They like to bring in a philosopher to these things and I got the invitation this time around.
So, it has had me thinking about the relation of our human designed spaces to human flourishing. I grew up in an apartment in the suburbs, but I now live on a farm. I grew up with the advantages of having kids everywhere, touch football games in the grassy area right out back, a playground that you could walk to. My kids, on the other hand, have the advantages of wide open space -- a treehouse was not an option for me. They can walk out their door and pick apples, see deer, herons, geese, fox, skunk, raccoon, animals I knew only from picture books. They have a lived connection with nature.
The area around us is being developed at a frightening pace, McMansions sprouting up like dandelions on a lawn that is not part of the chemically treated three square inches between McMansions. Not too far away we see some of the "town center" type development where homes are being built around fabricated shopping areas with restaurants that sport lots of cafe style outdoor seating. The notion of community being designed back into suburban living, albeit based on a model of community as consumers.
How does the area you live in resemble and differ from where you grew up and what are the advantages and disadvantages for living a good life?
- Work And Thought
Today is Labor Day, so I'm thinking about work. But I am also thinking about Ed Johnson, a Gettysburg College alum who just passed away. Ed was a wonderful person for so many reasons, but one of the things I admired so much about him was his commitment...
- Is English Only Making Us Stupid?
Research shows that there are cognitive advantages to bilingualism. Speaking more than one language makes you smarter. Neuroscientists are examining the ways in which strengthening particular regions of the brain that are connected with specific...
- Dandelions
With yesterday being 4/20, it is appropriate to start a conversation about the social construction of weed. The weed I want to talk about, however, is the dandelion. Adults put it in the category "weed," where children put it under the heading "wildflower."...
- Rehabilitation And White Collar Crime
I grew up in Pikesville, the Jewish enclave in Baltimore. It was the boyhood home of Ed Witten, one of the greatest living physicists and a leading advocate of string theory, who attended Wellwood Elementary -- no doubt a formative experience. The area...
- When Is Good Enough, Good Enough?
The deep questions are often not the technical, complex ones, but the simple ones that challenge the technical complex answers that arose from earlier "simple" questions. In grad school, I was very lucky to study ethics with Susan Wolf, a philosopher...
Philosophy
City Planning and Ethics
I have to give a talk today to the Pennsylvania Planners Association which is meeting in Gettysburg this year. They have an annual gathering, and there is a code of ethics that gets a panel discussion each session. They like to bring in a philosopher to these things and I got the invitation this time around.
So, it has had me thinking about the relation of our human designed spaces to human flourishing. I grew up in an apartment in the suburbs, but I now live on a farm. I grew up with the advantages of having kids everywhere, touch football games in the grassy area right out back, a playground that you could walk to. My kids, on the other hand, have the advantages of wide open space -- a treehouse was not an option for me. They can walk out their door and pick apples, see deer, herons, geese, fox, skunk, raccoon, animals I knew only from picture books. They have a lived connection with nature.
The area around us is being developed at a frightening pace, McMansions sprouting up like dandelions on a lawn that is not part of the chemically treated three square inches between McMansions. Not too far away we see some of the "town center" type development where homes are being built around fabricated shopping areas with restaurants that sport lots of cafe style outdoor seating. The notion of community being designed back into suburban living, albeit based on a model of community as consumers.
How does the area you live in resemble and differ from where you grew up and what are the advantages and disadvantages for living a good life?
- Work And Thought
Today is Labor Day, so I'm thinking about work. But I am also thinking about Ed Johnson, a Gettysburg College alum who just passed away. Ed was a wonderful person for so many reasons, but one of the things I admired so much about him was his commitment...
- Is English Only Making Us Stupid?
Research shows that there are cognitive advantages to bilingualism. Speaking more than one language makes you smarter. Neuroscientists are examining the ways in which strengthening particular regions of the brain that are connected with specific...
- Dandelions
With yesterday being 4/20, it is appropriate to start a conversation about the social construction of weed. The weed I want to talk about, however, is the dandelion. Adults put it in the category "weed," where children put it under the heading "wildflower."...
- Rehabilitation And White Collar Crime
I grew up in Pikesville, the Jewish enclave in Baltimore. It was the boyhood home of Ed Witten, one of the greatest living physicists and a leading advocate of string theory, who attended Wellwood Elementary -- no doubt a formative experience. The area...
- When Is Good Enough, Good Enough?
The deep questions are often not the technical, complex ones, but the simple ones that challenge the technical complex answers that arose from earlier "simple" questions. In grad school, I was very lucky to study ethics with Susan Wolf, a philosopher...