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16 April 2026
Moral Relativism & Ethical Egoism
1. Moral Theories we’ve studied
Moral Realism is objective and discovered, not created by humans. It holds morality to be based on facts of the world, not beliefs or feelings. St Augustine’s Ethics is one of moral realism with objective values discoverable by human reason and revealed in Scripture and religious doctrines formed through religious reflection and reason.
Deontological ethics (Kant) are discovered internal to the self and consist of principles and duties that arise out of human rationality generating morality. This theory is, in a sense, subjective in that it involves reasoning and decisions in the formation of moral intentions inside the individual mind of a person. But deontological ethics claims to be binding on all rational beings, so it is also objective (not simply dependent on our own beliefs, wants, inclinations). As St Augustine says, it is something common that binds each individual human being.
Utilitarianism is human made, claims Mill. We big brained animals have thought it up with a view to gaining the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Individually we find simple pleasures valuable but high level more intellectual or even social pleasures are intrinsically more pleasing and generative of happiness for humans. It relies on empirical grounds in individual human nature and social sympathies about the good for all.
Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics or Eudaimonistic Ethics (of Happiness: the Greek eudaimonia means something like fulfilling of the human spirit and perfecting or realizing our highest self) involves individual efforts at the formation of good and reliable character in the context of the human practice of politics.
We now add another
2. Moral Relativism is more radical than these and has an anthropological foundation in the ethical principles and ideals different from cultural and societal groups or even different individuals.
2.1. Recall Kant’s practical anthropology vs deontology
2.1.1. Anthropology of social practices and accepted norms of right conduct differ. This is fact.
2.1.2. Given the variety and multiple differences, the Moral Relativist reasons that there is no single set of objective moral rules (vs. Moral Realism), that there is no Universal Mindset or consideration of intrinsic human rationality (vs Kant), that there is no necessity to Utilitarianism which is just a pragmatic functional way proposed for society, and that even Aristotle did not hold for the invariability of moral norms.
2.2. Hence, Moral Relativism is the most realistic and best approach to ethics.
2.3. But wait. This Moral Relativism, though it is based on the empirical study of human natures in the science of Anthropology, is a philosophical approach with claims that can easily undermine it. Human thought on Universal Human Rights, various moral absolutes (against starvation, murder, torture, abuse of children and adults, and much more) indicate a consistent yearning cross the centuries of human written history for objective cross-cultural and international standards In our own times this is easy to see in movements for women’s rights, compassion for starving children and victims of multiple forms abuse on national and international perspectives. This urge for Universal Rights and Universal Moral Principles is not recognized by Moral Relativism.
Pause for a moment.
What kind of theories are these? Moral Realism and Moral Relativism are METATHICAL THEORIES asserting, in order, that there are Objective Moral Truths and that so-called Moral Truths are really dependent on culture or society.
Kant, Mill and St Augustine hold there there are proper moral norms, that is their ethical systems are normative (assert how to act). Aristotle holds for norms too based on human natural fulfillment though he allows for cultural variations. (He also recognizes that there are barbarian societies that may have vicious norms.)
Now let’s add one more: Ethical Egoism.
3. Ethical Egoism is also a moral approach that is normative (asserts how to act) and has some basis in the observation of human beings.
3.1. Its foundation is in human self-interest, something obvious in any society.
3.2. Its claim is not only humans act according to self-interest (an observable matter of fact) but also that humans SHOULD ACT IN THIER OWN SELF INTEREST.
3.3. Objections that this is disruptive of the good of society are short sighted. Being a good social being is enjoyable and enriches our lives so it is good for us both immediately and also in the long run, But that is a psychological claim that is empirical.
3.4 As a universal philosophical claim it encounters problems from common human care for others. That is, we have the phenomenon of human Altruism and also a certain desire for Universality. This latter runs deeply counter to Ethical Egoism
31 March 26
J. S. Mill, Utilitarianism, ch. 2
Contextualizing
For St Augustine:
1. the two most important considerations are God and the human soul. For this he draws on Christian Scriptures (e.g., the two new laws of love of the New Testament) interpreted through the use of Platonism. God as the Creator and ultimate Good responsible for the universe of creatures created human beings’ souls with Will as the ultimate deciding tool by which humans carry out moral actions or immoral actions.
