Location: Monday and Wednesday 3:00-4:50 Room 21 Peabody and the Tappan Center

Professor: Christopher Wolfe

Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 1:00-3:00

Contact Information: 127 Peabody, 529-5670, WolfeCR@MUOhio.edu

To Wolfe Web Vita

Course Description

This course investigates the meaning of "information," "knowledge," and "wisdom," and explores the relationships among these concepts. Most of us make clear distinctions among these ideas and would agree that knowledge is more important than mere information, and that wisdom is greater than knowledge. Less clear are the relationships among these notions. Most people would agree that at least some knowledge is necessary to achieve wisdom, and that having information is necessary to acquiring knowledge. Yet the nature of these relationships seems tenuous. Thus, our task in this seminar will be to examine these ideas in considerable detail and explore the connections among them. However, it would be unwise to claim completeness, and we should recognize at the outset that an excellent course on these topics could be constructed without referring to any of the texts, or many of the concepts covered in this course.

We will read and discuss texts drawn from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives including philosophy, religion, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. We will explore the mathematical theory of information; philosophical theories of epistemology and experience; psychological theories of knowledge representation, learning, memory, and perception; the sociology of knowledge; and the philosophy and psychology of wisdom (including readings suggested by students). Integrating these diverse literatures will be our ambitious interdisciplinary undertaking. Course activities will include reading, discussion, in-class exercises, concept mapping, research, and writing. I hope this course will be challenging and rewarding for students and professor alike.

Course Goals

• To develop your own ideas about the nature of wisdom, knowledge, and information -- and the relationships among these concepts -- informed by a diverse professional literature.

• To further develop your ability to engage in interdisciplinary study at an advanced undergraduate level.

• To prepare you for the senior project by providing you with experiences in creating an annotated bibliography, writing a literature review, and writing a significant term paper.

Divisional Commitments

The annotated bibliography, literature review, and final paper follow Western’s plan for writing across the curriculum in the junior year. This course will meet virtually all of the writing proficiencies outlined in the writing plan to complete the senior project: (1) summarizing and reading texts closely; (2) being aware of different disciplines and integrating them effectively; (3) organizing thoughts; (4) analyzing texts; (5) applying theory to practice or to texts; (6) evaluating different sources of information; (7) learning how to identify an appropriate focus and scope for independent projects; (8) developing an annotated bibliography; (9) creating a literature review; and (10) documenting sources properly.

Our exploration of information theory is consistent with the Quantitative Expression portion of Western’s plan for quantitative reasoning across the curriculum.

Academic Misconduct

Please read Part V, Sections 501 - 507 of the Student Handbook. University policies on academic conduct apply to all aspects of this course.

Grading for the course will be based on a 1,000 point scale, with letter grades being assigned in the traditional fashion (e.g., 80%-82%= B-, 83%-86%=B, 87%-89%=B+, etc.). The number of points for each assignment is outlined below.

Assignment Points

Class Participation 150

Weekly Concept Maps and Preparation for Discussion (Blackboard Web Site) 150

Annotated Bibliography on Wisdom 100

Literature Review on Wisdom with Recommendation 200

Master Concept Map and Outline 100

Final Take Home Exam (20-25 Page Paper) 300

Total 1000

Class Participation: It takes a lot to sustain two good two-hour discussions each week. Your preparation and active involvement are essential to the success of this course. Participation, including active listening and thoughtful contributions, is worth 15% of your final grade (about 1% each week). Our general approach to discussing the readings will be to first attempt to understand the issues from the author’s perspective, and draw out key concepts. Next we will critique the readings focusing on problems, shortcomings and limitations. Finally we will try to integrate key concepts from the readings into the broader framework of the course. Dialogue, concept mapping, and in-class exercises will be our primary tools.

Weekly Concept Maps and Preparation for Discussion (Blackboard Web Site): To facilitate class preparation and understanding of the course materials we will have at least one preparation exercise each week. These include concept maps of the key concepts in the readings, and preparation questions on the course Blackboard Web site. These weekly exercises are worth 15% of your final grade (about 1% each week).

Annotated Bibliography on Wisdom: Each student will prepare a bibliography of at least 20 readings (books, chapters, or journal articles) on the nature of wisdom and/or readings reflecting or embodying wisdom. Each item in this biography will be annotated with a brief paragraph commenting on the nature of the reading and why it was selected. This document is worth 10% of your final grade and will be graded based on the quality of the sources and your comments.

Literature Review on Wisdom: Having created an annotated bibliography your task is to do a careful reading of those sources and write an essay reviewing the literature covering at least 10 readings (books, chapters, or journal articles) on the nature of wisdom and/or readings embodying wisdom. The literature review is not a book report. Rather, it is an essay of 8-10 pages organized around (a) common themes among the sources, and (b) points of disagreement or controversy. You should express a point of view (a thesis) about common themes and controversies, and discuss the literature to build an argument about the nature of wisdom. You thus have a responsibility to faithfully represent the positions of the authors while at the same time using their ideas to support your own conclusions. In addition to this essay, each student will recommend something for the entire class to read -- including the rationale for the recommendation -- during the last three weeks of the semester. The literature review is worth 20% of your final grade and will be graded based on the quality of your essay and the quality of your sources.

