Discussion Question: Do you believe that free will can exist within Spinoza's philosophy (Pantheism)? Is life just an unfolding series of events, or do we indeed have free will?
We began our group discussion today trying to wrap our heads around Spinoza's idea of God-as- everything, and because God is everything, there is no free will and everything in existence is predetermined by the natural laws that do indeed govern us all. We talked about how understanding how Spinoza came to his conclusions, you must remove yourself from any sort of religious beliefs and discard the idea of God as a super-natural, all-powerful being. Once you rid yourself of that belief, you can begin to see how if a person believed in the universe being spontaneously created (the big bang theory), each subsequent event would be unavoidable, much like a continuous row of dominoes falling. To question whether or not we have free will in that chain of events depends upon how you look at everything. I think an interesting way to think about the concept of free will within a predetermined world is to compare human beings to cells in a body that serve one purpose. We cells (humans) may think that we have free will and purpose, when really we're just carrying out a specific function within our theoretical body, governed by chemical reactions and the the natural laws that affect our behavior.
While we each personally had our feelings on the subject, I think that the idea of Pantheism is an interesting concept, but that it would have to be more fleshed out for it to seem like a plausible basis of a person's own philosophical beliefs.
Factual Question: Who believed that "God is his thought, and that the God-thought is the world?"
A: Spinoza
Sorry for the goofy analogies! Any volunteers for collecting the exam questions, since I did that last time?
Yes, I will go ahead and to them this time. :)
ReplyDeleteFrom a completely pantheistic point of view, excluding one's concept of a God, I would see the idea of the universe as being something that is just "happening" more so, and I would think that this is sort of like a fractal effect in my opinion. I say this because, much like the universe would be the grand scheme of everything that actually resides therefore within it, I think that everything in it would also be "happening" as well, just on smaller and smaller levels, branching from the biggest part of it. Meaning that the creation of galaxies, stars, planets, everything on the planets, as well us us humans, plants, and the animals..would all just be "happening" as well, because of the initial happening of massive cell production, thats starts every living thing, from the start. I could even go as far as to say that, at a smaller level, molecules themselves are "happening" within everything, after all is this not what science proves that everything is theoretically made up of, on smaller levels? The "happening" im referring to would just be a never ending creation of what makes up what the universe is, that stemed from the universe's initial creation. But even still it is hard for me to believe that any part of if, even considering the natural laws of the universe, would hold any kind of fate or pre-determined destiny over how everybody and everythings life already being written. I think free will is still present it would just be unique in how each person would see it, or choose to use it. I do not think the universe has already been written from the start, so therefore I cannot believe that we are or have ever been void of free will. I think that WE and EVERTHING adding to the Universe is adding pieces to a seemingly never ending story more so, it is being written as the universe and everything in it is continuing to evolve, expand, and advance. This is what adds the uniqueness and mystery to it too I think. We do not ultimately know why,for what, or from what, but we do know that it continues on and is a very real and vast expansive phenomena that is always occuring.
ReplyDeleteFactual Question:What piece was written by Hume in 1779, that included various philosophical dialogues between three characters, and who were these characters?
A: "Dialog Concerning Natural Religion; Characters= Philo, Cleanthes, and Demea.
Discussion Question: Do you think that "the world has its own internal logic and that, in any case a lot of the order we percieve is actually just in our heads?"
Spinoza was indeed an interesting man. However, I don't believe in his idea that we are encompassed into one being. I would rather believe that we have some control over our actions.
ReplyDeleteDiscussion question: How do you think we develop morality?
Factual question: Who said that we don't need religion for morality?
Answer: David Hume
It took me a while to understand Spinoza's ideas, but I am kind of in between. I do think that everything happens for a reason and that on the main scale everything is predetermined. But we do still have control over the simple things in life, like what to wear or what to eat. Thus, I think that on a bigger scale everything is predetermined and no matter what you do, your death is predetermined. There is a saying in Spanish that says, "ni aunque te pongas, ni aunque te quites," which means that if you are meant to die there is nothing you can do to prevent it and when you are not meant to die there is anything you can do to cause your death. But I do think that there are many aspects of life that we have control over, so I am not sure on what aspects of life was Spinoza referring to. But I do think that God is in everything and that there on some things that are predetermined.
ReplyDeleteFactual Question: Which on of Hume's books was a love letter?
A: Dialog Concerning Natural Religion
Discussion Question: Do you think that we need religion for morality?
I agree with Nayeli and it also took me awhile to understand Spinoza what he was talking about. I think what it all comes down to is that we have little control over the thugs we can see touch and ear but te things that are way beyon our reach are controlled by God. I can't really say that God is everything because like Dejuan said in class material things like a plastic bottle is not God it is a piece of plastic manufactured in a factory. I do believe like Spinoza that God is apart if us and the Earth and that he is everything that the earth gives to us.
ReplyDelete