2. This leaves responsibility for evil done with individual human beings.
3. We are carried up to God through seeking out and achieving moral virtues. These cannot be lost by us so long as we (by Will and habitual efforts) direct our Love and actions toward what cannot be taken from us without our agreeing and willing to lose it, that is, to lose virtue and real love of God. If we direct our love by willing to embrace lower things (e.g. money, power, pleasures of the body, material things), we are choosing things which can be lost by us without our willing. Disease can take away pleasure and power without our willing. War and the stock market can take away our money without our willing. These transitory, changing, matters can be lost without our willing to lose them.
4. The weight of our Love should carry us upward to virtues of soul and to God who is the author of Good and who is Good & Truth Itself.
Kant
1. sees the nature of morality to lie inside our powers of reason.
2. We must use of Will in a way that reason teaches us to become intentionally willing beings guided by our essential nature as reasoning beings. Like Augustine concerning transitory things not in our control, so similarly for Kant we are not in control of what happens outside of us in the world.
3. What we control for Kant is our internal intentions. For him, what is moral concerns our willing and intending to do what is right.
4. Still, we do not control the outcome or consequences but only the forming of moral intentions. 5. To help realize morality internally then, Kant says reason is our key tool and the principle to keep us on a moral track is the Categorical Imperative in its four (4) forms.
J. S. Mill
Kant focused on key principles and formed a philosophy that uses a few of these principles in a way we can easily understand once it is explained to us, even if its details and entailments are complex and challenging to think about.
Mill similarly seeks out simple principles while acknowledging that moral matters have been debated for centuries in very complex ways.
He focuses on one key principle: The greatest happiness principle. (Remember the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid!)
1. What is happiness? Pleasure and the absence of pain. This is the principle of Utility or most usefulness. What is unhappiness? Pain and the absence of pleasure.
2. What is pleasure?
2.1. There are higher and lower pleasures.
2.1.1. Pleasures of the mind are greater. Examples.
2.1.2. Pleasures of the body are lesser.
(You are here in college setting aside present pleasures of the body in favor of pleasures of the mind in learning. Knowing is much more valuable and pleasing than pleasures of the body. Think about it. Also, which is preferred, ice cream or philosophy class?)
2.1.3. Who is to judge? (Remember Plato: who is to judge happiness?) The person who has experienced both pleasures of the body and pleasures of the mind. Think about it not superficially but deeply.
“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.” How so?
The quality of pleasures counts. And the ability to appreciate that quality counts too.
3. 1. What we seek then is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain AND ALSO to do so not just for ourselves but for everyone.
3.2. Impartiality: This requires then that we do not act only selfishly but rather that we seek this for all in society.
3.3. This can require self-sacrifice of our own pleasures for the sake of the whole of society’s individuals.
It also involves the Golden Rule or second law of love from the New Testament.
3.4. We need to use our minds to calculate how to achieve the GGFGN: Greatest Good For Greatest Number.
3.5. We also need to formulate rules to guide us in right actions promoting the GGFGN. Hence, we need to form rules that guide us to act in accordance with the Primary Principle or Utility.
March 26
Kant Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Section 2
Title: “Transition from popular moral philosophy to the metaphysics of morals.”
Some key concepts: a prior (not from experience), a posteriori (based on experience), analytic (recognizing or breaking down into constituent parts), synthetic (combining into something new or different)
1. Transitioning to the Metaphysical
1.1. In Section 1 we saw common moral reasoning already involves duty and moral law.
1.2. But morality requires a clearly absolute purity (not following custom or experience) of rational philosophical thought in forming its groundwork or basis. It requires reason itself as its foundation.
2. Will and Reason
2.1. We have already in Section 1 explored the concept of the Good Will and seen the purpose of reason is not to bring happiness but to help form the Good Will. Our focus is always on what is moral and acting on Moral Duty.
2.2. As rational beings we can focus with our power of Will on moral laws. In this focus Will is a priori reason in action, that is, it is Practical Reason.
2.3. As Practical Reason the Will is concerned with Moral Laws and the Commands or Imperatives of Moral Law.
2.4. The role of Reason is produce a Good Will, good in Itself and acting on the basis of Moral Duty.
2.5. Moral Duty and Moral Law require universal law so that it applies to All Rational Beings. These are beings which are able to act as responsible agents.
