{"id":13438,"date":"2023-11-10T08:46:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T13:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=13438"},"modified":"2023-11-07T13:26:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T18:26:45","slug":"the-academics-guide-to-survival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2023\/11\/10\/the-academics-guide-to-survival\/","title":{"rendered":"The Academic’s Guide to Survival\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Colgate experts give tips related to their work, from researching in the rainforest to embracing empathy.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

HOW TO:<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Research the Rainforest \u2014 100 Feet in the Air<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Catherine (Cat) Cardel\u00fas studies patterns of biodiversity. Her work has focused on canopies in Ethiopia and Costa Rica. \u201cClimbing the tree is the easy part,\u201d she says. \u201cThe hard part is staying up there for eight hours.\u201d More from Cardel\u00fas:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Line Up<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I use a crossbow to get a fishing line over the branch I want. I follow the fishing line with a heavier line, and then I bring up my line. These are big canopy trees \u2014 at least 100 feet tall with a massive diameter. You can have six people sitting in them; everybody anchors the tree. Then we put on our harnesses and check each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be an Inchworm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special knots and tree-climbing equipment help you inchworm your way up. Stand, move a knot up, bend your knee and bring a stirrup up with you, then stand on the stirrup and push up. It can take from 15 minutes to a half an hour to climb 100 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiggle While You Work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are little seats built into the harness, but there\u2019s a whole thought process of, \u201cCan I sit here for an hour?\u201d I\u2019ll have the point of my toe leaning against one branch and then sit back; if you happen to find a spot of a branch that doesn\u2019t have plants, you can sit on that. You can also put your rope behind you and lean on your rope like it\u2019s a seat. It\u2019s very delicate. You\u2019re constantly wiggling and adjusting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t Drop It<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You need free hands to do your work. My pen, pencils, paper, garden shears, and water bottle all have strings on them that are tied to my body. I have a chest harness that police officers wear \u2014 everything I need is right there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Your Pants as Paper<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes we get up there and realize we forgot a pen, or the data sheet. You\u2019ll do anything to not have to climb down and back up. So you think, \u201cI can do this without a pen,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019ll write on my jeans.\u201d Or, \u201cI don\u2019t need water. I\u2019ll drink someone else\u2019s water.\u201d You have to be flexible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Triangulate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My students and I spend a lot of time talking about how to measure up there and how it differs from the forest floor. You can\u2019t do as much area, so how do you get out farther than your arm\u2019s length? You really reach into physics and geometry, and you think about distribution of weight. You can throw an anchor from where you\u2019re seated, triangulate, and pull yourself across the branch. It takes incredible physicality, but also patience \u2014 with yourself, the weather, the snake that\u2019s maybe on your branch when you get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Monkeying Around<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I climb with my students, we usually have teams of three. I\u2019ll have two teams in two different trees, and we\u2019ll communicate over walkie-talkies: \u201cWe\u2019ve got monkeys in our tree. We\u2019re coming out.\u201d Monkeys are beautiful to watch; however, they\u2019re intimidating when you\u2019re on a 10-millimeter rope. You don\u2019t want them to cut your line \u2014 they have canines and nails. My rule is that we get out of the tree: The monkey always wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do the Cat Walk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pace my day. I\u2019m a slow walker; my students call it the cat walk. Walking an hour with a 50-pound backpack is a lot in the heat, then you set up the tree and sit, take data. You have to conserve your energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smile, You\u2019re on Canopy Camera<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these organisms \u2014 porcupines, kinkajous, and mice \u2014 have established highways on branches across the rainforest. I\u2019ll set up a camera to see what they are doing to my plots at night. I\u2019ll have electronic equipment up there, measuring light, humidity, and temperature, and they\u2019ll chew the wires. A camera gives me the technology to see who is doing what and how I can make it so a mouse does not eat my stuff. I\u2019ll