The ReasonRx Podcast By cover art

The ReasonRx Podcast

By: Michael Gold
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  • Summary

  • In this podcast, we will discuss, from a rational perspective, all things education-related. The ReasonRx Podcast will benefit not only the student, teacher, and parent, but also all adults and business professionals. Education is for everyone.

    Your host and co-hosts will interview guests and offer in-depth discussion of topics like study skills, biology, philosophy of education, epistemology, math pedagogy, music pedagogy, art, the role of art in education and human life, nutrition, exercise, sleep, the nature of science, and more -- everything involved in education and needed for an optimally functioning human.

    Education is the systematic training of the young to prepare them for adult life. It's purpose is to prepare a child for the total depth and range of surviving and thriving as an adult human in the broad world, social and material, physical and biological/ecological. More technically and in more depth, education is “the systematic training of the conceptual faculty by means of supplying in essentials both its content and its method.” (Dr. Leonard Peikoff)

    The show will strive to help us think deep so we can live large and live well:
    "A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
    Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
    There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
    And drinking largely sobers us again."
    --Alexander Pope (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierian_Spring)

    To support the show and help us grow our audience -- so we have more of an impact on education and the culture -- please help us with a donation:
    1. https://www.patreon.com/reasonrxpodcast
    2. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=SP6QPQKJU4XSS&source=url

    Also, please consider liking us on your podcast app, and leaving a rational review.

    Email us at ReasonRxPodcast@aol.com

    Host.
    Michael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-gold-2883921/
    Gold Academy: https://goldams.com
    Total Human Fitness: https://total-human-fitness.com

    Gold Academy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpistemeRx/
    YouTube Gold Academy: https://www.youtube.com/@goldacademy
    YouTube Total Human Fitness: https://www.youtube.com/@totalhumanfitness

    Co-host.
    Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-katragadda-nctm-9b14522a
    Copyright Michael Gold
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Episodes
  • Episode 65 Teacher Scott Harris on the Most Important Subject to Teach: Philosophy

    Episode 65 Teacher Scott Harris on the Most Important Subject to Teach: Philosophy
    Jan 7 2023
    In this episode, Scott Harris joins us to discuss:-what philosophy is-why you need it-why students need it-why it should be taught-his background in all that-how he teaches it-his scope and sequence-what students get out of it-some of his teacing experiences-how philosophy has helped his students-and moreAbout Scott:Scott K. Harris (https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-k-harris-b037966) has a Bachelor of Arts in History/Psychology from Texas State University and a Master’s in Education from Lamar University. He received the Mirabeau B. Lamar Award for Teaching Excellence, and was the first teacher in Texas to receive the Quality School Teacher Award.In his 29th year of teaching, Harris has taught U.S. History, World History, Psychology, A.P. Psychology, A.P. Macroeconomics, Philosophy, and International Baccalaureate’s capstone course Theory of Knowledge. He also coached swimming and water polo for 17 years. Harris has guest-lectured at Texas State in Philosophy, and at the University of Texas San Antonio’s graduate school in Education. For nearly two decades he was a member of the Mind Science Foundation and the National Association of Scholars. Harris piloted curriculum for what is now John Stossel-in-the-Classroom, serves as a consultant to Free- to-Choose Media, and is an associate producer for Izzit.org, all of which produce videos advocating liberty and economic education.Contact Scott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-k-harris-b037966Contact Michael:1. reasonrxpodcast@aol.com2. https://www.goldams.com 3. https://www.facebook.com/EpistemeRx/4. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-gold-2883921/To support the show and help us grow our audience -- so we have more of an impact on education and the culture -- please help us with a donation:1. https://www.patreon.com/reasonrxpodcast 2. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=SP6QPQKJU4XSS&source=url Also, please consider liking us on your podcast app, and leaving a rational review.And if you find an episode valuable, please share it with parents, teachers, school personnel, friends, and family. Help spread the word, help spread rational ideas for better livinng.Notes.1. "What is Philosophy?" (22 min 55 sec)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXKHJLxM7lM2. "Certainty" (10 min 37 sec)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph9ttUjI-y03. "What is Science?" (6 min 14 sec)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBYArLiumEc4. "Logic: Basics of Induction vs Deduction" (10 min 2 sec)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBYArLiumEc5. "Deep Thinking: Finding the Empirical and Causal in the Traditional" (27 min 23 sec)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeBxMkfhSnc6. "Bruce Lee incorporated philosophical ideas into his martial arts fighting style, jeet kune do."Chinese martial arts styles are grounded in traditional philosophy, and Hong Kong martial arts superstar Bruce Lee worked hard to endow jeet kune do, a fighting style he created, with philosophical underpinnings."Lee owned a library of around 2,000 books on martial arts, and he would often refer to these for inspiration. While a student at the University of Washington in the United States, Lee studied two courses in philosophy – Introduction to Philosophy and Chinese Philosophy – and he applied what he had learned there to martial arts."Excerpt from "Bruce Lee as philosopher: 10 of the ideas animating his martial art style ‘jeet kune do’, such as letting nature take its course" ( South China Morning Post, 8 Dec 2019)See: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3040994/bruce-lee-philosopher-10-ideas-actor-imbued-his-martial-art7. "He enrolled at Edison Technical School where he fulfilled the requirements for the equivalent of high school graduation and then enrolled at the University of Washington. At the university, Bruce majored in philosophy. His passion for gung fu inspired a desire to delve into the philosophical underpinnings and many of his written essays during those years would relate philosophical principles to certain martial arts techniques."Excerpt from "Long Bio"See: https://brucelee.com/bruce-lee8. "I fully agree with you about the significance and educational value of methodology as well as history and philosophy of science. So many people today — and even professional scientists — seem to me like someone who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest. A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is — in my opinion — the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth." --Albert Einstein (Letter to Robert A. Thorton, Physics Professor at University of Puerto Rico (7 December 1944) [EA-674, Einstein Archive, Hebrew University, Jerusalem]. Thorton had written to Einstein on persuading colleagues of the importance of philosophy of science to ...
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    1 hr and 45 mins
  • Episode 64 Teaching Physics: Making Physics Relevant To Human Thought and Human Life