3. Imperatives of Practical Reason
3.1. Hypothetical Imperatives: Dealing with possible actions that are hypothetical, that is, with the conditional, “If . . . . .”
3.1.1. Technical actions or rules of skill: “If you want to take the car to Chicago, you must put more gas in the tank.”
3.1.2. Pragmatic or Prudential actions or rules of life: “If you want to have friends, you must yourself be a friend.”
3.2. The Categorical Imperative as the Imperative of Morality, the Fundamental Principle of Morality
3.2.1. Three more forms of the Categorical Imperative
3.2.1.1. (421) Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you at the same time can will that it become a universal law.
3.2.1.2. (421) So act, as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will a universal law of nature.
3.2.1.2. (429) Act so that you use humanity, as much in your own person as in the person of every other, always at the same time as end and never merely as means. (Respect)
4. Duties, Perfect and Imperfect, for all rational beings
4.1. Perfect Duties: no exceptions
4.2. Imperfect Duties: less strict, flexible based on discretion and contextual circumstances for doing good
5. Autonomy and Heteronomy
5.1 Autonomy
5.1.1. Rational beings act not as subjects but as agent-authors of law by using their rational will.
That is, they find in themselves a will that commands the moral law. They do what is right because they find what is right in their own will as rational beings.
5.2 Heteronomy
5.2.1. Rational beings allow the will to be affected or controlled by things outside itself, such as fear of punishment, desire for reward, and the like.
5.2.2. They do not realize their full selves.
5.3. The dignity of human rationality is found in Autonomy.
6. The Kingdom of Ends
6.1. The ideal realm where human rational beings set up or legislate for themselves the moral law in a universal way.
6.2. The ideal realm in which all human rational beings ought and do conform to the moral law by treating all rational beings with dignity as ends or absolute values in themselves and by never using themselves of other as mere means to some other end.
March 24
Kant Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, section 1.
First, some terminology: a priori, a posteriori, conceptual analysis
1. Conceptual Analysis: The Good Will
1.1. Good without qualification or limit
1.1.1 Qualified goods: talents, temperament, power, health, wealth, can be used improperly, immorally
1.1.2. Good Will is intrinsically good through itself, not consequentially or for effects
2. Reason and Will
2.1. Reason for happiness?
2.2.1. Not as a reliable guide as instinct, possibly even leading to dissatisfaction or misology
2.3. Reason’s end or goal: to serve as a tool leading to the Good Will.
3. Three Propositions of Morality: More conceptual analysis
3.1. Duty involves doing what is right simple because it is right, what is right in accord with Duty. There is Moral Worth when actions are From Duty
3.1.1 What actions are contrary to duty? Stealing, lying and the like
3.1.2. What actions may be done in accord with Duty but motivated by inclination or other goals? The shopkeeper.
3.1.3. Suicide for Kant is impermissible. So Moral Duty requires that even when inclined toward suicide because of grief or other desires to take one’s life, for the person who resists there is Real Moral Worth in refraining from such self-harm. (Respect for ones intrinsic value.)
3.1.4. What about happiness?
3.1.5. Love of neighbor as in Scripture?
3.2. Moral Worth: It is found not in the consequences or results but in the reason why the action is done. In Kant’s terms, the moral worth of an action lies in the Maxim (the principle behind the action, or the principle of volition, the principle of willing) according to which the action is done. Duty’s worth depends on the action being done in accord with the account of the reason for the action. (E.g., Susan jumped into the water to save the child, not to become a hero in the hometown newspaper. In contrast: John gave the money to cover the medical bills of the woman who fell, so that it might help him with his efforts to win the vote and become mayor of the town.)
3.3 “Duty is the necessity of an action from respect for the law.” We must be motivated by our rational respect for the moral law. We must do the action because of a firm commitment to the Moral Law. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
4.1. Is there a way we can be assured of our will, something “sufficiently effective in guiding the will safely in regard to its objects and the satisfaction of all our needs” in being moral persons? The Good Will is “the highest good , and the condition of all the rest . . . . .”
