This page is the beginning of a course page for our First Year Seminar (Class Description). I'll update pretty frequently, so you should get in the habit of checking it often. The URL is http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler/QA.html.

Contents of Course Pack #1 (available at Excel on South U):

Selections from Mind and Nature, by Gregory Bateson (1979).
Selections from Metaphors We Live By, by Lakoff & Johnson (1980).
Review of Lakoff & Johnson, by John Lawler, Language 59:1 (1983).
"Making the Point with Metaphors: Not Just for Poets", by John Lawler, Editorial Eye 28:4 (2005).

First paper (1-page wordprocessed, on a question you don't know the answer to, why you'd like to, and how you might go about finding it) due Thursday the 4th.

First reading assignment is Bateson, Introduction and 'Every Schoolboy Knows'. Discussion on his epistemological ideas in class.

Some Bateson links:

Some Lakoff links:

Wikipedia article
"Who Framed George Lakoff?, a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education
"Metaphors of Terror", dated Sept 16, 2001
An interview with Lakoff in 2004 by David Brancaccio on PBS's NOW.

Next reading assignment: finish Bateson in the coursepack and start the metaphor pieces; be prepared in class on Tuesday to say something interesting about Bateson (and Lakoff, if you like). Next reading assignment: First, read my 1983 review of Lakoff & Johnson, then the first ten chapters of L&J, then my 2005 piece. Discuss.

You may consider the following Bateson quotation as context for this:

 "The idea that there is any mental process going on that isn't
  metaphoric is a very late, school-marmish idea.  What they were killing
  each other over in the 17th Century was metaphor.  Is the Bread and
  Wine the Body and Blood of Christ?  The Catholics said "Yes!"  The
  Protestants said "No! It stands for Body and Blood."  The Protestant
  view of the Sacrament was a policy decision to exclude from the
  Church that part of the Mind which is concerned with poetry, feeling,
  fantasy, metaphor, stories."   -- Gregory Bateson

I will be happy to provide references for any concept, term, or theory I mention in class. I don't take notes, however, so I have to rely on you to remind me what I mentioned in class that you're curious about. Address your questions to the usual place.

Thursday, September 11

Next writing assignment: 1 page, due Tuesday 26 Sept, on a metaphor. Any metaphor.

Choose a metaphor theme from L&J, or elsewhere (if it's from somewhere, cite it, of course), or discover one yourself. They're all around us, after all.

Then provide a 1-page analysis of the metaphor, with examples, like the ones in L&J, and elsewhere in our reading.

I will be starting up a class wiki (think Wikipedia) soon. I'll email you all and link it up here. Once it gets going, we'll be using email and this page less frequently and the interactive wiki a whole lot more, Insha'allah.

Thursday, September 18

OK, here's the link for our class Wiki. It's restricted to our class only (everybody in the mail group). Wikis are pretty easy to use. Log in every day, please.