This should make classroom discussion lots and lots of fun. Instead of thinking, students and teachers will be able to summon up points from their iphones and read them out!
From the NY Times:
Publishers of Christian material have begun producing iPhone applications that can cough up quick comebacks and rhetorical strategies for believers who want to fight back against what they view as a new strain of strident atheism. And a competing crop of apps is arming nonbelievers for battle. …
Users can scroll from topic to topic to prepare themselves or, in the heat of a dispute, search for the point at hand — and the perfect retort.
Software creators on both sides say they are only trying to help others see the truth. But most applications focus less on scholarly exegesis than on scoring points.
It does sound like a philosophical discussion in the making.
I think I’ll go have a look at The Bible Thumper. It’s got lots of silly and/or irrational passages from the Bible.
I don’t think you need to retort with ridiculous Bible bits–not only will it convince nobody who doesn’t want to be convinced, but it’ll only trample on tempers and feelings, and won’t even address the point.
You’re better off “banning” cellphones, computers, etc. from your classroom, and being prepared to simply say “that’s false” to ridiculous counter-claims (e.g. WRT global warming, the false claim that the earth has cooled on average for the last ten years would be likely to come up).
Michael, good points. It’s foolish to treat people you think are wrong with a lot of disrespect. It’s even against our policies on this blog. If it looks like I’m seriously recommending that you should, do know that I’m not.
It seems to me that a witty retort loses much of its force when you have to first access your i-phone or whatever for it, but maybe kids today can do that a lot faster than I think.
Soc. Tell me what is the nature of this idea, and then I shall have a standard to which I may look, and by which I may measure actions, whether yours or those of any one else, and then I shall be able to say that such and such an action is pious, such another impious.
Euth. I will look it up on my iPhone, if you like.]
Soc. I should very much like.
Euth. Piety, then, is that which is dear to the gods, and impiety is that which is not dear to them.
SeanH FTW! That cracked me up.
The Atheist App is only the beginning. There are huge possibilities here for philosophy-on-the-run: Apps for supporting (or resisting) utilitarianism, communitarianism, determinism, feminism, liberalism, and so on. I only partly jest. If apps like these would get philosophical thinking into the hands and minds of people who would not otherwise encounter it, I’m entirely in support. In addition, I see future jobs for philosophers who are not employed in–or don’t want to be associated with–academia: devising E-Philosopher programs.
Matt:
SeanH has illustrated your point, I think.
I had originally tried to insert that joke into the Meno, where it would be much more appropriate (given Meno’s reliance on rote sophistry), but couldn’t find a good point.
Introvertica: a compendium of persuasive talking-points for various philosophical positions could be pedagogically useful, if you practice the sort of teaching where you oppose everything your students say in order to teach them about argument. I’m unsure that people actually do become better thinkers by being repeatedly tested in argument – the Internet would be full of rewarding interlocutors were that the case – but it could still be useful. I’m thinking specifically of the sort of positions that new students might be tempted to dismiss out of hand (say, Berkeleyan idealism); if a couple of quick arguments (even ultimately unfruitful ones) could convince a student not to put Berkeley aside just yet, that might be worth it.
Hi, I’m the developer of the Biblethumper & QuranQuoter. Solid, respectful discussion is exactly what I want to encourage with my apps. Despite what the right wingnuts have been saying Apple did *not* reject my Quran-based version of the app. Also, despite what some people have been saying on Youtube, Apple *never* pulled my app from the AppStore. More info here: http://www.fakepad.com
I think a pro-choic app would be really useful!
C1sco, I’m sorry your post got delayed by our spam filter. I’m beginning to worry about its politics, but it may have been the link in your comment. I hadn’t realized that there had been a political storm in this area; let me urge readers to check it out.
Sean H, you’re joking about Berkley too, right?
I mean Berkeley. See? I dismissed him so quickly I never even learned to spell his name :-P