Joe Vukov on PWOL and Psychology
Our fourth and final day of PhiLife 2019 is a wrap! We had so much fun with the group here at ND this week, and we made a lot of progress on our network-building goals. On Day 4, our morning Plenary focused on ways that PWOL curricula interact with psychology, neuroscience, and biology. We demo-ed an interactive game for helping students appreciate underlying philosophical commitments. And we talked about the best methods for building philosophy syllabi that incorporate relevant insights from the science and social science of well-being.
The afternoon breakout sessions featured a variety of working groups and discussions. We had the second part of the immersive philosophy games workshop. A panel of our DUSes lead a discussion on administrative opportunities and challenges that come with trying to develop new curricula. And we held a masterclass on methods for combining PWOL with courses aimed at environmental ethics and sustainability.
The final plenary session was devoted to planning the future of the Network. Each participant was able to share a take-away from the week as well as a suggestion for future conferences and Network activities. We distributed surveys both for the current workshop and more detailed proposals for next year's sessions. We'll share these suggestions and start planning PhiLife 2020 in coming months.
We wrapped up the conference at 5:00pm and did our final set of optional immersion activities of the conference. Staff from ND RecSports lead a Teach and Practice Yoga session for participants... unlocking our spines and also giving a great demonstration for how to combine PWOL texts and traditions with physical practices. After yoga, we had a closing dinner for all of our network members, with more conversation and plotting for the future.
Thanks to everyone who traveled far and wide to spend the week thinking together about how to design better courses and think more deeply about the role of philosophy in the good life. And special thanks to our Advisory Board (Steve Angle, Stephen Grimm, and Caleb Cohoe) and to our Program Manager (Justin Christy) for helping the conference run smoothly and inspire so much discussion and collaboration!
A Yoga Teach and Practice Session lead by Steve