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CSUDH - Habermas - UWP

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: October 22, 2001
Latest Update: October 22, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
Olivier Urbain, Soka University

What to Do When You Are Perplexed
About What to Write

Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors: October 2001.
"Fair use" encouraged.

On Monday, October 22, 2001, Tranell Colquitt wrote:

Subject: Anthrax (SOC 367)

Jeanne, are you concerned with the cases of Anthrax? Should society react the way they have been reacting or do you think they should go on with their life as they have done before the Sept 11th tragedies?

On Tuesday, October 23, 2001, jeanne responded:

Tranell, this is a good example of what to do when you are perplexed about what to write. You threw the ball into my court. OK. When in doubt, ask a question.

First of all, recall that you are offering me a measure of your learning. Your question tells me that you are reading the Current Issue and thinking about the discussion, but that you're not quite sure where your reading translates into learning. The clue to figuring that out is conceptual linking. What are the concepts we have studied that would help you answer the question you have posed?

Well, your question is about "knowing." How do we "know" what to do? Jonathan Lear and his concept of "knowingness" might help here. We are uncomfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty, especially where our safety is concerned. And that is reasonable. But to conclude that an authority figure, like a teacher, "knows" what to do is to make some scary assumptions:

• That it is possible to "know" what to do. Even though the whole purpose of terrorism is to be unexpected and to scare through that lack of predictability.
• That the authority figure has access to information that would tell what to do.
• That you can trust the authority figure to make the "right" decision for you.

And this list, of course, leads you to the concept of "unstated assumptions." So now you have another concept to explain, and I can see that you are learning the material we discuss in class.

If you will ask a question to which you'l really like to know the answer, I can usually help you find appropriate theoretical concepts to answer it, and to tell me what you have learned.

love and peace, jeanne