“This Wonderful Machine”: How Should We Teach Humanities Texts like Gulliver’s Travels in the Time of ChatGPT?

Authors

Richard J. Haslam, Saint Joseph's UniversityFollow

Abstract

The quoted phrase in the essay title comes from a passage in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver’s Travels in which a Grand Academy of Lagado professor demonstrates a “wonderful Machine” that can generate scores of books “without the least Assistance from Genius or Study.” The essay explore the challenge for teaching classic humanities texts like Gulliver that the (perhaps not so) “wonderful Machine” called ChatGPT poses. Student Owen Terry’s Chronicle essay (May 12, 2023) identifies two crucial aspects of that challenge: “We don’t fully lean into AI and teach how to best use it, and we don’t fully prohibit it to keep it from interfering with exercises in critical thinking.” The essay explains my rationale not to “lean into AI" but to "prohibit it" and to promote instead “critical thinking."

Recommended Citation

Haslam, Richard J.. "“This Wonderful Machine”: How Should We Teach Humanities Texts like Gulliver’s Travels in the Time of ChatGPT?." Critical Humanities 2, 2 (2024). DOI: https://doi.org/10.33470/2836-3140.1040