put the equipment in little houses, or I\u2019ll dangle it from a branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This summer, Cardel\u00fas and her husband, Professor of Biology Eddie Watkins, traveled to Colombia with five other scientists to look at field sites for their next forest conservation and canopy research project. \u201cI\u2019m interested in the biological significance of the area,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are large tracts of forest that are uninterrupted. An old growth rainforest canopy that has all the epiphytes, which is what I study, takes 500 to 1,000 years to develop. Those are becoming rarer and rarer to find in the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Work Really<\/em> Remotely <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Associate Professor of Geography Mike Loranty, who studies changes in Arctic ecosystems, does his fieldwork in boreal forests and the tundra in northeastern Siberia and Alaska. Here\u2019s what he\u2019s learned conducting research in these remote areas.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be Low Maintenance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might be at a field station where all the fresh water is brought in on a truck, so you get one shower a week and it has to be short. You may have a chance to go for a swim, so it\u2019s not unsanitary conditions, but it\u2019s not like being at home and coming home at the end of a long day to have pizza, a beer, and a shower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have a Backup Bear Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S., we\u2019ve always carried bear spray. In Russia, that only became legal in the last five years I was working there, so before that, we didn\u2019t. When I was there in 2012, my Russian colleague told me, \u201cI\u2019ve lived here my whole life and I\u2019ve only seen one bear. You\u2019re not going to see a bear.\u201d That year, we saw a bear. It wasn\u2019t trying to eat us, but it came way closer than you want a bear to be. It chewed up some of our equipment, and it was a really uncomfortable situation. This Russian colleague had a flare, so he threw it at the bear. Eventually it moved, and we maneuvered in a way that the bear was no longer between us and our car, which was a half mile away. We made a hasty retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Channel Your Inner MacGyver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of my field-based work uses environmental sensors hooked up to data loggers, as well as instruments to measure greenhouse gas emissions. These are fairly sophisticated devices with a lot of components. If you were to use those instruments in Hamilton, N.Y., you could plug them in, use a generator, or regularly switch batteries. In the Arctic, that\u2019s not the case \u2014 it\u2019s all solar power and batteries. Even if I\u2019m doing work in Fairbanks, Alaska, I can go to Lowe\u2019s and get extra batteries and wiring supplies, or I can order solar panels or any other parts I might need. But when we\u2019re in Siberia or other remote communities, those options don\u2019t exist. So you need to anticipate what your needs might be and ship those things ahead. And when things do go wrong, you need to either be comfortable losing data or be able to MacGyver your way out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leave Your Shorts at Home<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We go in the summertime and the temperatures can be 80 or 90 degrees Fahrenheit. There are also a lot of mosquitoes because these are wet landscapes. So we\u2019re not going out in shorts and T-shirts, having a nice time on the tundra. We\u2019re in long pants, boots, and long-sleeve shirts with nets over our heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be Careful Not to Overwork Yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above the Arctic circle, the sun doesn\u2019t set in the summer. After dinner, it\u2019s still light out, so you can end up walking back to the lab, or if you\u2019re collecting samples, you can wander back out and think, I\u2019ll do a few more. If you\u2019re not careful, you can keep working and realize it\u2019s suddenly 1 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t Be a Know-it-all<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We work in a lot of Indigenous communities, and you need to remember you\u2019re a visitor there. Even though I have a certain kind of expertise, I don\u2019t have the same kind of knowledge as people who have cultural ties to the place and who have lived there for generations. It\u2019s important to be aware of that, to respect that, and go in with some humility. Because a lot of times when we do science, it\u2019s not like we\u2019re always making new discoveries. We\u2019re often just rediscovering things that locals have known for a long time and presenting them using Western scientific norms \u2014 as opposed to, for example, traditional ecological knowledge or an oral history that people in the community might know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sort of humility and understanding is important more generally as well. The cultural norms can even be different in situations like waiting in line at the airport or what you might expect at a restaurant or a hotel. If you just approach these remote places with an open mind and be grateful for new experiences, things usually shake out all right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loranty\u2019s current projects continue to focus on changing Arctic ecosystems. With funding from NASA, he and colleagues from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are using satellite data to map how beavers are moving northward due to climate change, and measuring methane emissions from newly formed beaver ponds. With funding from the National Science Foundation, he and a colleague at the University of Connecticut are using Artificial Intelligence and a database of drone imagery to map Arctic vegetation change. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