Master Concept Map and Outline: Using weekly concept maps created throughout the semester, each student will create a concept map of the key ideas explored throughout the semester. This conceptual tool will be shared and critiqued by others, and should help you prepare for the final paper. Along with the concept map each student will prepare a one page outline of final take home exam including a clear statement of your major thesis. The master concept map and outline is worth 10% of your final grade and will be graded based upon your ability to meaningfully integrate concepts from diverse literatures.

Take Home Final Exam: Write an essay of 20-25 typed, double spaced pages (including a references section) on the nature of knowledge, information, and wisdom, and the relationships among these concepts. Your essay should draw on the course readings and your literature review -- including at least 10 explicit references to specific readings. However, this essay should represent a serious effort to develop your own position. This culminating essay is worth 30% of your final grade, and may include text from your literature review.

Absence Policy

Because this is a seminar, active participation in all aspects of this course is essential. If you think that you must miss a class please see me beforehand. Unexcused absences may result in a lower final grade above and beyond the class participation grade.

(Note: All readings and assignments should be completed prior to the class meeting. Bold indicates assignments due or special events. Additional readings and exercises may be assigned.)

Week 1

Monday 1/8/01 Read this course syllabus

• Annotated Bibliography assignment given in the Assignments section of this syllabus.

• Final Take Home Exam given in the Assignments section of this syllabus.

Wednesday 1/10/01 Reader: Maxwell The Philosophy of Wisdom. 26 pages

Week 2

Monday 1/15/01 Martin Luther King Day (no class)

Wednesday 11/17 Book: Nisker Crazy Wisdom (1-102 ). 102 pages

Week 3

Monday 1/22/01 Book: Nisker Crazy Wisdom (103-210). 107 pages

Wednesday 11/25/01Reader: Dretske Communication Theory. 36 pages Math Alert!

Week 4

Monday 1/29/01Reader: Audi The Analysis of Knowledge. 35 pages

Wednesday 1/31/01Reader: Dretske Knowledge (and the flow of information). 21 pages

Week 5

Monday 2/5/01Reader: Markman Foundations (of knowledge representation). 25 pages

Wednesday 2/7/01Reader: Stevenson The Representation of Knowledge. 28 pages

Annotated Bibliography Due

Week 6

Monday 2/12/01Reader: Miller The Magical Number 7 + or - 2 16 pages

Wednesday 2/14/01 Reader: Reyna, Brainerd, & Connolly, Just the Bottom Line, Please: A Fuzzy-Trace Theory of Framing Effects in Choice. 64 pages

Week 7

Monday 2/19/01 President’s Day (no class). Monday/Tuesday Switch Day -- Class Meets Tuesday

Tuesday 2/20/01 Reader: Zerubavel The Sociology of the Mind. 22 pages

Wednesday 2/21/01 Book: Berger The Social Construction of Reality (1-46). 46 pages

Week 8

Monday 2/26/01 Book: Berger The Social Construction of Reality (47-128). 81 pages

Wednesday 2/28/01 Book: Berger The Social Construction of Reality (129-190). 61 pages

Week 9

Monday 3/5/01 Reader: Gibson The Theory of Information Pickup and Its Consequences. 22 pages. Gibson The Theory of Affordances. 15 pages (37 pages total)

Wednesday 3/7/01 Reader: Borgmann Information vs. Reality, The Decline of Meaning and the Rise of Information, and The Nature of Information. 23 pages

Spring Break 3/10/01 - 3/18/01 No Class!

Week 10

Monday 3/19/01 Book: Reed The Necessity of Experience (1-50). 50 pages

Wednesday 3/21/01 Book: Reed The Necessity of Experience (51-116). 65 pages

Week 11

Monday 3/26/01 Book: Reed The Necessity of Experience (117-164). 47 pages

Wednesday 3/28/01Reader: Perkins Difficulties in Everyday Reasoning (11 pages), Geertz Common Sense as a Cultural System (20 pages), and Kolb The Process of Experiential Learning (18 pages). 49 pages total

Literature Review (Including Recommendation) Due

Week 12

Monday 4/2/01 Reader: Sternberg Understanding Wisdom (7 pages) and Birren & Fisher The Elements of Wisdom: Overview and Integration (16 pages). 23 pages total

Wednesday 4/4/01 Reader: Baltes & Smith Toward a Psychology of Wisdom and its Ontogenesis. 34 pages

Week 13

Monday 4/9/01 Student selected readings about or embodying wisdom TBA.

Wednesday 4/11/01 Student selected readings about or embodying wisdom TBA.