What we need is to have a guide in action, a practical guide to be sure we will be doing moral actions for the right reason, that is, because we are committed to the moral law.
4.2 This is the “Categorical Imperative.”
“I ought never to conduct myself except so that I could also will that my maxim become a universal law.”
This is the expression of the Principle Universalizing Morality.
It is a principle that can guide us in our upholding of Respect for the Moral Law.
It prohibits lying since if lying were approved, I would be right for everyone to lie. It also prohibits false promises for the same reason.
(Note: This is the first expression of the Categorical Imperative. There are three more in Section 2.)
For Kant, then, we now see why he calls this First Section “Transition from common rational moral cognition to philosophical moral cognition.”
The next part or Second Section is not just based on common notions and intuitions. Rather, it has the descriptive title, “Transition from popular moral philosophy to the metaphysics of morals.”
Preview: What is the metaphysics of morals? A structural system of a priori moral principles founded on pure reason, not derived from experience but from the conditions of morality revealed my the mind.
19 March
Class 19 March 2026
1) Politicians
1a) Bill Clinton on Jeffrey Epstein
1b) Bill Clinton “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” 26 January 1998
1c) Impeachment by the House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice
1d) 17 August 1998 admits a relationship “not appropriate” with intern Monica Lewinsky
1e) Monica Lewinsky
1f) Johnson “We are not at war right now” YouTube
2) Plato’s Republic and St Augustine’s On Free Choice of the Will (OFC)
3) St Augustine: Context
354-430, conversion and baptism 387, City of God, Restractions
4) OFC 1: On Evil
4.1) “Please tell me whether God is not the author of evil.”
4.2) What is evil? Evil done, evil suffered, Evil is a lack, a form of nothingness
4.3) Moral evil is human action on the basis of free choice
4.4) The justification of free will as a good gift given by God and why it is necessary.
4.5) Abuse of free will: pondus animae: pondus meus, amor meus. The ordered soul, the disordered soul. Truth and God are eternal higher goods, pleasure and power are lower goods of the temporal world. human reason as guide.
4.6) Doing responsible right actions and the nature of the soul in relation to happiness. What is free will again? Why did God give it: for human fulfillment in doing right action. How is it misused?
4.7) Conclusion: God gave the power of free will but the authors of moral evil are humans who abuse its use. Without free will humans could not be responsible for moral good.
5) OFC 2: Knowledge, Truth and God
5.1) “Now if possible, explain to me why God gave human beings free choice of the will. If we had not received it we surely would be able to sin.”
5.2) We need to prove God exists.
5.3) Internal powers and external object:
senstation, internal awareness of sensation and mind, and ranking
Inner sense is superior to external things
Reason judges and apprehends truth
5.4) Truths that do not depend on our own mental powers: Mathematics & logic.
5.5.) God is Truth or the cause of Truth. Truth eternal leads to knowing God who is above reason as eternal, unchanging, highest Good.
From things, to inner sense, to reason, to eternal truths, to God as source of truth
5.6) Creation is good, as is free will and free choice. Those are goods given by God in order to make morality possible, though they can be abused.
5.7) Back to pondus animae: pondus meus, amor meus.
5 March
Exams returned and discussed
3 March
Exam #1
26 February
Quick review of Quizzes 5 & 6
(1) Is Russia at war with Ukraine or is it a “special military operation”? Might the US go to war with Iran? What is required for the US to go to war? Link
(2) Homeworks returned
(3) Read the end of Rep 9 again
(4) Questions on Republic 10: An addendum to the argument to doubly seal “the deal.”
(5) Distribution of Exam 1. Correction: Add “10. What is the purpose for adding the myth when the philosophical account has already been proven?”
24 February
Quiz on Republic 8.
Republic 9: The completion of the argument of the Republic.
Student questions.
Three arguments in favor of the life of the just man over that of the unjust man
Conclusion of the reasoning: 590e-592b
Discussion of Exam 1 with use of Lockdown Browser.
19 February
Republic 8: The cities and their devolution into Tyranny
Authoritarianism, Aristocracy, Oligarchy, Timocracy, Democracy, Tyranny, Fascism (i) & (ii)
17 February
Most students are doing well, some very well in studies of the texts and thinking about their content as well as thinking about class discussions. Still, some are not giving enough quality thought and time to course work. To the latter: Step it up. The midterm exam is coming on 3 March and the results of your study in this course will be shown there.