See Inside the Earth<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Karen Harpp, professor of earth and environmental geosciences and peace and conflict studies, has been researching the Gal\u00e1pagos since she first traveled there in graduate school. \u201cThe Gal\u00e1pagos are volcanic islands,\u201d she says, \u201cand they\u2019re fed by a mantle plume, which rises from above the core inside the earth. It is a big column of hot rock that comes to the surface. For us to see what\u2019s going on inside the planet, we analyze the lava that is erupted from volcanoes, which, in turn, is produced by the mantle plume.\u201d Harpp discusses what it\u2019s like to study this different type of core curriculum:  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Permits and Planning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gal\u00e1pagos Islands are a national park overseen by Ecuador, so you need permits to work on any of the islands; you have to coordinate your work with park officials and the Charles Darwin Research Station, which supports research efforts in the area. You have to present the park officials with a detailed plan, tell them exactly how you\u2019re going to collect the rocks, and prove you\u2019re going to do it without any environmental damage. (If you\u2019re a tourist, there are only a few islands you can visit, and you have to have a naturalist guide with you the whole time to make sure you don\u2019t bother the wildlife or do anything risky.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Close Quarters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On larger islands, the park lets you set up a field camp, so a boat drops you off. For smaller islands, you have to sleep on a boat and go onto the island during the day, to minimize environmental impact. It is a very small boat, with only a few bunks. The cook\u2019s space is the size of a bathroom stall, and there\u2019s a tiny table where you all sit around and eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scoop the Seeds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t take fresh food into the field because of the risk of contaminating an island with seeds or a grain that could grow. (You can\u2019t anyway, because there\u2019s no fridge.) Any food you bring has to sit in a freezer for a few days to kill any bugs that might be in it. Usually, we eat oatmeal for breakfast, canned tuna and crackers for lunch, and pasta for dinners. If you\u2019re being supported by a boat, you don\u2019t have to bring food, but the ship\u2019s crew still can\u2019t feed you anything that has seeds in it. For instance, if they serve cucumbers or tomatoes, they cut the seeds out \u2014 because if you go to the bathroom on the island, you might start a tomato plant, and we can\u2019t be ecosystem engineers inadvertently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ration Water<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re sleeping on a boat while doing fieldwork, the boats have plenty of water because they are supplied with desalination systems. But if you\u2019re dropped off by a boat onto an island, you have to let the research station know ahead of time how much water you\u2019re going to need, they help you get that amount, you bring it with you on the boat, and you line up the jerricans at your campsite. The Gal\u00e1pagos are on the equator, so fieldwork is very hot, you\u2019re thirsty, and you have a limited quota per person per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be Invisible<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t be seen by tourists. That\u2019s a park rule, because they don\u2019t want tourists to think they can go anywhere they want \u2014 the park is so careful about damage, you can\u2019t even take a rock or shell home as a tourist. If we happen to be working near a tourist site, we have to go at the beginning or end of the day or when they\u2019re at lunch, or we have to work elsewhere until they are gone so we don\u2019t get spotted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch Your Step<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Gal\u00e1pagos birds nest on the ground, some in crevices of lava flows, others just out in the open. So you have to be vigilant not to disturb their nests or destroy anything; fortunately the birds are also pretty vigilant and will make a lot of noise if you get too close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knives Out<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carry a machete because some of the islands have dense vegetation, often with spines. After a few days in the field, you emerge looking pretty beat up with rips in your clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking on Broken