    Episode 64 Teaching Physics: Making Physics Relevant To Human Thought and Human Life
    Oct 23 2022
    In this episode I read Dr. Michael Fowler's "Teaching Heat: the Rise and Fall of the Caloric Theory" and discuss its significance. It recommends teaching physics historically, which also helps students learn science, logic, and reasoning, which they need for using thought in the world and they need for adult life.

    Note: sorry for some of the reading in the episode. I was tired, so my contacts were blurry, so I could not read too well sometimes. I should have put my glasses on before I started!

    It's a great article with lots of lessons.

    How does science develop? Do scientists always accept truth and reject falsity?

    What does history say? Scientists are nothing more and nothing less than human — and what do humans do? How do groups, cliques, bullies, cults, etc., work?

    Galileo was put under house arrest and was harassed for his scientific views. Someone at his time, Bruno, was burned at the stake for saying the earth went around the sun.

    Ignaz Semmelweiss was ridiculed for advocating doctors wash their hands before surgery, even though he had inductive evidence and proof.

    James Joule was ridiculed for claiming that heat was a form of motion, because ‘all he had was hundredths of a degree to prove his point.’

    Scientists of his day were committed to the “caloric” theory of heat. They rejected the idea that heat was a form of motion.

    We see failures on the part of some "scientists" throughout human history:
    -rejecting Aristarchus, Copernicus, Kepler, Bruno, Galileo on heliocentrism
    -rejecting Kolreuter that bees pollinate plants
    -rejecting Berger that the EEG was a useful tool
    -rejecting Mayer on energy conservation
    -rejecting some scientists who discovered that Killer Whales live in pods
    -rejecting some scientists who discovered that Wolves are social pack animals, not "lone killers"
    -Etc. Ad Infinitum.

    And the social group of scientists sometimes have errant, unfounded beliefs. Jane Goodall was the one who went and actually studied Chimpanzees to find out about them, instead of merely assuming things about them. She discovered that Chimpanzees eat meat, and are not merely fruit-eaters — a discovery anyone could have made if they’d have had the independence of thought to go look. Thank goodness for Jane Goodall!

    This kind of thing happens some all through human history. It is with us today.

    Why?

    Humans are social animals. We are not committed only to truth, but also to the group. Of course, the group needs to be committed to reality, else it suffers, fails, and dies, to the extent it departs from truth. But we need some group commitment to survive and thrive.

    There is a difference between science (a method of thought), the products of science, and the scientific community. An important difference students should learn deeply.



    Contact Michael:
    1. Email: reasonrx@aol.com
    2. Gold Academy: https://www.goldams.com
    3. Total Human Fitness: https://total-human-fitness.com
    4. Cypress Creek Ecological Restoration Project: https://ccerp.org
    5. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-gold-2883921/
    6. Twitter/Instagram: EpistemeRx



    Notes.
    1. "Teaching Heat: the Rise and Fall of the Caloric Theory" by Michael Fowler, University of Virginia
    http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/more_stuff/TeachingHeat.htm

    2. More good lecture, courses, and articles by Dr. Fowler: https://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/~mf1i/home.html

    3. In "Scurvy: An Example of Science vs. the Scientific Community" I give an example of a failure of the scientific community to get things right.
    https://goldams.com/scurvy-and-science-vs-the-scientific-community/

