{"id":16377,"date":"2015-03-02T08:01:52","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T13:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/edc\/?p=16377"},"modified":"2022-01-06T12:21:37","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T17:21:37","slug":"gregory-macisaac-talks-holistic-reading-joy-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2015\/gregory-macisaac-talks-holistic-reading-joy-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Gregory MacIsaac talks \u2018holistic\u2019 reading and the joy of thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dario Balca, TLS staff writer<\/em><\/p>\n

Front to back, page by page, line by line\u2014this is how Carleton humanities professor Gregory MacIsaac teaches his students some of the most challenging texts history has to offer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all part of the award-winning professor\u2019s unique approach to teaching what he calls \u201cholistic\u201d reading. This means studying and analyzing texts in their entirety rather than picking and choosing sections or pieces of information.<\/p>\n

MacIsaac says this approach is necessary to really understand philosophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you want is to show (students) what it\u2019s like to get inside the book, inside the argument,\u201d he says. \u201cInstead of cramming as much into a course as we could, we have them read fewer things, but we have them read all of it when possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gregory<\/a>

Photo by Dario Balca<\/p><\/div>\n

A professor at Carleton\u2019s College of Humanities since 1998, MacIsaac usually teaches the second-year course \u201cReason and Revelation.\u201d The reading list includes Plato\u2019s The Republic<\/em>, Aristotle\u2019s Ethics<\/em>, and Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, he developed HUMS 1200, a course aimed at teaching students how to read and write in a way that will help them be successful. Before, he was trying to teach philosophy and writing simultaneously in his second-year course.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I realized is that we\u2019d never taught writing,\u201d he says. \u201cWe just had students read quite difficult books, then set them papers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can teach my second year course at a much, much higher level now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old is also writing a guide for students on how to navigate philosophy texts that he hopes to finish this year.<\/p>\n

MacIsaac\u2019s teaching innovations haven\u2019t gone unrecognized. In 2011, he was awarded the Provost\u2019s Fellowship in Teaching Award for sustained excellence in teaching, the Faculty of Social Sciences Teaching Award, and several other accolades.<\/p>\n

A native of Antigonish County, N.S., MacIsaac says his interest in philosophy began in high school and later led to an undergraduate degree in classics from Dalhousie University and graduate studies at Notre Dame University.<\/p>\n

These days, MacIsaac\u2019s own research is aimed at finding new ways of reading Plato\u2014one of the authors he first fell in love with.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started reading Plato, I was blown away because I was thinking for the first time in my life, not just taking for granted how the world is, but really considering that things could be otherwise,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Although his teaching style has changed in his 17 years at Carleton, MacIsaac says his aim has always been to help students think this way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our society places far too high a value on usefulness,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is such a thing as sitting back and just thinking about what makes life good, and people who study philosophy and literature and history\u2014it\u2019s our job to think about that stuff, and it\u2019s really important.<\/p>\n

\u201cThinking is just inherently enjoyable and enriching.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dario Balca, TLS staff writer Front to back, page by page, line by line\u2014this is how Carleton humanities professor Gregory MacIsaac teaches his students some of the most challenging texts history has to offer. It\u2019s all part of the award-winning professor\u2019s unique approach to teaching what he calls \u201cholistic\u201d reading. This means studying and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[370,518,383,492],"yoast_head":"\nGregory MacIsaac talks \u2018holistic\u2019 reading and the joy of thinking - 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