Glass<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lava is generated when rock melts inside the Earth (which we call magma), where it\u2019s really hot. So when it gets erupted onto the surface and exposed to air, the surface of the lava freezes quickly. Think of it as black glass. On top, sometimes it\u2019s in tiny fragments \u2014 so you\u2019re walking on broken glass, which is reasonably stable to walk on, but your boots can get shredded. Fortunately (and unfortunately!), lava flows have different shapes and structures. There\u2019s a kind of lava called \u2018a\u2019a<\/em> [pronounced ah-ah], which is a Hawaiian word for an especially uneven terrain made of lava. We joke that it means \u201couch\u201d because it\u2019s very sharp. It can take you hours to cross a kilometer of \u2018a\u2019a<\/em>. And you have to be very careful not to fall, because if you get injured out there, you\u2019re a long distance from help. The opposite end of the spectrum is something called pahoehoe<\/em>. When the lava moves slowly enough that the surface doesn\u2019t crack as it cools, it becomes ropey, like you skidded into a rug and squished it up (though it\u2019s definitely not soft, it\u2019s still rock!). We call the pahoehoe<\/em> \u201chighways\u201d because they\u2019re so much easier to walk on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harpp and Meg Gardner, senior lecturer in educational studies, received a National Science Foundation grant for their Virtual Gal\u00e1pagos project. In this summer teacher-training program, undergraduates from Colgate and Utica University built an interactive website for third graders.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Discuss Controversial Topics<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Professor of Political Science Stan Brubaker teaches constitutional law, American politics, and political theory. He also moderates Colgate\u2019s annual Constitution Day debate.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these polarized times, how can we discuss controversial topics with others? It\u2019s hard \u2014  especially when social media makes it so easy to \u201clike\u201d one\u2019s way into an agreeable crowd, so simple to \u201cshare\u201d only the news that reinforces our point of view, and so satisfying to decry those with whom we disagree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To venture opinions that challenge the circle of the like-minded can be risky; even with good intentions, individuals have found themselves ostracized, canceled, rejected, or worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, the subjects I teach are inherently controversial. Even after nearly a half-century of teaching, I know I still have a lot to learn, but I\u2019ll pass on a few things that seem to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, I like to encourage the idea that we\u2019re looking at something, something that is external to us and the particular elements of our personality and beliefs; we might draw on these elements to help highlight what we see and how we see it, but we can\u2019t simply stop with these personal reactions. In constitutional law, for instance, I often start by handing out drawings, face down, and ask the students to turn theirs over and tell me which they have \u2014 a rabbit or a duck? Usually, they divide roughly evenly. Then I point out they are looking at the same drawing; they\u2019re just seeing it differently. Once an individual is fixed seeing it one way, say the rabbit, it\u2019s often hard to \u201cunsee\u201d it and instead see the duck. But we talk about which lines to highlight, and then the duck snaps into focus and it might be hard to see the rabbit again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the clever artist, the framers of the Constitution didn\u2019t deliberately try to fool us with ambiguities. Nonetheless, the words they gave us and that \u201cwe the people\u201d ratified and amended leave us with many puzzles. And beyond the text, we need to consider what else should go into constitutional interpretation \u2014 the original meaning or more often meanings, historical context, background principles, political practice, inference from structure and relationship (separation of powers and federalism), underlying moral principles and political theories, precedent, penumbras, and pragmatic concern with consequences. Does the equal protection clause permit race-based preferences in colleges for purposes of increased diversity? Can California ban the sale of pork from pigs \u201cconfined in a cruel manner\u201d? Metaphorically, do we have a duck or a rabbit before us? The issue can be viewed either way, but unlike the drawing, we need to decide which one is right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many students are tempted to draw back to their feelings or elements of their personal identity, \u201cspeaking as an X, Y, Z,\u201d but I insist they make an argument. Why should we be persuaded that this is the right way to see the issue? Or they might, in the name of peace and community, say, there\u2019s \u201cno right answer,\u201d just different answers. Maybe, I will reply, but why should we think \u201cno right answer\u201d is more persuasive than any of the other possibilities? If they were a justice on the Supreme Court, would they write, \u201cThere\u2019s no right answer to the question before us, but speaking as an X, Y, Z, I