DEFINITION - from Latin
definitionem (nominative
definitio)
"a bounding, a boundary; a limiting, prescribing; a definition,
explanation," the last sense most often in Cicero, noun of action from
past-participle stem of
definire "to limit, determine, explain," from de "completely" (see
de-) +
finire "to bound, limit," from
finis
"boundary, end" (see finish (v.)). In logic, meaning "act of stating
what something means" is from 1640s. Meaning "degree of distinctness of
the details in a picture" is from 1889.
Enter your definitions of ECOLOGY, ECONOMY and EDUCATION as a COMMENT below to start a new thread of thought.
Share your thoughts on others' definitions as a REPLY to their COMMENT and keep their thread going.
But communicate in ANY WAY you can and somehow or other we'll get it into the blog for everyone to share !!
Russell Fox's definition ... xfered from Minutes page
ReplyDelete"Economy" was introduced to Western thought as "oikonomia," which most directly means "household management." So any notion of "economy" that is not directly centered on managing--building, expanding, conserving, addressing challenges to--the home (and this would certainly include the global financialization of economic matters, all of which is a form of the "chrematistics" which Aristotle condemned as unnatural) shouldn't be considered properly "economic" at all. Of course, households don't exist in a vacuum; they exist the world, taking up space within it, drawing upon its resources, but also ideally becoming, in Wes Jackson's words, "native to its place," thus adding to it. All this means that a correct "economy" (household management) is inextricable from "environment" (the natural and humanly build spaces such homes both make use of and contribute to). To treat the environment in a sustainable way is thus, strictly speaking, a central economic concern. Finally, why isn't all of this obvious? Because the specialization of education (a product of the specialization of labor and the division of work) has moved people away from recognizing the connectedness of environment and economy. So rethinking education must be an essential part of the whole package as well.
Can non-human entities such as wolves or elephants act "economically"? How about a virus?
Deletefrom Mike Witherspoon email ...
ReplyDeleteRelationships between ecology, economics, and education:
Ecology is a taxonomic/systematic/organic understanding of a “house” in its many parts and inter-relationships and necessaries. Economics seeks laws that govern/manage the house and those therein – who can have what and how? Education is the “leading out” of the learner with the knowledge, skills, and insights to manage “houses” – one’s own house, houses within varying proximities, houses of industry and production . . . the state house, the White House, the global village – each with appropriate attention to the natural world, the Earth, even the universe.
Ideally, understanding precedes management; ecological understanding should come before economic action/law-making. A good education prepares the learner with the understanding to best manage.
Given our goal to find common ground – metanarratives are excluded (no Son of God/Man as the Logos, the “final word,” ultimate taxonomist); therefore, the overarching topic might be, What does human reason and empirical science tell us about our many houses – the Earth first -- that can inform the making of wise laws?
Mike Witherspoon
6-29-2022
For the Greek, the word for "nature" was "phusika" ... which for us moderns gives rise to the notion of tangible or "physical" things. Thus Aristotle did not separate his books on the "tangible" things of nature from his books on the "intangible" things of nature which he called ‘first philosophy’, ‘first science’, ‘wisdom’, and ‘theology’ ... indeed, he saw the "intangible" as expressed in the "tangible" ... organic. His books on the "intangible" became known as his "meta"-physics only because a posthumous editor arranged them AFTER [meta] his books on the "tangible".
DeleteSo why must we avoid "metanarratives" to gain "common ground" if Nature herself not only integrates both but sees each one as "presupposing" [or defining] the other ...??? Is such a distinction between the tangtible and the intangible "inorganic"?
After all, isn't "religion" one of the 3 proposed pillars of "nomos"?
Deletefrom Steve Witherspoon's email ...
ReplyDeleteGiven the foundation of well-conceived definitions and considerations already expressed, I am embracing the "Theory of Knowledge" mindset. TOK was a class I had the good fortune to briefly teach within the International Baccalaureate program at East High. The idea was to encourage students to consider how various subjects they'd studied throughout their grade-numbered academic careers overlap, interact with each other, rather than lie entrapped in a static, limited-application state.
Examples:
As we struggle to honor the planet with less pollution and greater sustainability, we face the dilemma of varying cultural values and scarce resources. Fossil fuels pollute, yet the Russo-Ukrainian War disrupts attempts to replace those sources of energy with solar, wind, and thermal options. Nuclear energy is becoming more fashionable, in smaller increments, but can we continue to produce it, then store radioactive waste, safely? How effectively have scientists, private interests and politicians educated the public about efficacy realities when producing each of these energy sources? Nomos and oikos likely dominate the direction of this discussion.
Plato prescribed leadership by insisting upon a regimen of higher level mathematics and logic, "in the field" military leadership, and demonstration of esteemable personal values: truthfulness, discipline, and courage. The subsequent philosopher-king would inherently be ready to lead because these attributes steeled him to handle all of the challenges that he would likely face in the Classical period of Ancient Greece. Fast forward to 2022: which of the 3Es apply when we choose political, educational, economic, or environmental leaders? What is the normative framework to vet humans before assigning them the various titles which encompass each of these categories?
I have great confidence that you will all "Ace" this test tomorrow, I enjoy the surgical precision by which each of you can dissect, and then reassemble, each topic/question we investigate.
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Steve Witherspoon
Plato's prescription for knowledge of "higher things" might be rephrased as science [math and logic], pragmatisim [what works "in the field"] and religion [ personal values]. Would it be appropriate, then, to conclude that nomos rests on these three pillars as we have hypothesized ... and that often different persons bringing these different types of knowledge to the dialogue meaning "philosopher kings" are really a collective reality and not something a "elite" individual [even a Plato] can adequately circumscribe?
DeleteIs it coincidence that some of the early thoughts about the executive branch of government in America involved multiple persons not simply one executive?
Delete