Exercises for week 3

This week is about another shift in metaphysics, in the way we view and explain the world. With the scientific revolution, the scientific method introduced by Descartes became dominant.

In the following exercises, you are invited to think about the differences between the scientific method and other methods of describing and explaining the world.

Exercise 1: two different descriptions

Choose a thing, situation, or experience from daily life, e.g. a tree, your workspace, a bike ride, your phone, waiting for the train, ...

Now, describe it twice:

1. Describe the object or situation as precisely and analytically as possible, focussing on measurable properties, structure, functionality, ... Pretend you are describing it to someone completely unfamiliar with it, or as if you were explaining it to a scientist or engineer.
2. Now describe it in a more natural manner, focussing on meaning, memory, atmosphere, ...

Can you describe which of the two descriptions is more true and which is more useful? Is there something present in the second description that is missing in the first one?

Which form of description is more dominant in contemporary society, do you think?

Exercise 2: technology as worldview

Choose a technology that you use daily, e.g. photoshop, chatGPT, Blender, ... What kind of assumptions about the world and / or human behavior underlie this technology? Be as concrete as possible (e.g. 'People want to get rich without too much work', 'Creativity can be quantified')

Can you compare your use of this technology with the use of the jaw bone that we have seen in the introducionary film The Dawn of Man? What are the differences and similarities?

Exercise 3: classify the unclassifiable

Choose a contemporary activity, e.g. game design, AI prompting, playing tennis, designing a building, building a building, cosplay, ...

Describe whether this activity is

• An art
• A craft
• A technology
• Entertainment
• Engineering

Choose one of the above categories and describe why you think this activity is that category.

Exercise 4: Instructions

Choose a very mundane daily activity, e.g. brushing your teeth, making tea, making a sandwitch, going to the supermarket. Describe this activity as detailled as possible, as if you were writing instructions of a machine. At what point does it become absurd?

Make an image, picture, poem or other artistic work that displays (references, makes clear) the same activity.

Exercise 5: Description of the world

Can you give an overview of the three different worldviews that we have encountered so far? What is the world according to (the builders of) Göbekli Tepe, to the Medici and to Descartes and the people of the Scientific Revolution?

What do you think is our contemporary worldview? What is true and what is false, and what is the influence of technology in the answer to that question?