feel\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After students become more adept at constructing their arguments, I take matters to another level, either in class discussions or moot court exercises, and get them to make the best possible argument for the position they oppose. This is sometimes called the \u201cideological Turing Test\u201d: Can they make the argument so effectively that I can\u2019t tell whether it\u2019s their own or the position they oppose? This is a mind-bending exercise, and few fully succeed. Occasionally, in the course of this effort, students will actually change their own position; they find the other more persuasive. More often, they\u2019ll stick to their guns, but come out of the exercise with greater appreciation and respect for the opinions of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I run the Washington, D.C., Study Group, we do a case study of the policy process, where we take a case actively on the policy agenda \u2014 health care, social security reform, campaign finance, electronic surveillance, and privacy \u2014 learn as much as we can through readings and talking with policy wonks and political actors, then try our own hand at coming up with a good policy. We soon realize that good policy is rarely a matter of getting the bad guys to stand aside. More often it\u2019s a matter of balancing complex interests and tradeoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, I would add the importance of sharing a meal together. When I teach an FSEM, I add to the usual \u201chow to\u2019s\u201d (read, research, write, etc.) a dinner devoted to \u201cHow to Pick up a Fork,\u201d in the conviction that dining, with good manners and good conversation, is one of the higher forms of being human. When I bring a speaker or debaters to campus, I almost always follow up the event with a dinner with students and faculty and staff members. We begin with introductions, followed by lighthearted conversations with our neighbors, and then with a clink on the glass, we turn to the speaker\u2019s topic. The discussion might wander in any direction, but we follow one rule: There\u2019s only one conversation at the table, no drifting off to side conversations. Dining together, I\u2019ve found, has a remarkable effect. The formality of being seated brings civility. The act of sharing a meal brings a sense of commonality. And conversing in these circumstances usually brings some sense of common venture in the nourishment of what humanist Leon Kass has called \u201cthe hungry soul.\u201d If successful, the dinner points beyond itself. Readers of Plato\u2019s Republic<\/em> might recall that early on there is the promise of dinner, but piqued by the cunning Socrates, the participants become so engrossed in the question, \u201cwhat is justice,\u201d that thoughts of food are left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

(When Highly Civilized Human Beings Are Flying Overhead, Trying to Kill You)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One August day in 2013, Professor Jane Pinchin and I drove down to New York City to talk to alumni about a fledgling program we were calling, mostly to ourselves, a book group on steroids. Since then, Living Writers has grown into a program with 6,000+ participants who read along with the students in ENGL 360 every fall, and who often join us, virtually or in person, for author appearances and book discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At that 2013 event, there were 50\u201360 people in attendance, and things went along pretty much as they do, until we were nearing the end. A middle-aged man sitting halfway down the rows of chairs, wearing a button-down shirt and khakis, raised his hand. He had this to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a physics major at Colgate, graduating in 197_. I had a high-powered career as an engineer, then a consultant, and along the way I got married and raised a family. In high school and college, I read all the time, then my life got busy and I stopped. Now that I have more time, I want to get back to reading, but I find I\u2019ve forgotten how. Please, can you tell me how to read?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier that day, on our drive down, Jane and I had talked about which books to recommend (Zadie Smith\u2019s NW<\/em>, George Saunders\u2019 Tenth of December<\/em>, Gary Shteyngart\u2019s Super Sad True Love Story<\/em>), and we had prepared to talk about why reading is worthwhile (for pleasure, for beauty, for knowledge; as a hedge against loneliness and also a topic of conversation at cocktail parties).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then and now, it seemed obvious the guy wasn\u2019t asking about the mechanics of reading. Rather, he wanted to know how to read in a world that conspires in every moment to prevent us from doing so (hence the subtitle of this piece, lifted from George Orwell\u2019s wartime essay, \u201cThe Lion and the Unicorn\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it about the modern world that makes reading so darn difficult? Besides the obvious (iPhones, cable news, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc.), neurobiology offers a compelling answer. Researchers studying the brain waves of people reading literature have discovered that 1.) It lights up every region of the brain; 2.) It engages nearly every cognitive skill (making meaning, solving problems, recalling