LW/ACX Saturday (7/29/23) The Educated mind (book review)

post by Michael Michalchik (michael-michalchik) · 2023-07-28T18:26:47.198Z · ? · GW · 0 comments

Contents

  Your Book Review: The Educated Mind - by a reader
  https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/your-book-review-the-educated-mind
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LW/ACX Saturday (7/29/23) The Educated mind (book review)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X42X6cYg2bOJDLh_KPewNIo2cSCCXr790hex-O9zri8/edit?usp=sharing

 

Hello Folks!

We are excited to announce the 36th Orange County ACX/LW meetup, happening this Saturday and most Saturdays thereafter.

 

Host: Michael Michalchik

Email: michaelmichalchik@gmail.com (For questions or requests)

Location: 1970 Port Laurent Place, Newport Beach, CA 92660

Date: Saturday, July 29th, 2023

Time: 2 PM

Conversation Starters :

 

Your Book Review: The Educated Mind - by a reader

https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/your-book-review-the-educated-mind

 

Audio https://podcastaddict.com/astral-codex-ten-podcast/episode/160946654

 

• Walk & Talk: We usually have an hour-long walk and talk after the meeting starts. Two mini-malls with hot takeout food are easily accessible nearby. Search for Gelson's or Pavilions in the zip code 92660.
• Share a Surprise: Tell the group about something unexpected that changed your perspective on the universe.
• Future Direction Ideas: Contribute ideas for the group's future direction, including topics, meeting types, activities, etc.

 

There is only one reading this week because it is pretty long. Here is a summary according to chatGPT and Claude 2, respectively.

ChatGPT

 

1. The book "The Educated Mind: How Cognitive Tools Shape Our Understanding" by Kieran Egan discusses the idea of cognitive tools, mental frameworks that help us understand and interpret the world.

 

2. Egan proposes a theory of education based on these cognitive tools, which he categorizes into five different stages: Somatic, Mythic, Romantic, Philosophic, and Ironic.

 

3. The Somatic stage is pre-linguistic and is based on bodily sensations and emotions.

 

4. The Mythic stage involves understanding the world through stories and binary opposites.

 

5. The Romantic stage is characterized by a fascination with the limits of reality and a focus on heroes and heroic qualities.

 

6. The Philosophic stage involves systematic thinking and the search for underlying principles and theories.

 

7. The Ironic stage is characterized by skepticism towards all grand theories and a focus on the complexity and contradictions of life.

 

8. Egan criticizes traditional education systems for focusing too much on the Philosophic stage and neglecting the other stages.

 

9. He suggests that education should be a process of guiding students through these stages in order to allow them to fully develop their understanding and cognitive abilities.

 

10. The original review's author agrees with many of Egan's points but also raises some criticisms, such as the lack of practical suggestions for implementing Egan's theories in real-world education systems.

 

11. The author also questions whether Egan's stages are truly universal or whether they are specific to Western culture.

 

12. Despite these criticisms, the author concludes that "The Educated Mind" is a thought-provoking book that offers valuable insights into education and cognitive development.

 

13. Other reviews describe the book as a "tour de force" that offers a fresh perspective on education, with Egan's ideas seen as radical and thought-provoking.

 

14. Some readers found the book to be a bit dense and academic but still highly insightful.

 

15. Egan's emphasis on the importance of imagination in education is highlighted in multiple reviews.

 

16. While Egan's ideas are compelling, they may be difficult to implement in practice, as noted by several reviewers.

 

17. Egan's critique of the three traditional educational ideas (socialization, platonic, and progressivist) is seen as a significant contribution to the field.

 

18. Egan's ideas require a radical shift in our understanding of education, which may be challenging but necessary, as per some reviewers.

 

Claude 2:

 

The review discusses the educational theory of Kieran Egan, laid out in his 1997 book The Educated Mind. Egan argues that mainstream education is failing students by trying to balance three incompatible goals: socializing students to fit into society, teaching academic content, and facilitating individual development. This "sad triangle" of mismatched aims sabotages real learning. 

 

As an alternative, Egan proposes rebuilding education around a series of "cognitive tools" that have served humanity successfully for millennia, like storytelling, binary opposites, humor, gossip, extremes, and the lure of certainty. By tapping into capacities students already possess, education can become meaningful and motivating.

 

The core of Egan's theory outlines five "kinds of understanding" that education should foster in sequence:

 

- Mythic understanding deals with metaphor, story, jokes, and mental imagery. This matches the cognitive strengths of young children. 

 

- Romantic understanding seeks extremes, ideals, and heroic individuals. It suits early adolescents' hunger for inspiration.

 

- Philosophic understanding builds general conceptual schemes and seeks anomalies. It emerges in older adolescents. 

 

- Ironic understanding juxtaposes perspectives and doubts certainties. It aims for sophistication.

 

- Somatic understanding is bodily and intuitive rather than linguistic. It grounds all human cognition.

 

Egan argues this sequence represents the natural order in which humans gain new cognitive abilities as their language evolves. Education should therefore recapitulate this pattern to properly prepare the mind for more complex thinking.

 

Unlike traditional stage theories, Egan stresses that the goal is to educate students to use all these modes of understanding in harmony. Ironic understanding, in particular, helps balance the others. This approach aims to make education more meaningful by embracing emotion, imagination, and the wisdom accumulated through cultural evolution. Done right, Egan believes it can motivate students and develop sophisticated rational thinking. 

 

The reviewer argues that Egan's theory rings true by describing how many members of the rationalist community learn - through stories, extremes, theoretical debates, and intellectual irony. Egan also anticipated ideas from scholars of cultural evolution like Joseph Henrich about how cognition builds on collective wisdom. 

 

However, critics worry that Egan's paradigm is too eccentric and academically unfashionable ever to be widely implemented. But the review suggests it may warrant small experiments to empirically test its merits. Overall, Egan's vision promises a bold new conception of human education, even if uncertainties remain about its practicality.

 

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