12 November 23

I'm wearing my Thinker tie on 12 November to celebrate the birthday of sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). I've placed my tie bar to show him contemplating the words "Walkabout Expert," related to one of my favorite activities with my young grandchildren!

26 April 23

I think today is one of the best days to think about philosophy! I am honoring the birthday of David Hume (1711-1776) and Ludwig Wittgenstein (1899-1951), two of my own heroes in philosophy. Hume's demands for empirical evidence rather than superstition and mysterious forces became a major factor in the development of experimental science as we know it today. Wittgenstein studied language, working out many of the rules of the "games" we play to connect words into meaningful strings (statements). By the way, today is also National Pretzel Day, National Richter Scale Day, and the birthday of Carol Burnett (1933).

28 September 22

It's a great day for thinking! Around 1641 French philosopher René Descartes created his famous "Meditations on First Philosophy," including his ruminations on being a "thing that thinks." Today I am co-presenting (with Laura Newhart) a discussion of Sentient Artificial Intelligence and Personhood, the most current expression of the age-old conundrum "Can machines think?" (My own simplistic answer is "Of course! I do it all the time!") Our stimulus is the report in June 2022 by Google engineer Blake Lemoine, claiming that his conversations with an artificial intelligence system named LaMDA proved that the AI entity had genuine feelings and wanted to be treated as a person. Laura and I are particularly interested in thinking about our (human) responsibilities and options when AI systems develop ever-greater sentience and increasing evidence of consciousness.

12 November 21

 I think (therefore I am) it is time to celebrate the birthday of Auguste Rodin! (1840-1917)

Also note palindromic date 12-11-21.

12 November 20

Today (12 November) marks the birthday of sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). My tie shows his most famous statue, The Thinker. My Outlook calendar suggests that I wore it first for Rodin's birthday in 2006, a year and a half before I started my tie blog. Today I'm also a presenter for the 2020 Kentucky Convergence Conference, an annual celebration of educational technology. The conference is 100% online and so I made my own badge.

22 April 20

Andrew Mark, the Assistant to the Manager for Online Learning, is helping me celebrate the birthday of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Kant was a champion-for-all-time THINKER, representing all that can be included in the "Age of Reason" (also known as the Enlightenment). Some of his most challenging works are the Critique of Pure Reason, the Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, and the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Students in my Beginning Ethics class are required to know about Kant's "Categorical Imperative" and to be able to talk about it in relatively normal conversations! We don't know if Auguste Rodin had Kant in mind when he created The Thinker, but it's very appropriate for my tie today.

1 April 19

Yesterday (31 March) marked the birthday of French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650). He is most famous for his argument that "I think, therefore I am." The sign on my office door says "I think, therefore I am overqualified." I hope my tie featuring "The Thinker" sculpture by Auguste Rodin will cause you to reflect on the power of thinking!

27 August 18

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born on this date in 1770. He lived until 1831. His most famous contribution to philosophy (and every other discipline) was seeing the progress of ideas through "SYNTHESIS," where every new thought (a thesis) is naturally met by some opposition (the antithesis), and it is out of their competition that we derive an even better position (the synthesis). The "Hegelian dialectic" was a primary source for the historical analysis of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and strongly influenced essentially every area of philosophy and theology from the 19th century to the present day. In my philosophical library, Hegel's "Science of Logic" is one of the thickest, densest volumes, from one of the heavyweight champions in Western philosophy.

11 November 17

Today I am a "poster presenter" at the annual conference for the National Collegiate Honors Council (most of the Honors Programs and Honors Colleges from across the U. S.). My poster covers the organization of the freshman orientation class I lead, where we are studying the campus as our "textbook." My tie features Rodin's sculpture of The Thinker, because honors education strongly emphasizes all aspects of critical thinking. Our tiny bears Garnet and Little Bear came with me to Atlanta, to enjoy the bus ride, the hotel accommodations, and the excellent food! They also liked seeing my poster, but they hid in my pocket during the crowd action.

7 May 17

Thinking about the philosophers David Hume (born on 7 May 1711), Søren Kierkegaard (born on 5 May 1813), Ludwig Wittgenstein (born on 26 April 1889), and Immanuel Kant (born on 22 April 1724). At lunch Mallie used a napkin as a canvas for some sticker art, and then she announced that the finished product was a tie for Papa Seeds!

10-12 November 16

I have some surprisingly good news! Free thinking and great art seem to have survived OK through the tumultuous election this week. My tie honors the birthday (on Saturday) of sculptor Auguste Rodin, 1840-1917. Please keep thinking!

31 March 16

Today's birthdays include René Descartes (1596-1650) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). I'll be thinking deeply about existence while listening to some great music!

13 November 15

I'm in Chicago for the annual conference of the National Collegiate Honors Council. EKU's Honors Program sent about 45 students and faculty this year, which is fewer than some previous years but still at the top of the hundreds of participating colleges and universities from across the nation. My tie symbolizes knowledge and "thinking," but it also honors (haha) yesterday's anniversary of the birthday (in 1840) of sculptor Auguste Rodin.

28 September 15

Two pithy quotations from Confucius, born (maybe) on this date in 551 BCE:

• He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.
• If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.

18 May 15

Bertrand Russell was born on this date in 1872. He is most famous in philosophy and mathematics as the coauthor (with Alfred North Whitehead) of the 1910-1913 books Principia Mathematica, revealing the common foundations between mathematics and formal logic. Counting sheep or money is not simply noticing how many things you have, but is a well-defined operation of applying the same logical principles that govern all reasoning. In other words, arithmetic "works" because it follows exactly the same rules as our definitions for words and our conclusions about causes and effects. (This was exciting news to mathematicians and philosophers in 1910!) Russell was also an ardent atheist, and a pacifist who strongly opposed all nuclear weapons. My "Rodin Thinker" tie is appropriate for this day!

12 November 14

Today is the 174th birthday anniversary of sculptor Auguste Rodin, most famous for "The Thinker."

9 May 14

Mallie has joined me to celebrate getting an award from the Honors Program at Eastern Kentucky University. I have been part of the Honors community for 19 years, teaching, mentoring students, and being computer/technical support. I received a framed certificate and a heavy ceramic turtle (because the award is named for EKU hero Daniel Boone, whose Indian tribal name was Sheltowee, meaning "Big Turtle.") I especially like Mallie's tie!

12 November 13

Marking the birthday of sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917).

7 May 13

Today I am THINKING about the birthday of British philosopher David Hume (1711-1776), along with the birthdays of Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) on Sunday, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) on April 26, and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) back on April 22.

12 November 12

November 12 (1840) marks the birthday of sculptor Auguste Rodin, most famous for "The Thinker."