the past, predicting the future, retrieving vocabulary, etc.); and 3.) It takes a huge amount of energy. Much of this energy, writes literary critic Sven Birkerts, is devoted erasure, to self-silencing. \u201cWe suspend our sense of the world at large, bracket it off, in order that the author\u2019s implicit world may declare itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the retired engineer in the middle of the room on that August day in 2013, I\u2019d like to say a couple of things: 1.) I applaud your courage in asking a couple of literature professors how to read; and 2.) Whatever answer I gave back then was probably lousy. Try this one instead:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read like a child. Remember what it felt like to gobble up books? To fall into a Nancy Drew or Harry Potter novel? How time stopped, and you felt as if the world of the novel was real-er than the one you were living in? That feeling is still out there, waiting for you. Also, keep in mind that listening to a book is just as good as reading one, especially if the only time you can carve out is on the subway or the stair machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read what you like. If you\u2019re not sure what that might be, ask a bookseller or librarian for recommendations, or read reviews written by professional reviewers, published in newspapers and magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start every day with a poem. Some days it will feel like dental floss for the brain; other days, it will give you a jolt of pleasure as powerful and surprising as the sight of a 360-degree double rainbow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you happen on a really good book, stick with it, even if it hurts. Stick with it especially if it hurts. \u201cGood writing never soothes or comforts,\u201d writes novelist Joy Williams. \u201cIt is no prescription, neither is it diversionary, although it can and should enchant while it explodes in the reader\u2019s face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read as if there really are highly civilized beings flying overhead, trying to kill you, and the only way to save yourself \u2014 the only way to save the whole world \u2014 is to keep on reading. Here\u2019s one great writer, Ian McEwan, talking about another great writer, Martin Amis, who died in May: \u201cIn his final months, he read the complete works of Edith Wharton. He wrote two weeks ago to say that he could no longer read with a pencil in his hand. That may have been his one important concession to his illness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Professor of English Jennifer Brice continues to teach Living Writers, which she co-led with Jane Pinchin (the Thomas A. Bartlett Chair and professor of English emerita) until Pinchin retired in 2015. For more information on Living Writers, visit colgate.edu\/livingwriters. Also, Brice is publishing a new book titled <\/em>Another North, which is an essay collection releasing in 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Consider the Contrary <\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Professor of Philosophy Ed Witherspoon teaches Logic I (Phil 225), in which he provides students with methods for evaluating the validity of arguments.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a story from the ancient world of a sage who was visiting a harbor ringed with altars and statues dedicated to Poseidon. The local guide said, \u201cThese are offerings from sailors who survived storms and dangers by praying to the god.\u201d To which the sage replied, \u201cAnd where are the offerings of those who prayed and did not survive?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sage\u2019s response points out the flaw in the guide\u2019s reasoning. The guide claims that the sailors\u2019 prayers to Poseidon caused<\/em> their safe passage. As the sage reminds us, you can\u2019t establish a causal claim just by enumerating cases in which the proposed cause was followed by the putative effect; you also have to consider whether there are cases in which the proposed cause was not<\/em> followed by the putative effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all recognize the need to consider both positive and negative instances in evaluating causal claims. No one would go along with me if I said, \u201cThere have been several instances in which (A) I put on shoes and then (B) a hurricane struck, so my putting on my shoes causes hurricanes.\u201d But when it comes to confusing or contentious causal claims, even normally astute reasoners can be misled. A successful Florida businessman is funding a clinic devoted to so-called \u201cmedical freedom,\u201d where patients with COVID-19 can receive non\u2013FDA-approved treatments. In a recent interview he justified his faith in ivermectin as a cure for COVID-19: \u201cI\u2019ve seen people take it who were sick, really sick, and it works.\u201d Our sage would ask, \u201cAnd how many people with COVID-19 took ivermectin and did not recover?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A structurally similar fallacy occurs when people are motivated to argue against<\/em> a causal connection. An opponent of capital punishment made the following argument to show that the death penalty has no deterrent effect: Interviews with all the prisoners on Texas\u2019s death row revealed that none of them thought about the death penalty when they committed their crimes. Upon a moment\u2019s reflection, the question, \u201cDid the threat of the death penalty deter these convicted felons from committing capital crimes?