    4. Introductory physics; an historical approach by Herbert Priestley
    https://archive.org/details/introductoryphys0000prie

    5. Physics For The Inquiring Mind by Eric Rogers
    https://archive.org/details/PhysicsForTheInquiringMind-Rogers/mode/2up




    Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joule%27s_Apparatus_(Harper%27s_Scan).png
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Episode 63 Lies, Damned Lies -- and Truth -- About Statistics

    Episode 63 Lies, Damned Lies -- and Truth -- About Statistics
    Oct 14 2022
    In this episode I discuss the great, classic article "The Median Isn't the Message" by Stephen Jay Gould. We delve into the article, its meaning, and lots of the depth and breadth we can get out of it. It should be read and studied by every statistics teacher and statistics student -- and everyone else, it is so full of lessons.Contact Michael:1. Email: reasonrx@aol.com2. Gold Academy: https://www.goldams.com 3. Total Human Fitness: https://total-human-fitness.com4. Cypress Creek Ecological Restoration Project: https://ccerp.org5. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-gold-2883921/ 6. Twitter/Instagram: EpistemeRxNotes.1. "The Median Isn't the Message" by Stephen Jay Gouldhttps://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0003ms2. Left skewed vs. right skewedi. https://www.statology.org/left-skewed-vs-right-skewed/ii. https://www.cuemath.com/data/right-skewed-histogram/3. An article on Aristotle and science (high school- or college-level reading): https://galileoandeinstein.phys.virginia.edu/lectures/aristot2.html“To summarize: Aristotle’s philosophy laid out an approach to the investigation of all natural phenomena, to determine form by detailed, systematic work, and thus arrive at final causes. His logical method of argument gave a framework for putting knowledge together, and deducing new results. He created what amounted to a fully-fledged professional scientific enterprise, on a scale comparable to a modern university science department. It must be admitted that some of his work - unfortunately, some of the physics - was not up to his usual high standards. He evidently found falling stones a lot less interesting than living creatures. Yet the sheer scale of his enterprise, unmatched in antiquity and for centuries to come, gave an authority to all his writings.“It is perhaps worth reiterating the difference between Plato and Aristotle, who agreed with each other that the world is the product of rational design, that the philosopher investigates the form and the universal, and that the only true knowledge is that which is irrefutable. The essential difference between them was that Plato felt mathematical reasoning could arrive at the truth with little outside help, but Aristotle believed detailed empirical investigations of nature were essential if progress was to be made in understanding the natural world.”4. The BBC provides a great, honest tribute to Aristotle for his work in science and biology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN8ortM4M3oThe BBC program is also here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e12pbSHrzAs&list=PL2VcIjTwDHoLScpo2c26t-x3EdTP6WepL&index=15. From: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/02/the-lagoon-armand-marie-leroi-aristotle-reviewExcerpt 1. "The Greeks are famous, perhaps notorious, for casting their science whole, from first principles, without troubling to examine the natural world it sought to explain. But Aristotle changed everything, providing lengthy accounts of fish and fowl, their lives, courtships, kinds, anatomies, functions, distribution and habits. They were often erroneous, but what sets Aristotle apart is his workmanlike attitude. One gets the impression of a practical man, given to neither the remote and crystalline idealism of his predecessors, nor the flights of fancy of later natural historians such as Pliny the Elder."Excerpt 2. "Darwin knew almost nothing of Aristotle until 1882, when William Ogle, physician and classicist, sent him a copy of The Parts of Animals he'd just translated. In his note of thanks, Darwin wrote: 'From quotations which I had seen I had a high notion of Aristotle's merits, but I had not the most remote notion of what a wonderful man he was. Linnaeus and Cuvier have been my two gods, though in very different ways, but they were mere schoolboys to old Aristotle.' “6. See also this article by Dr. James Lennox: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-biology/7. A quote about Galileo that discusses the importance of Aristotle, reasoning, and a correct view of logic.In the book Galileo Galilei – When the World Stood Still, Atle Naess wrote:“Galileo’s radical renewal sprang, nevertheless, from the Aristotelian mind set, as it was taught at the Jesuits’ Collegio Romano: human reason has a basic ability to recognize and understand the objects registered by the senses. The objects are real. They have properties that can be perceived, and then ‘further processed’ according to logical rules. These logical concepts are also real (if not in exactly the same way as the physical objects).”8. A quote of Galileo himself that shows the importance of Aristotle to science and all human reasoning, and that identifies a basic principle of reason and logic: they are based on the evidence of the senses. "I should even think that in making the celestial material alterable, I contradict the doctrine of Aristotle much less than do those people who still want to keep the sky inalterable; for I am sure that he ...
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    1 hr and 8 mins
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