Exoteric

Abstract: The historical analysis of mathematics teaching at secondary level shows the succession in time of different school paradigms. The present paper describes and tries to analyse a new didactic paradigm, still at an early age, the paradigm “of questioning the world”, which relies heavily on four interrelated concepts, that of inquiry and of being “Herbartian”, “procognitive”, and “exoteric”. It is the author’s ambition to show, however succinctly, how the present crisis in mathematics education could hopefully be solved along these lines, which preclude recurring to strategies seeking only to patch up the old, still dominant paradigm “of visiting works”.

Abstract: "Aristotle versus Plato. For a long time that is the angle from which the tale has been told, in textbooks on the history of philosophy and to university students. Aristotle's philosophy, so the story goes, was au fond in opposition to Plato's. But it was not always thus."-from the Introduction In a wide-ranging book likely to cause controversy, Lloyd P. Gerson sets out the case for the "harmony" of Platonism and Aristotelianism, the standard view in late antiquity. He aims to show that the twentieth-century view that Aristotle started out as a Platonist and ended up as an anti-Platonist is seriously flawed. Gerson examines the Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle based on their principle of harmony. In considering ancient studies of Aristotle's Categories, Physics, De Anima, Metaphysics, and Nicomachean Ethics, the author shows how the principle of harmony allows us to understand numerous texts that otherwise appear intractable. Gerson also explains how these "esoteric" treatises can be seen not to conflict with the early "exoteric" and admittedly Platonic dialogues of Aristotle. Aristotle and Other Platonists concludes with an assessment of some of the philosophical results of acknowledging harmony.

Abstract: The perspective of religion by placing religion as a source of conflict has led to various attempts to reinterpret and then find common ground at a certain level with the hope to reduce conflicts among religious communities if there is mutual tolerance. On the exoteric level, religions are different, but on the esoteric level, religions are not similar. All religions are viewed as equally valid paths to God. However, in many ways, the reality shows that the tension between the religious communities is closely related to factors that are beyond the scope of religion. This is an important matter for all religious believers to keep the peace among them.

Abstract: During the 1957 celebration of that traditional American folk festival the World Series, a television viewing room was unofficially set up at my home university for the benefit of faculty members who had both untimely classes and a conscience. During the games, the televiewers were about evenly divided between harried professors and members of the Negro janitorial staff of the University, which, incidentally, is going through the throes of integration. At what some sports writers used to call a crucial moment in one of the later games, Hank Aaron, hero of the Milwaukee Braves, struck out. For the benefit of the Milwaukee partisans present, one of the janitors spoke up, \"Don't worry; one of our boys will be up this inning/' A disgruntled Yankee rooter, a professor, growled, \"So what? Covington hasn't done anything today.\" The janitor looked puzzled for a moment, then with dawning comprehension said f gently, \"That's right, but Frank Torre's my boy.\" Genuinely sensitive to inter. racial etiquette, the professor had no resort but uncomfortable silence comI pounded by the defeat of his Yankees. Later, still brooding over the contretemps, he told me, \"Yes, and I suppose Elston Howard is my boy.\" The point of this true episode is, I suppose, apparent even to non-baseball enthusiasts who should not have to be told that Aaron, Covington, Howard, and the janitor are all Negro, while Torre and the professor are white. An aftermath of this same experience bears upon the same point. A month after the World Series, in planning a lecture to be delivered at our Negro state college, I decided to retell the episode to illustrate another point. Worrying about its possible reception, I finally telephoned an understanding member of the Negro college faculty. Laughing, she assured me that the anecdote was of a particularly acceptable nature, at the same time prefacing her assurance with, \"We are a sensitive people.\" All through that lecture, though, I had the