For next class, use whatever resources you like to find out what these are: Fascism, Antifascism, Antifa.
This class is about contemporary American politics.
Student Extra Credit Opportunities
Division into groups for 4 questions each on the Cave story
Other questions from Book 7
Preview of Republic 8: Authoritarianism, Aristocracy, Oligarchy, Timocracy, Democracy, Tyranny, Fascism (i) & (ii)
5 February
Republic 5
The “Three Waves”: Equality of women, sharing of women & property, the Philosopher King.
430e-431b
SOCRATES: Temperance is surely a sort of order, the mastery of certain sorts of pleasures and appetites. People indicate as much when they use the term “self-mastery”—though I do not know in what way. This and other similar things are like tracks that temperance has left. Isn’t that so?
GLAUCON: Absolutely.
SOCRATES: Isn’t the term “self-mastery” ridiculous, though? For, of course, the one who is master of himself is also the one who is weaker, and the one who is weaker is also the one who masters. After all, the same person is referred to in all these descriptions.
GLAUCON: Of course.
SOCRATES: It seems to me, however, that what this term is trying to indicate is that within the same person’s soul, there is a better thing and a worse one. Whenever the naturally better one masters the worse, this is called being master of oneself. At any rate, it is praised. But whenever, as a result of bad upbringing or associating with bad people, the smaller and better one is mastered by the inferior majority, this is blamed as a disgraceful thing and is called being weaker than oneself, or being intemperate.
3 February
Republic 4
More on the importance of the Guardians and Auxiliaries
“[J]ustice is doing one’s own work and not meddling with what is not one’s own.” 433a-b
Wisdom, Courage, Temperance yield Justice in the City and in the Soul
The analogy of the city with the soul.
29 January
Freedom of Speech and more at MU
Population of Athens in the time of Plato: 45,000-50,000 inside city walls. Population of greater Greece perhaps as much as 250,000.
An overview of Republic Books 1-4
What are the soul and the body according to Plato as discussed by the character Socrates in the Republic?
What is the function of pain?
Plato on music : student bands at MU basketball games; college marching bands at football games; cheering at pro basketball, baseball: Unity in Multiplicity and the Role of Music, the Matrix Zion war dance
Assignment: Study Plato, Republic Book 3; complete class note sheets to hand in at the end of class; be prepared for a quiz on the readings.
Education of the Guardians: religious culture and literature; training; selection of leaders; the Noble Lie.
The Noble Phoenician Lie 414e-414c: SOCRATES: No, it was only to be expected. But all the same, you should listen to the rest of the story. “Although all of you in the city are brothers,” we will say to them in telling our story, “when the god was forming you, he mixed gold into those of you who are capable of ruling, which is why they are the most honorable; silver into the auxiliaries; and iron and bronze into the farmers and other craftsmen. For the most part, you will produce children like yourselves; but, because you are all related, a silver child will occasionally be born to a golden parent, a golden child to a silver parent, and so on. Therefore, the first and most important command from the god to the rulers is that there is nothing they must guard better or watch more carefully than the mixture of metals in the souls of their offspring. If an offspring of theirs is born with a mixture of iron or bronze, they must not pity him in any way, but assign him an honor appropriate to his nature and drive him out to join the craftsmen or the farmers. On the other hand, if an offspring of the latter is found to have a mixture of gold or silver, they will honor him and take him up to join the guardians or the auxiliaries. For there is an oracle that the city will be ruined if it ever has an iron or a bronze guardian.” So, have you a device that will make them believe this story?
27 January
A philosophical reflection on things, sensation, human understanding, will: aiming for the good.
Forms of government which we will discuss in detail later in our course readings: Aristocracy, Oligarcy, Timacracy, Democracy, Tyranny. The meanings of Autocracy and Totalitarianism.
Assignment: Study Plato, Republic Book 2; complete class note sheets to hand in at the end of class; be prepared for a quiz on the readings.
