D A N . L L O Y D

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in October, 1996.

Dan Lloyd

Why we see as we do

Associate professor of philosophy Dan Lloyd is preoccupied with thinking. But unlike Rodin's solitary, pensive figure, Lloyd believes that learning is a social activity, and he challenges his students to learn by going out into the world to solve real problems.

"Theoretical learning is a starting point that becomes useful when you learn how to apply it. What I've done is to make sure that every theory gets taken out of the classroom and becomes part of the toolbox with which students address the social and scholarly world," he said.

Lloyd's active engagement of problems has manifested itself in many forms over the years. In his latest foray, he is heading an effort that integrates community involvement into the college curriculum - Trinity's Community Learning Initiative. "At Trinity, community service learning is more than just a community service initiative; it is integrated into the fabric of the academic structure and goals of courses. While other institutions are also taking on similar programs," Lloyd said, "I believe the high level of faculty involvement and interest here is quite unusual."

As strongly as he supports interaction between the community and classroom that occurs in service learning, Lloyd believes in mutual engagement of problems with his students, especially when exploring his field of interest: consciousness.

"In such a specialized field of study, any theory this year is likely to be in doubt next year and utterly rejected three years later. What my students need to do is to learn more general skills of informed reflection that will be sensitive to shifts in theory under their feet. Knowledge is a moveable edifice. I want my students to be able to handle themselves in the year 2010," he said.

Homemade bread

In 1990, Lloyd was the first recipient of the College's award recognizing the accomplishments of newer faculty members, the Hughes Award. Receiving the Hughes for his special achievement in teaching, Lloyd has won accolades from students and colleagues alike during his nine years of teaching at Trinity. His accessibility outside the classroom is well known, and he recently opened the door of his on-campus apartment to students for impromptu evening discussions, complete with the fruits of another of his labors, homemade bread.

This semester students in Lloyd's "Issues in Cognitive Science" course are focusing on brain injury and are exploring the interplay of clinical descriptions and the subjective experience of brain injuries and rehabilitation. Using the example of a colorblind painter in Oliver Sacks' An Anthropologist on Mars, Lloyd recently led students in a classroom discussion of color. Using colored paper samples, he demonstrated how their brightness changed when viewed first in a lit classroom and then without benefit of light, which spurred debate on subjects ranging from wavelengths, to brain function, to perception. Lloyd also hopes to enable his students to see actual evidence of their readings by arranging mini-internships in brain rehabilitation clinics.

Thought experiments

In addition to his focus on cognitive science and the nature of consciousness, Lloyd also has a longstanding interest in literature. Students now enrolled in his "Philosophy in Literature" course are examining the philosophical content of literary works. "Literary works embody world views and function as extended thought experiments," which are usually sketchy scenarios constructed to help identify and clarify one's intuitions about philosophical problems, he explained. "A literary work offers the rest of the story - all the consequences and side effects philosophers might otherwise overlook," Lloyd said. This semester Lloyd's class is examining Plato's Symposium, Charlotte Bront‘'s Jane Eyre, and Toni Morrison's Beloved as explorations of the concept of love.

Throughout Lloyd's study of cognitive issues and the philosophical implications of literature, his interest in consciousness has remained constant. After almost a decade of focused research on the nature of consciousness, Lloyd is researching and writing a book on a consolidated theory of consciousness, which takes advantage of explorations in phenomenological philosophy, analytical philosophy, the analysis of brain imagery data, and neural network modeling. Both students and other faculty members have played an active role in Lloyd's research for the book.

Benjamin Dunn, a 23-year-old middle-school mathematics teacher who is also a third-year student in Trinity's Individualized Degree Program, has assisted Lloyd in his research for more than a year by creating neural networks to produce "caricatures" of the brain. "I'm interested in cognitive science. I've also worked as a teaching assistant for him. He's one of the most flexible and kindest people I've ever worked with," says Dunn, who has self-designed a major in cognitive science.

Dunn's testimonial bespeaks Lloyd's intense interest in his students' learning and thinking. "I find my students' world views very interesting," he said. "I want them to have an understanding of why they see things as they do. I want them to become freer to recognize what shapes their own perceptions."

-- Suzanne Zack

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