\u201d answers itself. But that answer does not touch the question of whether the death penalty has a deterrent effect. For that, you\u2019d have to look for people who would have committed a capital crime if not for the threat of capital punishment. (For the record, I doubt there is a significant number of such people, but establishing that would take some serious data collection and analysis.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An argument in a similar vein is sometimes advanced by opponents of gun control: Even in states and countries with strict gun regulations, terrorists get access to weapons and commit mass shootings, so gun laws do nothing to deter terrorism. What question would our sage pose in response to this reasoning?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students in an introductory logic class learn to recognize poor arguments and get tools for constructing good ones. You may not be able to spend a whole semester thinking about how to think, but you can cultivate the habits of mind that studying logic fosters \u2014 habits like articulating your assumptions and presuppositions, seeking out and listening to people whose views differ from yours, and looking for evidence against<\/em> your preferred conclusions. There is no magic bullet for avoiding bad thinking, but with care and good will, we can all move from fallacy to sagacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

See the Beauty of Empathy<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

As a college chaplain, I have had the privilege of building relationships with students from many different religious traditions. For those students who believe that religious life is important, I always encourage them to \u201csee the beauty\u201d in other religious traditions. All too often, particularly within the many theological streams of Christianity, we are quick to notice what is different in other religious traditions and then criticize and label them as wrong. This way of living not only leads to a critical spirit but also causes us to overlook the profound beauty of other religious traditions and cultures as well as the positive contributions they bring to our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cI believe it is important first to see the beauty in other people, especially if there are cultural, religious, political, or social differences.\u201d  <\/p>\n
Rev. Corey MacPherson
<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the same way, I believe it is important first to see the beauty in other people, especially if there are cultural, religious, political, or social differences. While seeing the beauty first can perhaps mean outer appearances, that is just a tiny part of what I mean by beauty. As Helen Keller once wrote to a friend, \u201cThe best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched \u2014 they must be felt with the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I define empathy as: the genuine commitment to know and understand another person, driven by no other desire than to see and appreciate the unique beauty they bring our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we begin to understand, even in small ways, how others \u2014 who may have very different religious, social, and political views \u2014 are also striving to simply navigate this complex life based upon all they have experienced in their own journey, we can start to see what a precious gift they are to our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, let us continue to embrace the responsibility of cultivating the splendor of empathy in our world with the unwavering belief that every life truly is a precious and beautiful gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Rev. Corey MacPherson is the chaplain and Protestant campus pastor. He has written numerous devotionals as well as articles on preaching and servant leadership and has been a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colgate experts give tips related to their work, from researching in the rainforest to embracing empathy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1260,"featured_media":13453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[251,729,1894,1900,1901,1675,1764,1903,335,1898,1520,1896,1892,917,1899,988,1902,1895,293,95,267,1891],"coauthors":[135],"class_list":["post-13438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","tag-biology","tag-book","tag-communicate","tag-constitution","tag-discussions","tag-earth","tag-ecosystems","tag-empathy","tag-environmental-studies","tag-expertise","tag-experts","tag-fieldwork","tag-guide","tag-indigenous","tag-lava","tag-logic","tag-methods","tag-pace","tag-political-science","tag-politics","tag-research","tag-survival"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-3uK","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/11\/rainforest_final-Feature-1-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1260"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13438"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13728,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13438\/revisions\/13728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13438"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}