At class: (1) Let’s do an outline of the reasoning of Republic Book 2 and the whole work. (You can’t understand the whole without a map that takes us from the beginning to the end of the book. The same goes for each of the 10 Books.); (2) Are there any questions about the reasoning in Republic Book 2? Class discussion. (2) Preview of Republic Book 3, assigned for our next class.
22 Jan 2026
(1) Crito and dismissal of those who say philosophy gets you nowhere and is just endless talking. (2) Why are we reading the REPUBLIC?
(2) Republic Book 1, Student Notes Sheets; (ii) Preview Republic Book 2.
20 January 2026
(1) Welcome to the new enrolled students. Review of practice quiz on Plato’s Apology. Reminder that there are no electronics in class.
(2) Discussion of 10 Common Logical Fallacies Everyone Should Know and students’ own list of examples. Students with last names A-K make up your own list of two examples of each of the first 5 fallacies, students with last name L-W make up your own list of one example of each of the last 5 fallacies.
(3) Discussion of Plato’s Crito (i) outlining the Crito; (ii) Crito Notes Sheet; (iii) Groups for discussion of whether Socrates should flee Athens or stay for the punishment. Note that each of you should provide at least 3 reasons for your decision.
Reminder for next class on 22 Jan: (i) Read Republic Book 1 and prepare Student Note Sheets; (ii) watch: Argument by Analogy.
15 Jan 2026
Short review and completion of previous class.
More: The Effects of Age, Biological Maturation and Sex on the Development of Executive Functions in Adolescents: “Four main EF factors are categorized during adolescence, i.e., inhibition, shifting, working memory and planning (Miyake et al., 2000; Laureys et al., 2021). Inhibition is associated with “the deliberate, controlled suppression of prepotent responses” (Miyake et al., 2000). Shifting concerns switching between multiple tasks, operations or mental sets (Miyake et al., 2000). Working memory refers to remembering, monitoring, coding incoming information and updating information (Miyake et al., 2000; Nemati et al., 2017); and planning is related to problem solving (Laureys et al., 2021). These four EF components (i.e., inhibition, planning, shifting, working memory) will further be used in this paper to determine EF performance during adolescence.”
Philosophy: Taking it personally: Personal interest can provide a source of curiosity, motivation, and engagement for learners (Dewey, 1913; Renninger & Hidi, 2016; Tobias, 1994; Wade, 2001). Interest combines both knowledge development and the values and positive emotions accompanying that development (Barron, 2006; Renninger & Hidi, 2016; Tobias, 1994). Psychological perspectives have situated interests within individual learners, as both a psychological quality and as a motivational attribute. Interests can be stimulated, maintained, and developed. Interests might become self-sustaining and support educational and career achievements. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2210656118301570
Further explanation of syllabus parts 1 & 2, exams, quizzes, homework and grading.
Quiz on the readings? Maybe, Maybe not. Be prepared! (Yes, a practice quiz.)
(i) discussion of Plato’s Apology & Student Notes Sheets; (ii) the value of outlines; (iii) sample quiz; (iv) using AI reminder.
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13 Jan 2026
(i) The Good; (ii) dead cats and humans; (iii) the brain: language and meaning: univocity, equivocity, analogy
The Brain
Neurons & Synapses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0rHZ_RDdyQ
Neurotransmission: The Synapse: https://dana.org/resources/neurotransmission-the-synapse/
Neuroplasticity, NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/science/neuroscience-brain-injury-pill.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20250909&instance_id=162190&nl=science-times®i_id=81431062&segment_id=205558&user_id=d8ad6a7537e7853b116652e7e40e471f
Brain Basics: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-know-your-brain
Lobes of the Brain and What They Control: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/anatomy-of-the-brain
Hippocampus and memory: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/memory
Building bodies, building brains: muscles and muscle suits: Men, Women
Gender differences: size and quantity (1) https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/battle-of-the-brain-men-vs-women-infographic (2) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6870411/ (3) https://stanmed.stanford.edu/how-mens-and-womens-brains-are-different/
Exercising your brains: (a) Electronic devices not permitted in class after 2 Sept.; (b) Attention (NYT Link); (c) Handwritten note sheets; (d) Complex thinking: Heraclitus; (e) using AI for this class: Faking it.
Handwriting and brain and memory development: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain
Review and explanation of syllabus parts 1 & 2