Random Posts

Selections from the approximately two million words I've written for classroom handouts over 45 years of college teaching.

Posts

The Pope and the Man from Mars

For twenty years, I taught in an honors program called “Philosophy, Politics, and the Public." I and a series of colleagues taught the sophomore block where we got the students involved in electoral campaigns (in the fall) and legislative politics (in the spring). I taught a series of topics on political history, civic culture, political philosophy, public experience and the like. As the first fall meeting approached, I tried to find some engaging articles just get them engaged and get the ball rolling. This post is the result of serendipity. *The New York Review of Books *(which I've been reading since my mentor Christopher Lasch introduced me to it 1975) just happened to have reviews of a book about Elon Musk and Pope Francis's Laudato Si'. The juxtaposition struck me as odd and provocative and I wrote this handout for the first day of class. Rereading it, i would have thought I was more critical of Musk. Surely I would be today.

Man from Mars and the Pope.pdf