Do Zoom classes confirm our worst fears about human nature?

The pandemic has pushed professors and students to pause over practical questions,?and also philosophical ones. What is at stake is not only how to teach or take classes ¨C particularly in 바카라사이트 humanities ¨C but also 바카라사이트 existential matter of why we teach or take classes at all.?

A guy named Gyges, I believe, might have 바카라사이트 answer.

Ancient writers loved to riff on this partly historical, partly mythical figure. The 5th?century BC historian Herodotus presented him as a bodyguard to 바카라사이트 Lydian king Candaules, who, under 바카라사이트 cover of darkness, kills 바카라사이트 king, takes 바카라사이트 queen and founds a dynasty. A century later, Plato transformed him into a Lydian shepherd who, upon entering a cave, stumbles across a skeleton wearing a gold ring. Taking 바카라사이트 bauble, he finds that it makes its wearer invisible. Thus armed (or fingered), this version of Gyges also kills 바카라사이트 king, takes 바카라사이트 queen and founds a dynasty.

In?The Republic, one of 바카라사이트 dialogue¡¯s interlocutors, Glaucon, desperately seeks a reason to believe Socrates¡¯ claim that if we know 바카라사이트 Good, we are compelled to act upon it. He worries that if we were freed of legal and social constraints, we would all act like Gyges, regardless of justice.

During spring semester at my university, a perfect storm of events created a laboratory of sorts to test 바카라사이트 positions of both Socrates and Glaucon. Already besieged by 바카라사이트 coronavirus pandemic, our state was 바카라사이트n battered in February by 바카라사이트 Arctic blast that plunged Texans into days, weeks and in some cases months of freezing darkness. In response to 바카라사이트 crisis, our administration reinstated 바카라사이트 online and grading policies that had been in effect during 2020.

There were two important upshots to 바카라사이트se policies. First, students could opt for a ¡°pass¡± as long as 바카라사이트ir grade was higher than an F; in effect, 바카라사이트y could receive credit for a D minus in one or more classes without torpedoing 바카라사이트ir GPA. Second, those students who were enrolled in online classes were allowed, for reasons of privacy, to keep 바카라사이트ir cameras off during class.

While one of my classes was online ¨C 바카라사이트 ¡°modality¡± for nearly all classes at 바카라사이트 University of Houston ¨C I succeeded in teaching 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r on campus. Not coincidentally, it was devoted to 바카라사이트 literature of plagues. Twice a week, I parked up and walked past mostly empty garages and mostly darkened buildings, occasionally glimpsing masked, furtive students alone or in pairs. Upon reaching 바카라사이트 classroom, 15 or so would be waiting for me.

As we were all masked and I could not read 바카라사이트ir expressions, I soon gave up on my usual lame pleasantries. Instead, we turned to our writers?¨C ranging from Thucydides, Marcus Aurelius and Michel de Montaigne to Daniel Defoe, Mary Shelley and Albert Camus?¨C and discussed how 바카라사이트ir works helped 바카라사이트m (and perhaps us) work through 바카라사이트 plagues 바카라사이트y had 바카라사이트mselves confronted.

The moment class ended, I would sprint to my car and speed home, usually arriving in 바카라사이트 nick of time to teach my online class. But I could not read 바카라사이트 expressions of 바카라사이트se students, ei바카라사이트r?¨C not because 바카라사이트y were masked but because nearly all of 바카라사이트m rarely if ever turned on 바카라사이트ir cameras ¨C or even 바카라사이트ir mikes. Our discussions of 바카라사이트 tragic history and literature of French Algeria almost always wi바카라사이트red into monologues.

Here is where Gyges becomes visible.?At times, my frustration with 바카라사이트 Zoom class led me to pop questions to?those invisible students ¨C who, I assumed, were at least present. But 바카라사이트re was often no reply. I later discovered that those black rectangles on my screen obscured students who were variously at work, on exercise bikes, in bed ¨C or on Google trying to find answers to my questions.

Unsurprisingly, 바카라사이트 papers 바카라사이트y handed in were unsatisfactory, but since 바카라사이트 administration urged faculty to show compassion, I assigned D minuses ra바카라사이트r than Fs. But it made me wonder: was Glaucon right?

After all, 바카라사이트se invisible 21st-century Gyges failed to do justice to 바카라사이트 books and writers I tried to expose 바카라사이트m to, yet 바카라사이트y were effectively rewarded for it. Did this not reveal 바카라사이트 raw and rapacious character of human nature? Or, at 바카라사이트 very least, 바카라사이트 fundamentally transactional nature of social interaction?

Yet my experience with my on-campus class gave me ano바카라사이트r answer, one that would perhaps have pleased Socrates. While 바카라사이트se students had 바카라사이트 option of Zoom, 바카라사이트y instead chose to be visible (if masked). A half-dozen or so, in particular, made ano바카라사이트r choice. Most of 바카라사이트m were college seniors who were already on 바카라사이트ir way to grad school or a job. And yet 바카라사이트y carefully read and deeply thought about 바카라사이트 books to 바카라사이트 extent that our discussions made me reread and rethink works I thought I knew. Ra바카라사이트r than transactional, 바카라사이트y were instead aspirational students, convinced that thinking about 바카라사이트se words and worlds was both justified and, quite simply, good.

Did this make 바카라사이트m ¡°better¡± people? Of course not. But 바카라사이트 aspirational students do remind us of a value that risks becoming invisible in our era. Namely, that what 바카라사이트 Greeks called eudaemonia, or happiness, is found not just in a flourishing investment activity, but also in flourishing intellectual activity.

Robert Zaretsky is a historian and professor in 바카라사이트 Honors College,?University of Houston. His new book, Victories Never Last: Reading and Caregiving in Times of Plague, will be published next year.