Week 14

Monday 4/16/01 Student selected readings about or embodying wisdom TBA.

Wednesday 4/18/01 Student selected readings about or embodying wisdom TBA.

Master Concept Map and Outline Due

Week 15 — Course Evaluation (Required of all Western Courses)

Monday 4/23/01 Student selected readings about or embodying wisdom TBA.

Wednesday 4/25/01 Student selected readings about or embodying wisdom TBA.

Week 16

Final Examination Week 4/30/01 - 5/4/01

Take Home Final Exam Due in Regularly Scheduled Period (TBA).

Berger, P. L. & Luckman, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Anchor Books.

Nisker, W. (1999). Crazy Wisdom: New Millennial Edition. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Reed, E. S. (1996). The Necessity of Experience. New Haven CT: Yale University Press.

Wolfe, C. R. (2001). The Information, Knowledge, & Wisdom Reader. Oxford, OH: Oxford Copy Shop.

Anderson, B. W. Understanding the Old Testament. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-Hall.

Audi, R. (1998). Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge. London, UK: Routledge.

Bernstein, R. J. (1983). Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and Praxis. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Borgmann, A. (1999). Holding On to Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Drane, J. (1990). Introducing the Old Testament. Harper and Row.

Dretske, F. I. (1981). Knowledge and the Flow of Information. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Geertz, C. (1983). Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology. New York: Basic Books.

Intons-Peterson, M. J. & Best, D. L. (1998). Memory Distortions and their Prevention. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Lamberts, K. & Shanks, D. (1997). Knowledge, Concepts, and Categories. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Markman, A. B. (1999). Knowledge Representation. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Maxwell, N. (1984). From Knowledge to Wisdom: A Revolution in the Aims and Methods of Science. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.

Midgley, M. (1989). Wisdom, Information, and Wonder: What is Knowledge for? London, UK: Routeledge.

Nader, L. (1996). Naked Science: Anthropological Inquiry into Boundaries, Power, and Knowledge. New York: Routeledge.

Sternberg, R. J. (1990). Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins, and Development. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Sternberg, R. J. (1999). The Nature of Cognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Stevenson, R. J. (1993). Language, Thought, and Representation. New York: Wiley.

Stich, S. P. & Warfield, T. A. (1994). Mental Representation: A Reader. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Zerubavel, E. (1997). Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Plus the Wisdom Literature from the Old Testament and anything by Mohandas K. Ghandi.

(1) The Philosophy of Wisdom (p. 65-91). From Maxwell, N. (1984). From Knowledge to Wisdom: A Revolution in the Aims and Methods of Science. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.

(2) Communication Theory (p. 3-39). From Dretske, F. I. (1981). Knowledge and the Flow of Information. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

(3) The Analysis of Knowledge (p. 213-248). From Audi, R. (1998). Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge. London, UK: Routledge

(4) Knowledge (and the flow of information) (p. 85-106). From Dretske, F. I. (1981). Knowledge and the Flow of Information. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

(5) Foundations (of knowledge representation) (p. 1-25). From Markman, A. B. (1999). Knowledge Representation. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

(6) The Representation of Knowledge (p. 26-54). From Stevenson, R. J. (1993). Language, Thought, and Representation. New York: Wiley.

(7) Miller, G. A. (1956). The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information. The Psychological Review, 63, 81-97.

(8) Reyna, V. F., Brainerd, C. J., & Connolly, T. (1990). Just the Bottom Line, Please: A Fuzzy-Trace Theory of Framing Effects in Choice. Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on the Foundation and Application of Utility, Risk, and Decision Theories (p. 1-64). Duke University, Durham, N. C.

(9) The Sociology of the Mind (p. 1-22). From Zerubavel, E. (1997). Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

(10) Gibson, J. J. (p. 238-262). The Theory of Information Pickup and its Consequences.

(11) Gibson, J. J. (p. 67-82). The Theory of Affordances.

(12) Information vs. Reality, The Decline of Meaning and the Rise of Information, and The Nature of Information (p. 1-23). From Borgmann, A. (1999). Holding On to Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

(13) Perkins, D. N., Allen, R., & Hafner, J. (1983). Difficulties in Everyday Reasoning (p. 177-188). In W. Maxwell (Ed.) Thinking: The Expanding Frontier. Philadelphia, PA: Franklin Institute Press.

(14) Common Sense as a Cultural System (p. 73-93). From Geertz, C. (1983). Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology. New York: Basic Books.

(15) The Process of Experiential Learning (p. 19-38). From Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

(16) Sternberg, R. J. (1990).Understanding Wisdom (p. 3-9). In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.) Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins, and Development. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

(17) Birren, J. E. & Fisher, L. M. (1990). The Elements of Wisdom: Overview and Integration (p. 317-332). In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.) Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins, and Development. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

(18) Baltes, P. B. & Smith, J. (1990). Toward a Psychology of Wisdom and its Ontogenesis (p. 87-120). In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.) Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins, and Development. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.