Two sample footnotes for Lewis Thomas's 'On Thinking About ...



CRW 221 Classwork for March 4 and homework for March 9 McCarthy

Prepare three footnotes for Thomas's "On Thinking About Thinking" and/or "Medical Lessons From History." Enter the footnotes into a wordprocessor and save the file. Then e-mail the file to Meesh. Be sure that you have used the following pattern:

"term" (Thomas page #) "A definition of the term." (title of dictionary page #) Your explanation of the term, one which shows how Thomas used the term in his interdisciplinary writing.

Sample footnotes (which are not perfect) from previous CRW 221 students:

Angelica Gordon-Brown

"Bach" (Thomas, Lewis 154) “Johann Sebastian 1685-1750. German Composer and organist” (The American Hertiage p62) Thomas uses this term to help the reader see the connection on how thinking is a complicated and well composed process, just like how Bach composes his music.

Lilly Strout

“cosmology” (Thomas, 173), “1 a: a branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of the universe b: a theory or doctrine describing the natural order of the universe2: a branch of astronomy that deals with the origin, structure, and space-time relationships of the universe; also: a theory dealing with these matters” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, par. 1). Thomas was using cosmology as a metaphor to describe the development in physics and comparing it to the development of the history of medicine.

Useful Definitions: The following are excerpts from definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary Online (dictionary.), accessed on October 11, 2004 and March 3, 2008, and October 1, 2009, copyright 2004, 2007, by the Oxford University Press.

inductive (adj):

"4. Logic.  a. Of the nature of, based upon, or characterized by the use of induction, or reasoning from particular facts to general principles."

deductive (adj):

"1. a. Of the nature of, or characterized by the use of, deduction; spec. in Logic, reasoning from generals to particulars; opposed to inductive."

analogy (noun):

"3. Equivalency or likeness of relations; ‘resemblance of things with regard to some circumstances or effects’ (J.); ‘resemblance of relations’ (Whately); a name for the fact, that, the relation borne to any object by some attribute or circumstance, corresponds to the relation existing between another object and some attribute or circumstance pertaining to it. Const. to, with, between.

  This is an extension of the general idea of proportion from quantity to relation generally, and is often expressed proportionally, as when we say ‘Knowledge is to the mind, what light is to the eye.’ The general recognition of this analogy makes light, or enlightenment, or illumination, an analogical word for knowledge."

metaphor (noun):

"1. A figure of speech in which a name or descriptive word or phrase is transferred to an object or action different from, but analogous to, that to which it is literally applicable; an instance of this, a metaphorical expression."

simile (noun):

"1. A comparison of one thing with another, esp. as an ornament in poetry or rhetoric."

data (noun—singular datum):

"1. a. A thing given or granted; something known or assumed as fact, and made the basis of reasoning or calculation; an assumption or premiss from which inferences are drawn."

"2. pl. Facts, esp. numerical facts, collected together for reference or information."

investigation (noun):

"1. The action of investigating; the making of a search or inquiry; systematic examination; careful and minute research."

Homework for March 9: Read and annotate the material by Hawking (Brief History of Time) and Singh (Big Bang) in your packets. Next week, there will be a new weblog question that asks you to comment on Hawking or Singh's use of interdisciplinarity, so think about this issue as you complete the readings. Rely on your double entry on Vandana Shiva's Biopiracy, too, if necessary.

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